[gentoo-project] Copyright policy: pseudonymous contributions are now permitted

[gentoo-project] Copyright policy: pseudonymous contributions are now permitted

[Michał Górny]

Hello, everyone.

The most recent update to the copyright policy (GLEP 76 [1]) have been
approved today, with approval from Council (7 votes in favor)
and Trustees (4 votes in favor, 1 absent).  As a result, the commit
signoffs allow using names other than the "legal name" now,
and therefore pseudonymous contributions are permitted.

This follows a similar change to the kernel contribution policy that
the Gentoo policy was based on.

The exact wording is "using a known identity as a natural person" [i.e.
not a company].

[1] https://www.gentoo.org/glep/glep-0076.html

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny

[gentoo-project] Re: [gentoo-dev-announce] Copyright policy: pseudonymous contributions are now permitted

[konsolebox]

On Sat, Apr 1, 2023 at 5:35 PM Michał Górny <mgorny@gentoo.org> wrote:
> The exact wording is "using a known identity as a natural person" [i.e.
> not a company].
>
> [1] https://www.gentoo.org/glep/glep-0076.html

So how does a pseudonym validate as a "known identity", and does mine do?

Also to be clear, patches signed off with pseudonyms are now allowed
to be sent to gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org, correct?  Github PRs too?

-- 
konsolebox

Re: [gentoo-project] Re: [gentoo-dev-announce] Copyright policy: pseudonymous contributions are now permitted

[Ulrich Mueller]

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>>>>> On Tue, 15 Aug 2023, konsolebox  wrote:

> On Sat, Apr 1, 2023 at 5:35 PM Michał Górny <mgorny@gentoo.org> wrote:
>> The exact wording is "using a known identity as a natural person"
>> [i.e. not a company].
>> 
>> [1] https://www.gentoo.org/glep/glep-0076.html

> So how does a pseudonym validate as a "known identity", and does mine
> do?

I think that [2] (which is referenced in the Linux commit [3]) clarifies
the idea very well:

   "... the name you convey to people in the community for them to use
   to identify you as you. The key concern is that your identification
   is sufficient enough to contact you if an issue were to arise in the
   future about your contribution."

> Also to be clear, patches signed off with pseudonyms are now allowed
> to be sent to gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org, correct?  Github PRs too?

Yes, if the pseudonym qualifies as a known identity.

[2] https://github.com/cncf/foundation/blob/659fd32c86dc/dco-guidelines.md
[3] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d4563201f33a022fc0353033d9dfeb1606a88330

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Re: [gentoo-project] Re: [gentoo-dev-announce] Copyright policy: pseudonymous contributions are now permitted

[konsolebox]

On Tue, Aug 15, 2023 at 3:55 PM Ulrich Mueller <ulm@gentoo.org> wrote:
>    "... the name you convey to people in the community for them to use
>    to identify you as you. The key concern is that your identification
>    is sufficient enough to contact you if an issue were to arise in the
>    future about your contribution."

So is an email address enough?

> > Also to be clear, patches signed off with pseudonyms are now allowed
> > to be sent to gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org, correct?  Github PRs too?
>
> Yes, if the pseudonym qualifies as a known identity.

Alright.  I however still need to know if my pseudonym validates or
qualifies as one.  So does it?

-- 
konsolebox

Re: [gentoo-project] Re: [gentoo-dev-announce] Copyright policy: pseudonymous contributions are now permitted

[Ulrich Mueller]

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>>>>> On Tue, 15 Aug 2023, konsolebox  wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 15, 2023 at 3:55 PM Ulrich Mueller <ulm@gentoo.org> wrote:
>> "... the name you convey to people in the community for them to use
>> to identify you as you. The key concern is that your identification
>> is sufficient enough to contact you if an issue were to arise in the
>> future about your contribution."

> So is an email address enough?

>> > Also to be clear, patches signed off with pseudonyms are now allowed
>> > to be sent to gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org, correct?  Github PRs too?
>> 
>> Yes, if the pseudonym qualifies as a known identity.

> Alright.  I however still need to know if my pseudonym validates or
> qualifies as one.  So does it?

Sorry, but we don't have an exact procedure for this. Ultimately, the
committer will have to use common sense to decide if they will accept
your contribution.

If I see a pseudonym that is in use since at least 2016 [1], I'd say
that it qualifies. But this is my personal opinion.

[1] https://bugs.gentoo.org/572582#c8

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