Patch submission requirements.

Patch submission requirements.

[Raúl Sánchez Siles]

  Hello All:

  I'm preparing a patch adding binutils support for some newer Texas
Instruments msp430 8-bit microcontrollers.

  I'm currently have a patchset working on 2.17 that I'm trying to port to
2.18.50. The main author of the patch is unknown, but I'm trying to find
out who could be. So far I'm treating that information as public domain so
I hope it can be relicensed to GPL after my modifications.

  As I've been told on the #gcc development channel, I need to fill in some
forms before I'm able to add any contribution upstream. Hence I'm asking
here to know what the requirements are. I haven't found any document
related to this on the web [1] or on the main documentation [2], so I'm
just applying common sense:

  · Applying cleanly.
  · Don't break anything.
  · Don't fix if it's not broken.
  · Unified diff format.

  Any other suggestion?

  Thanks and regards,

[1] http://www.gnu.org/software/binutils/
[2] http://sourceware.org/binutils/docs-2.18/
-- 
Raúl Sánchez Siles

Re: Patch submission requirements.

[Nick Clifton]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1863 bytes --]

Hi Raúl,

>   I'm currently have a patchset working on 2.17 that I'm trying to port to
> 2.18.50. The main author of the patch is unknown, but I'm trying to find
> out who could be. So far I'm treating that information as public domain so
> I hope it can be relicensed to GPL after my modifications.

This may be a problem if the original author did not put their work into the 
public domain.  Please do make your best efforts to contact them and ascertain 
if they agree to the donation.

>   As I've been told on the #gcc development channel, I need to fill in some
> forms before I'm able to add any contribution upstream. Hence I'm asking
> here to know what the requirements are.

The requirements are:

   1. You have an FSF copyright assignment on file with the FSF for
      contributions to the binutils project.  I have attached a form to start
      the application process if you do not already have one.

   2. The original author should ideally also have an FSF copyright assignment
      in place.  If not you must be able to show that they have released the
      copyright on their work into the public domain and that however it was
      licensed when it was released, that license is compatible with the code
      being relicensed under the GPLv3.

   3. As you suggested:

>   · Applying cleanly.
>   · Don't break anything.
>   · Don't fix if it's not broken.
>   · Unified diff format.

     Plus:

     * Contains ChangeLog entries for the patches.
     * Documents any new command line options or targets in the appropriate
       places (gas/doc, ld/ld.texinfo, binutils/doc/binutils.texi, gas/NEWS,
       ld/NEWS).
     * Contains new assembler and linker testsuite directories to check the
       particulars of the new port.
     * Follows the GNU Coding Standards: http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards

Cheers
   Nick



[-- Attachment #2: future --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 1005 bytes --]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

request-assign.future:

Please email the following information to fsf-records@gnu.org, and we
will send you the assignment form for your past and future changes.
Please use your full name as the subject line of the message.


[What is the name of the program or package you're contributing to?]


[Did you copy any files or text written by someone else in these changes?
Even if that material is free software, we need to know about it.]


[Do you have an employer who might have a basis to claim to own
your changes?  Do you attend a school which might make such a claim?]


[For the copyright registration, what country are you a citizen of?]


[What year were you born?]


[Please write your email address here.]


[Please write your snail address here.]





[Which files have you changed so far, and which new files have you written
so far?]





---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Patch submission requirements.

[Raúl Sánchez Siles]

  Hello Nick:

  First of all, thanks a lot for answering.

Nick Clifton wrote:

> Hi Raúl,
> 
>>   I'm currently have a patchset working on 2.17 that I'm trying to port
>>   to
>> 2.18.50. The main author of the patch is unknown, but I'm trying to find
>> out who could be. So far I'm treating that information as public domain
>> so I hope it can be relicensed to GPL after my modifications.
> 
> This may be a problem if the original author did not put their work into
> the public domain.  Please do make your best efforts to contact them and
> ascertain if they agree to the donation.

  I was already aware of the importance of this, so I will do my best.

> 
>>   As I've been told on the #gcc development channel, I need to fill in
>>   some
>> forms before I'm able to add any contribution upstream. Hence I'm asking
>> here to know what the requirements are.

  I forgot to say that I'm doing most of these taks in working time, this
means that my work is "owned" by my company. How this affects to the
following points?

> 
> The requirements are:
> 
>    1. You have an FSF copyright assignment on file with the FSF for
>       contributions to the binutils project.  I have attached a form to
>       start the application process if you do not already have one.
> 
>    2. The original author should ideally also have an FSF copyright
>    assignment
>       in place.  If not you must be able to show that they have released
>       the copyright on their work into the public domain and that however
>       it was licensed when it was released, that license is compatible
>       with the code being relicensed under the GPLv3.
> 

>    3. As you suggested:
> 
>>   · Applying cleanly.
>>   · Don't break anything.
>>   · Don't fix if it's not broken.
>>   · Unified diff format.
> 
>      Plus:
> 
>      * Contains ChangeLog entries for the patches.
>      * Documents any new command line options or targets in the
>      appropriate
>        places (gas/doc, ld/ld.texinfo, binutils/doc/binutils.texi,
>        gas/NEWS, ld/NEWS).
>      * Contains new assembler and linker testsuite directories to check
>      the
>        particulars of the new port.
>      * Follows the GNU Coding Standards: http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards
> 

  Understood.

> Cheers
>    Nick

  Regards,
-- 
Raúl Sánchez Siles

Re: Patch submission requirements.

[Nick Clifton]

Hi Raúl,

>   I forgot to say that I'm doing most of these taks in working time, this
> means that my work is "owned" by my company. How this affects to the
> following points?

It means that your employer will need to sign the FSF copyright assignment 
form.  (Assuming that they agree to do so).

It also means that if the author of the original work also worked for your 
employer then presumably they hold the copyright on his work and so their 
signing of the FSF copyright assignment agreement will cover both your work and 
the original author's work.

Cheers
   Nick