32
votes
Accepted
Can FOSS software licenses (e.g. MIT, Apache, GNU, etc.) apply to documents without the need to be rewritten?
The practical answer is that if you want "open source documentation" you should probably just use a Creative Commons license; you can choose between permissive (CC-BY) and copyleft (CC-BY-SA)...
- 21.7k
12
votes
Accepted
Should I require that new issues be written in English?
Open-source maintenance is often volunteer work. As a volunteer, you do not owe your time to anyone and can always say “no”. So it is absolutely legitimate to close any issue that is not ...
- 39.4k
12
votes
Accepted
Can a GitHub Organization assert copyright?
I would not expect that Rubberduck VBA, as an unincorporated organization that lacks legal personhood, is an entity that can own a copyright (though this may vary by jurisdiction). Furthermore, unless ...
- 37.7k
10
votes
What are my options if an open source project rejects my changes?
The first thing to do is figure out why the contributions are being rejected. There are several reasons why the upstream project could be rejecting the contributions.
One possibility is that the ...
- 1,792
9
votes
How do I (a beginner) find a bug in a project on Github?
The most useful open source contributions come from people who actually use the project they are contributing to. So I'd suggest to you first, to use free software as often as possible, and possibly ...
- 5,727
8
votes
Github etiquette: Is it polite to help for issue triage?
I've been in projects that would be absolutely delighted to have a volunteer come in and do scut work like that, and I've been in projects that got really quite upset when lots of old issues were ...
- 53k
8
votes
Accepted
What does "and contributors" in the copyright byline imply?
TL;DR: A copyright notice is just the list of the copyright owners. It does not give magic licensing powers. The “… and contributors” is a truism: each contributor keeps their copyright unless they ...
- 39.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Open-source, when (not) to go on a crusade for a feature?
An open source project is more than a bunch of source code that anyone can download. It also includes an active community that works together to help make the project better for everyone that uses it. ...
- 1,525
7
votes
Accepted
What additional benefits does the DCO provide?
"inbound=outbound" might not require any extra procedures. If a someone contributes to a project that is clearly under some license, you can assume in good faith that they have the right to publish ...
- 39.4k
6
votes
Github etiquette: Is it polite to help for issue triage?
The answer obviously depends on the project and the best course of action can only be found by talking to the core devs / maintainers / community around the project.
There is two ways to approach ...
- 12k
6
votes
Accepted
Did it ever happen that an open source project's leader (BDFL) died? If so, what happened to the project?
My colleague at the Ballistic Research Laboratory, Mike Muuss, leader of the BRLCAD project (also well-known as the author of the "ping" network testing utility), was killed in an automobile accident. ...
- 3,931
6
votes
Accepted
Does inbound=outbound apply to Apache 2.0 without a CLA?
Yes, submissions to an Apache 2.0 licensed project are themselves Apache 2.0 licensed. From section 5 of the license text:
5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise, any ...
- 2,080
6
votes
Accepted
Finding the optimal number of collaborators for a project
In my experience, the best you can do is write down the direction and culture you want to develop/preserve in the project's community (values, goals, modes of operation, criteria for granting ...
- 337
5
votes
Should I require that new issues be written in English?
In my eyes the best option is indeed the last option. You could use labels to indicate the language of the issue and encourage other people to translate these issues.
Some issues can be translated by ...
- 151
5
votes
Can FOSS software licenses (e.g. MIT, Apache, GNU, etc.) apply to documents without the need to be rewritten?
In addition to Philip's answer, for MIT-licensed software, the MIT license can be applied to the documentation too (i.e. "associated documentation files"), but of course, it will be ...
- 3,307
4
votes
Accepted
How do I add contributors to the attribution/ownership part of the CC BY-SA 4.0 licensing statement of my work?
Listing all names right there in the notice is not scalable if there are many contributors, but the CC-BY-* 4.0 license seems fairly flexible on the details of “reasonable attribution”. The license ...
- 39.4k
4
votes
Maintainer ignores PRs but spends a lot of time on Stack Overflow
Yes, it is reasonable, but it will be most reasonable if you create yourself the patches for the docs / wiki. So, don't just go around suggesting things to be improved. Improve them on your own, and ...
- 299
4
votes
Did it ever happen that an open source project's leader (BDFL) died? If so, what happened to the project?
There have been some projects in the TeX world (e.g. tex4ht, biblatex) where the original author suddenly died or otherwise vanished. The LPPL has a mechanism for taking over maintenance of such ...
- 265
3
votes
Open-source, when (not) to go on a crusade for a feature?
Yes, open source has a way to address exactly the issue you're having.
It's called "forking". It means you create your own version of the software. In Github, it can happen by just pressing one ...
- 299
3
votes
What additional benefits does the DCO provide?
Case study: GitLab
GitLab had MIT and Apache codebases both covered by a CLA. They switched to the DCO for both, citing ease-of-use and honouring contributor rights as the primary concern (as ...
- 2,080
3
votes
A worldwide software todo list
In my experience all the best free software comes from a developer scratching his/her own personal itch. It's really unlikely, on a planet with several billion people, that you're the only person ...
- 53k
2
votes
Is the entire beta/release candidate process of open source projects mostly just "for show"?
I'm not sure this question is going to survive the community much longer, but I personally think it contains a genuine question that admits of an answer.
PHP8 isn't in any major distro yet (that I'm ...
- 53k
2
votes
How do I (a beginner) find a bug in a project on Github?
To contribute to an open source project, a good way to start is by helping out with the documentation. The documentation is usually lacking completeness, or is outdated.
For example, try to build or ...
- 171
2
votes
How do I (a beginner) find a bug in a project on Github?
Going over code is a decent way to teach yourself and I commend you for wanting to contribute. First though, if you are just really excited to get out there and contribute, perhaps the bugs you should ...
- 21
2
votes
Accepted
Does inbound=outbound apply to GPL-family without a CLA?
Yes, submissions to a GPL codebase remain under the same GPL variant. This is specifically because of the copyleft mechanism. For example, from section 10 of the GPLv3 license text:
Each time you ...
- 2,080
2
votes
Accepted
Is there a standard way to declare inbound=outbound?
I have not found an already-established phrase used to express this. I'm going with:
Additional contributions under the same terms are welcome.
- 2,080
1
vote
How do I make GPL "or later" contributions to a GPL "only" project?
I am not a lawyer
IMHO, going from GPLv3 to GPLv3+ is a license change, perhaps legally as important as going from GPLv2 to GPLv3. However, GPLv3 and GPLv3+ are compatible licenses.
If your ...
- 1,377
1
vote
How do I make GPL "or later" contributions to a GPL "only" project?
Unless you are contributing a huge amount of code, modifying the headers in such a way is generally not a good idea. What you could do instead is simply to ask the owners of the project.
- 5,727
1
vote
user communication with open source
I think the obstacles are much less than you'd encounter with a closed-source project. For the ones I'm involved with, the main obstacle is that the user needs to subscribe to a mailing list, a forum,...
- 3,931
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible