2012/1/12 Jonas Borgström <[email protected]>: ... > Yes that's correct, there's no formal CLA or any formal policy describing > how code contributions are handled. > What we do have is that all source files have a > "Copyright XXXX-YYYY Edgewall Software" line in the license header. In > addition to that many files also have similar lines for individual > developers. > > I'm not a lawyer so I don't really know if this means that Edgewall Software > holds full or partial copyright of the source code.
In most jurisdictions, unless contributors have expresses granted copyright of their contributions to Edgewall, they still hold copyright over the code, and that header is inaccurate. Edgewall (or the SFC, or $FOO) may still have copyright over an entire distribution, but the individual contributions remain the property of their authors. In theory, these contributions could even have separate licenses, which opens up a whole other set of issues. Clearing up such ambiguity is one fo the primary purposes of having a CLA. In practice though, it is understood that contributions to a file have been made under the license that file is under. (With the GPL, this is required, and is explicitly in the license. With the BSD and friends, not so much.) I'm not a lawyer either, btw, but have been through this before with other projects. -Hyrum -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Trac Development" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/trac-dev?hl=en.
