Comment by therealpygon

Comment by therealpygon 4 days ago

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Because when you sign away copyright, the software can be relicensed and taken closed source for all future improvements. Sure, people can still use the last open version, maybe fork it to try to keep going, but that simply doesn’t work out most times. I refuse to contribute to any project that requires me to give them copyright instead of contributing under copyleft; it’s just free contractors until the VCs come along and want to get their returns.

setopt 4 days ago

> I refuse to contribute to any project that requires me to give them copyright instead of contributing under copyleft

Please note that even GNU themselves require you to do this, see e.g. GNU Emacs which requires copyright assignment to the FSF when you submit patches. So there are legitimate reasons to do this other than being able to close the source later.

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  • wolvesechoes 4 days ago

    I will start being worried about GNU approach the day they accept VC money.

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  • therealpygon 3 days ago

    FSF and GNU are stewards of copyleft, and FSF is structured under 501(c)(3). Assigning copyright to FSF whose significant purpose is to defend and encourage copyleft…is contributing under copyleft in my mind. They would face massive backlash (and GNU would likely face lawsuits from FSF) were they to attempt such a thing. Could they? Possibly. Would they? Exceptionally unlikely.

    So yes, I trust a non-profit, and a collective with nearly 50 years of history supporting copyleft, implicitly more than I will ever trust a company or project offering a software while requiring THEY be assigned the copyright rather than a license. Even your statement holds a difference; they require assignment to FSF, not the project or its maintainers.

    That’s just listening to history, not really a gotcha to me.

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  • teddyh 4 days ago

    > even GNU themselves require you to do this

    Some GNU projects require this; it’s up to the individual maintainers of each specific GNU project whether to require this or not. Many don’t.

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