Using name instead of initials

Samir Saidani saidani at info.unicaen.fr
Tue Sep 13 21:29:35 UTC 2005


Hello goran !

goran at krampe.se writes:

> Now, the whole point with being able to track *indefinitely* is a simple
> one: code ownership
>
> That code is copyrighted by you and it is vitally important for open
> source projects to keep track of where code comes from. Just see the
> whole SCO vs Linux shebang.
>
> So no, I don't think it is fine to simply "forget" old dev ids. That is
> a bad thing. Hopefully it is now clear why I think we need to "think a
> bit" before we start changing dev ids all willy nilly. Ok?

Yes, you raise a central point : code ownership. I don't say that we
must forget old dev ids, because most of people in the domain of
opensource (and beyond of course) think that it is very important to
say that they are the author of a piece of code. A large part of the
structure of our society is determined by our will to possess.  But it
implies complexity, e.g. the complexity of different licences, the
problem of compatibility between different opensource licences,
etc... For me, it sounds strange and not economic. Maybe simplicity is
in the anonymity... Perhaps we have to think deeply to understand why
we want to copyright our code, particularly in the context of the
so-called free software, where freedom seems to be a fundamental
issue. For my part, I write anonymous code, my name is only here to
give a possibility of communication when the code has just been
written. Then this name expires.

Regards,
Samir.



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