Re: [ECOS] Copyright assignment

[Nick Garnett <nickg at ecoscentric dot com>]

Eric Doenges <Eric.Doenges@DynaPel.com> writes:

> Hi,
> 
> 
> I was wondering if anyone has actually been able to do a copyright
> assignment to RedHat for eCos recently (I use 'recently' in a fairly
> loose sense here).

We had an assignment confirmation email to the maintainers list for
Roland Caßebohm's flash device driver for the SST 39VF080 and 39VF016
devices on 30th October. I don't know when Roland submitted this,
maybe he can tell us. So some assignments are getting through. 


> 
> I've sent the RedHat legal department a letter according to the
> requirements outlined on their website on August 12, and have received
> absolutely no feedback from them. In early October, Andrew Lunn informed
> me that Ms. Amy Ross was the person to contact at RedHat about copyright
> assignment, so I sent her an eMail on October 8, asking if they had
> received my letter. Unfortunately, I haven't received any reply to this
> either. This makes me wonder which of the following scenarios is
> correct:
> 
> a. In a bizare coincidence, both my letter and my eMail got lost in
> transit.

That is possible. I don't know how busy Amy is, but maybe both just
got dropped in the melee.

> 
> b. RedHat just isn't interested in the code in question (a device driver
> for the RealTek 8139) and thinks I'm not important enough to warrant a
> response, even a negative one.

I don't think Red Hat think eCos is very important at all. After all
they don't even think Red Hat Linux is worth supporting any more!

> 
> c. The RedHat legal department is totally overworked and thus unable
> to deal with such frivolous matters as eCos copyright assignment.
>

It is possible that the SCO business has somewhat distracted them.

> Can anyone who has had recent dealings with the people at RedHat shed
> any light on the matter ?

I would very much like to see your driver committed to the repository
and this is the only sticking point.  Maybe you are just going to have
to resubmit the forms to Red Hat. However, we have also been
discussing alternative approaches to assignments in the maintainers
list. Maybe your driver can be the trailblazer for the new mechanism.

-- 
Nick Garnett                    eCos Kernel Architect
http://www.ecoscentric.com      The eCos and RedBoot experts


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