gpl header copyright bugfix for my old contributions ready to be?merged

[Henning Glawe]

On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 11:30:07AM +0200, Henning Sprang wrote:
> Is it somebody who sends a patch fixing a minor typo, or is it about
> contributions of more than 10, or 20 lines?
> What if a 10 line patch has to be changed so much to fit in nicely, by
> the main author, that it's only 10 half lines in the end, and the main
> author can be said to have equal as much or more work integrating the
> patch, as the original author when initially writing it?

well, in any case the code patch was written by somebody; and the
integration was most probably done because it is an improvement to the
original code, which somehow implies the "schoepfungshoehe".


> And that's the point Thomas said will be a lot work, and what he doesn't 
>                                                     like to do before 
> Lenny. A point that should be easy to understand.

well, licensing issues are RC, so...


> If Henning insists (which, after not showing interest in such things for
> 5 years, the age of most of the contrbutions we talk about, would be
> hard to understand, I must say) that it must be made _now_, instead of 
> after Lenny, it is the only possible way, right.

I did ask for these clarifications/fixes on nearly every in-persona meeting
we had since around 2002, with no effect. usually i am quite patient.


> I'm not sure if that needs to be explicit, because defintely, if you
> send a patch to be incorporated in a GPL software without stating
> another license, it's obvious which license you accept.

according to gpl, all derived works have to be distributed under the same
terms (this is why by some people the license is called 'virulent'). there is
no other option than gpl.


> It's sad, and it leads to a lot overhead when handling minor
> contributions and bugfixes, but it seems to be the only way to make sure
> such situations, as we have now do not occur again.

once again, i am not talking about minor contributions.


-- 
c u
henning