permission to use spec files in other projects

Rahul Sundaram sundaram at fedoraproject.org
Tue Jan 15 20:00:02 UTC 2008


Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> On 15.01.2008 20:21, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>> Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
>>> On 15.01.2008 20:01, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>>>> Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
>>>>> On 15.01.2008 19:23, Dennis Gilmore wrote:
>>>>>> On Tuesday 15 January 2008, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
>>>>>>> On 15.01.2008 19:01, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
>>>>>>>> /topic EPEL SIG Meeting | permission to use spec files in other projects
>>>>>>>> | http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL/Tasks/Misc
>>>>>>> Does anybody still care? Seems the Board either do not understand what
>>>>>>> we/I'm up to or they ignore it.
>>>>>> No one but you sees a problem.  It's covered by the CLA. 
>>>>> Please explain to me: What meaning has the CLA (a contract between a
>>>>> Fedora contributer and Fedora/Red Hat) to someone else that receives
>>>>> software from Fedora?
>>>>> I'm not familiar with US law, but in Germany a contract between A and B
>>>>> has no meaning to C.
>>>> CLA is not just a contract between A and B or more specifically it 
>>>> allows the same rights to all recipients which in this case would 
>>>> include C. I believe spot already explained that in
>>>> https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2008-January/msg00031.html
>>> Which I replied to in
>>> https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2008-January/msg00032.html
>>> with the words:
>>> [...] I can't know if the all work I get from Fedora was submitted
>>> by someone that signed the CLA. [...]
>> All the work definitely isn't but spec files would be.
> 
> Then I'm sure it can be written down to finally solve the iossue?

It is written down within the CLA that the contributions that every 
Fedora contributor makes falls under the CLA and that includes spec files.

We consulted with legal before on whether we can explain the CLA better 
in another document and the legal opinion was that if any clarifications 
are necessary, it should done within the CLA itself and not in a 
separate document as any contradictions are considered risky IIRC. 
However I think you can point this out in the EPEL FAQ for example in 
this way:

---

How are RPM spec files in Fedora licensed?

All original Fedora contributions are governed by the Fedora contributor 
license agreement (CLA) [Link]. This allows all recipients to have

"A perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, fully paid-up,
royalty free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare
derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and
distribute this Contribution and such derivative works"

More information is available in the CLA.

---

Rahul




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