Re: fsf copyright assignment help

[Josh Hunt <johunt at akamai dot com>]

On 03/28/2017 06:54 PM, Carlos O'Donell wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 5:56 PM, Josh Hunt <johunt@akamai.com> wrote:
> > As per
> > https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Contribution%20checklist#FSF_copyright_Assignment
> > I am reaching out to libc-help for help in figuring out which FSF copyright
> > assignment request form(s) I would need to fill out in order to be able to
> > contribute to the glibc project
> >
> > I'm also interested in possibly contributing to libgcc as well. I'm not sure
> > if that falls under the glibc project or not. Please let me know if it does
> > not.
>
> The gcc project contains libgcc.
>
> The glibc and gcc project are tightly coupled. They form the basis for
> the "implementation" and often collude to implement language-specific
> constructs that require coordination between the compiler and runtime.
>
> Therefore to contribute to glibc and libgcc you would need copyright
> assignments for both glibc and gcc.
>
> > I do not have any patches to submit yet, but am planning on working on a few
> > things in the near future and thought it may be useful to get the copyright
> > assignment process started now.
> >
> > Please let me know if you need any other information from me.
>
> The easiest copyright assignment for the community is the "futures"
> copyright assignment.
>
> It means that the copyright of any code you submit now and any code
> you submit in the future is assigned to the FSF and can be immediately
> accepted by the community once it passes review.
>
> If I were you and I was looking at contributing to the toolchain in
> general I would do the following (which I did over a decade ago):
>
> (a) File personal copyright assignment for the core toolchain projects
> at the same time: gcc, binutils, glibc, and gdb. You invariably find
> something that needs fixing across all four if you do something new.
> Even if you don't you invariably find some docs improvement to submit
> across all four as you start using them.
>
> (b) If your employer makes a claim on your work, then I'd work with
> your employer to have them cover the same 4 core toolchain projects.
> This is the harder sell, but I'm happy to talk about the value this
> brings to employers.
>
> Does this answer your question?

Carlos thank you for all the information. I think what you've suggested 
about doing the personal and employer assignments makes a lot of sense, 
as does doing the core toolchain projects. This is very helpful. I have 
a few more questions.

You mention the futures copyright assignment. It looks like I need to 
fill out this form: 
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/gnulib.git/plain/doc/Copyright/request-assign.future 
to get the future assignment form, is that correct?

Assuming that is correct for my personal assignment, is the same form 
used for my employer? I'll check to see if they already have something 
in place. If they don't, any info you can provide for me to sway them 
that direction would be appreciated.

Thanks again!
Josh