[PATCH rtems] bsps/imxrt: Add attribution in file headers

[Chris Johns]

On 21/7/21 5:34 pm, Christian MAUDERER wrote:
> Hello Chris,
> 
> Am 21.07.21 um 09:22 schrieb Chris Johns:
>> On 21/7/21 5:05 pm, Christian MAUDERER wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I don't object to clear rules. At the moment it's a bit of a mix.
>>
>> Yes I understand and I think the line you posted in the patch is fine as is, it
>> just needs to be separate from the license text because it could taint it and we
>> need to avoid that.
>>
>>> Some examples
>>> of what I have found (mainly in PowerPC):
>>>
>>> Above the copyright line:
>>>
>>> https://git.rtems.org/rtems/tree/bsps/powerpc/ss555/start/vectors.S
>>> https://git.rtems.org/rtems/tree/bsps/powerpc/ss555/start/vectors_init.c
>>> https://git.rtems.org/rtems/tree/bsps/powerpc/ss555/start/irq.c
>>> https://git.rtems.org/rtems/tree/bsps/powerpc/include/libcpu/irq.h
>>
>> Yes there are some legacy comments. I would not touch those. We are more
>> informed on how we handle these things these days.
>>
>>> Mixed in the header somewhere:
>>>
>>> https://git.rtems.org/rtems/tree/bsps/powerpc/ss555/start/bspstart.c
>>>
>>> Am 21.07.21 um 07:51 schrieb Sebastian Huber:
>>>> On 21/07/2021 02:46, Chris Johns wrote:
>>>>> On 21/7/21 6:47 am, Gedare Bloom wrote:
>>>>>> This seems fine to me. We don't have any standard way to document this
>>>>>> kind of attribution. However, we have had individual authors add their
>>>>>> names below their company's copyright. It might make sense to put the
>>>>>> sponsorship part beneath the copyright of the sponsored
>>>>>> company/person?
>>>>>
>>>>> Make sense. The copyright block should be limited to just copyrights and
>>>>> sponsor
>>>>> acknowledgements should in a separate block, maybe after the license block.
>>>>
>>>> Yes, I also think it should be outside the license comment block.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Not a big deal, but it might help for some kind of
>>>>>> consistent guidance if we do this more in the future.
>>>>>
>>>>> I think we need some guidelines. I do not agree with URL links, email
>>>>> addresses,
>>>>> phone numbers or street addreses appearing in the source. I also think a
>>>>> sponsor
>>>>> acknowledgement is never updated or changed even if a company changes name.
>>>>> What
>>>>> I am not sure about is the areas of the source we allow this to happen in, ie
>>>>> score ...?
>>>>
>>>> We could add some text here:
>>>>
>>>> https://docs.rtems.org/branches/master/eng/coding-file-hdr.html
>>>>
>>>
>>> Without discussing it with Onto: An alternative to attribution in the code could
>>> be an attribution page in the manuals where we can collect such notes. That
>>> would avoid scattering them throughout the code. It would also make it easier to
>>> (for example) attribute to supporters that maybe don't fund coding but other
>>> activities like infrastructure.
>>
>> Sorry, collecting in a manual is a step to far and I would not support it. Some
>> companies have tight marketing requirements and trademarks for placement of
>> their company details in manuals or printed material and we need to keep well
>> clear of this. There are sponsors of RTEMS who require nothing is said, ever.
> 
> Yes. Most companies don't want to be mentioned. I was a bit surprised that Onto
> asked for it ;-)

I am OK with this.

>> There is a legal aspect to this that I am not sure about yet. What happens if a
>> company complains about the addition?
> 
> I would only add companies that ask for it. I think most paid projects have some
> kind of contract where that could be clarified right from the beginning.

You know this but I do not. We need a simple way to handle this.

> For
> sponsors without a project, it could be done with some kind of "yes, I want to
> be added" field on a donation page. I assume that's how other projects handle
> that kind of stuff.

Yes we need a donate page but that is a separate topic.

> 
> One example for a project with a big supporters list:
> 
> https://metabrainz.org/supporters
> 
> The just added a "I would like the donation to be anonymous" to the donate page:
> 
> https://metabrainz.org/donate
> 

Yes.

Chris