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Re: Rsync over ssh (pulling from Cygwin to Linux) stalls..


Williams, Gerald S (Jerry) wrote:
mwoehlke wrote:
Christopher Faylor wrote:
mwoehlke wrote:
Ok, *that* actually makes sense. However, that /should/ just mean
that they need proof (from whoever would sign an assignment) that
the code is public domain, which means it could still *be* public
domain, with all the protections (such as they are) that implies.
How would such a form differ from what is currently being used?
Assuming you can make a trivial change that results in a derivative,
and therefore copyrightable work, I'd say the second clause would be
different, i.e. would state that as a condition of the assignment,
permission for other use (in particular, of future revisions to the
original "work") is automatically granted without written notice. In
fact, I'm not thrilled with the written notice thing, either. :-)

Whatever the reason, it interferes with my ability to contribute code to Cygwin even if I can package it separately, since my company will not sign the assignment. They will, however, allow me to release code into the public domain.

Besides providing a possible avenue for contributing code, this got
me thinking about the other public domain projects out there. People
ought to be able to freely use their code. That's the whole point of
releasing them into the public domain. And perhaps if open source
proponents such as RedHat found a way to accept public domain code,
others in my situation would start up more public domain projects.
For the greater good and all that.

I have asked in the past if a letter confirming that the code has been
put into the public domain is sufficient, but apparently it is not. I
realize that the assignment gives you someone to hold responsible if
there are ownership issues, and covers patents and such, which are not
addressed automatically by placing the code in the public domain. The
assignment has been carefully thought out by someone, even though it's
seemingly not amenable to accepting public domain code.

But it is what it is. I'm not trying to start an accusatory thread--I
just think it's just a bit of a shame that PD code is excluded.

FWIW, my impression is still that *you* could PD your code, and then someone else who *can* sign an assignment can come along, make a trivial change (like adding a comment, thus qualifying it as a "derivative work" that can be copyrighted), and then submit it. Which sounds ridiculous, but makes perverted sense in light of CGF's comment.


--
Matthew
Websites such as ... Wikipedia ... are reputed to occupy users for periods in excess of 5 hours. -- Wikipedia article on Internet Addiction



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