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

[Darryl Miles]

Corinna Vinschen wrote:
> On Aug 14 08:10, Darryl Miles wrote:
>> I am actively working on a solution, but at current work rate it maybe a 
>> few weeks to a month before any preliminary patch will be posted here.
> 
> Please don't forget the "Before you get started" drill as descibed
> on http://cygwin.com/contrib.html

I take it that you were hinting at the copyright assignment.


I do have questions, they may seem daft, but this issue is legal thing 
so the finer points are important:


Does the CYGWIN copyright assignment only affect contributions I 
specifically earmark to fall under its jurisdiction.  i.e. I am 
confirming it has no jurisdiction over any previous or future work for 
which I am the copyright holder be it related to cygwin or not.  Also 
that in order the the assignment to be enforceable I must explicitly 
earmark the data covered by it by acknowledging the assignment agreement 
at the time I make the contribution official.  If this explicit 
statement is not given then there is no way legally it can be implied by 
any other means.  i.e. just posting something to a list relating to 
CYGWIN does not make the code fall under the jurisdiction of the 
copyright assignment agreement.


Is this agreement considered copyright assignment or partnership ?  That 
is am I loosing my original copyright entitlement to the work.  I am 
happy to assign dual (or additional copyright holdership to the named 
party under the agreement) but I am much less happy about loosing the 
original copyrights I once had in that process.

Lets suppose I introduce a new function call, this function could be 
considered an complete entity that is copyrightable since it was all my 
original work.  But since I originally created it I wish to keep a 
version that is recognized legally where I am the only copyright holder, 
as well as have the version which has dual copyright holdership for use 
inside CYGWIN.


My last question is to do with international jurisdiction, maybe 
international copyright law is universal across all territories.  But I 
doubt it!  Since I am from the UK I have more faith in our legal system 
than say the USAs.


I understand how the agreement protects RedHat (a for profit 
organization what has made extensive contributions to CYGWIN), but these 
questions come from the standpoint that a contributor should not be 
loosing anything in the process of contributing.  This should be a legal 
win-win situation in the spirit of open source.

I'd be happy to put the bugfixes for this particular problem in the 
public domain, thus confirming my original legal entitlement to 
copyright and waivering that right.  Which would may waiver anyone elses 
future rights to copyright as well.  This would seem a compatible 
solution which would allow contributions without needing to enter into a 
copyright assignment agreement.  Since my name wont be listed anywhere 
on the published work (since as I read the agreement it would be 
replaced by RedHats anyway) I might as well make the contribution public 
domain.

I do not have any accountable employer but this standpoint in life does 
put me in the position to automatically question any new legally binding 
agreement I enter into.  I must justify to myself its necessity, its 
scope and future liabilities.

Also if I understand correctly the GPL does not remove the original 
copyright entitlement to the work and again I'd be happy to make 
contributions available under GPL.

So are there any alternative options to contribute for those not wishing 
to enter into a commercial legal agreement with a profit generating 
organization in order to contribute to an (almost-)open source project ?


Darryl

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