Use-package: Getting assignment forms before submission into Emacs

[jwiegley]

• [x] ~@BernardHurley~
• [x] @DamienCassou (Damien Cassou)
• [x] @Fuco1 (Matus Goljer)
• [x] ~@MaikuMori (Miks Kalnins)~
• [x] @PhilHudson (Phil Hudson)
• [x] @Silex (Philippe Vaucher)
• [x] @YoungFrog (Nicolas Richard)
• [x] @aethanyc (Ting-Yu Lin)
• [x] @alezost (Alex Kost)
• [ ] @andschwa (Andy Schwartzmeyer)
• [x] @aspiers (Adam Spiers)
• [x] @basil-conto (Basil L. Contovounesios)
• [x] ~@bdd (Berk D. Demir)~
• [x] @canatella
• [x] ~@carldotac (Carl Lieberman)~
• [x] ~@cmpitg (Ha-Duong Nguyen)~
• [x] @dabrahams (Dave Abrahams)
• [x] @dudebout (Nicolas Dudebout)
• [x] ~@edvorg (Eduard Knyshov)~
• [x] @ffevotte (François Févotte)
• [x] ~@hartzell (George Hartzell)~
• [x] @jabranham (Alex Branham)
• [x] @joewreschnig (Joe Wreschnig)
• [x] @justbur (Justin Burkett)
• [x] @kaushalmodi (Kaushal Modi)
• [x] @killdash9 (Russell Black)
• [ ] @kovrik
• [x] ~@marcwebbie (Marcwebbie)~
• [x] ~@matklad (Aleksey Kladov)~
• [x] ~@mcandre (Andrew)~
• [x] ~@milkypostman (Donald Curtis)~
• [x] @nickmccurdy (Nick McCurdy)
• [x] @npostavs (Noam Postavsky)
• [x] @peterhoeg (Peter Hoeg)
• [x] @phillord (Phil Lord)
• [x] @phst (Philipp)
• [x] @purcell (Steve Purcell)
• [x] @raxod502 (Radon Rosborough)
• [x] ~@rememberYou (Terencio Agozzino)~
• [x] ~@syl20bnr (Sylvain Benner)~
• [x] @tarsius (Jonas Bernoulli)
• [x] ~@thiagowfx (Thiago Perrotta)~
• [ ] @thomasf (Thomas Frössman)
• [x] @vermiculus (Sean Allred)
• [x] ~@vyp~
• [x] @waymondo (Justin Talbott)

To everyone who has contributed code to use-package: I would like to include use package in the next version of Emacs, but to do so, I need copyright assignment forms to be signed by anyone who has added code to use-package. If you do not wish to sign such a copyright assignment form, let me know so that I can find a way to back out any changes you may have made.

It's quite possible that due to recent code rewrites, your change may not appear anymore. If that is the case, I only ask that you verify this, so I can take you off of the list of people I need assignment forms from.

Thank you!

John

[MaikuMori]

I have only contributed to the README.md so far, but I have no objection to signing the copyright form especially if it works for any kind of contributions to Emacs, not just this package.

[npostavs]

I have already signed papers for Emacs contributions.

[thomasf]

I've been meaning to do this for a while so this is a good push! Last time I got lost trying to figure out exactly how I should start the process (due to lack of time)..
Just to make it clear here, should we as, as future contributors start this process by sending e-mail to [email protected] ?

[ffevotte]

Hi, I've already signed the FSF copyright assignment form. Should I send you something so that you can verify? (I should be able to retrieve the scanned form from my mail archive...)

[waymondo]

I have not signed anything but would be very happy to.

[Silex]

I'm okay too, what do we need to do?

[tarsius]

I have already signed papers for Emacs contributions. And have no objections to use-package becoming part of Emacs and my copyright assignment therefore covering that library too.

[phillord]

@thomasf You need to send some information to [email protected]. I will email you (and anyone else) the form. The FSF then send you the real forms (the process and forms, unfortunately, depend on your country of residence).

@jwiegley The FSF have my forms!

[jwiegley]

@MaikuMori Yes, you can sign a more general form with the FSF that covers anything you might contribute to Emacs. You'll have to get it approved by your place of work, so that the FSF is certain it is valid for you to sign the form. Send any questions you might have to [email protected].

Sorry if it should have been obvious to me that some of you already have your forms signed, I just sent this to all past contributors in order to be sure to not miss anyone!

[thiagowfx]

Could you please list the steps needed to be done? I am happy to sign the form, but I don't have time to search for stuff and run after it myself, at least not for now, so i detailed and self-contained instructions are provided, you can count on me.

[jwiegley]

@thiagowfx Just send an e-mail to [email protected]. Tell them either that you'd like to sign a copyright assignment for contributions to use-package.el to be included in future versions of Emacs; or say that you'd like to sign a general assignment form for any future contributions to Emacs. They will send you the PDF that you need to sign and return to them.

[thomasf]

@phillord Thanks. I understand why the process is somewhat manual, I don't think the way that copyright assignment like it is described on the FSF site (from a US point of view?) is compatible with Swedish law where you either are required to have an actual contract to establish ownership of code with the exception of public domain which is allowed.

[thiagowfx]

@jwiegley Okay, I just e-mailed them. I will unsubscribe from notifications from this issue now.

[phillord]

@thomasf The process on the FSF is just to make sure that you get the right forms! I am sure that they will have got Swedish law figured out.

[jwiegley]

@thiagowfx Ok, thanks, please let me know when your process is completed. I'm going to be maintaining a checklist, and will reach out again to people if I've not heard back in a few weeks.

[mcandre]

+1 applied for copyright consent form. Thanks for pushing for use-package as an Emacs built-in, it's a great addition!

[vermiculus]

I do hope that unquoting lambda forms is insignificant enough for the FSF to just be 'anonymous' or something like that. I've had great difficulty in getting the forms signed by my employer in the past, though maybe they would react differently to something that I spent time on before this job :smile:

I'll ask.

[MaikuMori]

Email sent. I will let you know when the process is done.

On Wed, 11 Nov 2015 at 23:14 Andrew Pennebaker [email protected]
wrote:

+1 applied for copyright consent form. Thanks for pushing for use-package
as an Emacs built-in, it's a great addition!

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.

[DamienCassou]

Already sent mine years ago.

[syl20bnr]

Email sent. I will let you know when the process is done.

Same here.

[dabrahams]

Long since done.

[vyp]

Sent email.

[bdd]

You can remove me from the list. My pull request was only whitespace fixes.

[peterhoeg]

Email sent.

[matklad]

My contribution is very minor (a quote added, it is not even shown in blame now), do I still need to sign a form? The signing would require more effort then the contribution did :)

[YoungFrog]

I already have an assignment for emacs.

[edvorg]

I've sent an email.

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015, 9:48 AM Nicolas Richard [email protected]
wrote:

I already have an assignment for emacs.

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.

[purcell]

I already have an assignment for emacs.

Me too.

[Silex]

@jwiegley: I only have documentation/typo fixes... can I just "give" those change to you (anonymous is fine)? I don't feel like going throught the whole assignment process just for silly changes like this.

[aspiers]

I also already have FSF copyright assignment for emacs as per http://orgmode.org/worg/org-contribute.html#contributors_with_fsf_papers. Congratulations on the appointment BTW! Looking forward to seeing some great improvements :)

[PhilHudson]

On 11 November 2015 at 20:43, John Wiegley [email protected] wrote:

I would like to include
use package in the next version of Emacs, but to do so, I need copyright
assignment forms to be signed by anyone who has added code to use-package.

​I've signed the FSF papers (prompted by BBDB, several years back).

I asked the Emacs.el podcast guy just a couple of days ago to ask you
whether you planned to do this when he interviews you. Guess I know now.
:-)​

Phil Hudson http://hudson-it.ddns.net
@UWascalWabbit PGP/GnuPG ID: 0x887DCA63

[jwiegley]

@Silex @matklad If the changes are minor enough, such as correcting a typo, no assignment is needed.

[Silex]

:+1:

[vyp]

@jwiegley I just checked, and it also looks like my changes are minor, just typo fixes: https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package/commits?author=vyp. So I think it's okay for no assignment. Otherwise just let me know.

[waymondo]

@jwiegley assignment email sent

[alezost]

I signed papers for Emacs contributions last year.

[jwiegley]

Thank you everyone for being so responsive to this. It will help us get use-package.el into the tarball for 25.1.

[cmpitg]

@jwiegley Sorry for the late reply. Mine was just a simple one-word typo fix as well[1].

[1] https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package/commits/master/README.md?author=cmpitg

[aethanyc]

@jwiegley: I've already signed the assignment for Emacs two years ago. It's great to see use-package to be included in Emacs.

[thomasf]

I'll let you know when my assignment form process has finished

[thiagowfx]

Hey @jwiegley, I began the assignment but I then realized it was more complicated than it should, at least for me. Anyways, I reviewed my commits and then suddenly realized that the only one was actually a typo: https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package/commit/90644b578f82def2a6053b0233839500307b7007

In this case, I believe the assignment is not really necessary -- if my contributions were more significative, then it would probably be worth the effort of filling the form, but I think not in this case. Agreed?

[jwiegley]

@thiagowfx Agreed.

[mcandre]

My contribution so far is a minor README tweak. Consider me to have agreed
to all applicable licensing for all GNU projects. Forms suck.

On Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 10:11 AM, John Wiegley [email protected]
wrote:

@thiagowfx https://github.com/thiagowfx Agreed.

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Cheers,
Andrew

[milkypostman]

I changed a header line. Do I need to do anything further. Sorry for spam to everyone else.

https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package/commit/719f7a146cb2b3fdbc1b075eb83e282645121129

[jwiegley]

Documentation changes, typos, and other truly minor edits, do not need a copyright assignment.

[hartzell]

My changes are just minor doc fixes.

[dudebout]

I just completed the copyright assignment process.

[thomasf]

I havent had time to get somewhere i have pribter access yet so I have not been able to send the form yet..

[syl20bnr]

@jwiegley Sorry for the late reply, I still don't have received anything and my contribution to use-package is a small fix which can be considered a minor edit.
See commit https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package/commit/d5efa6fcbd0acaf1196cd2f47748b818d3ac7674

Oh and Happy New Year :-)

[peterhoeg]

@jwiegley - fairly slow turnaround from here, but I have (finally) submitted the signed form.

[jwiegley]

@peterhoeg Thank you! I think soon I'll do a review to see if we have everything we need to move to GNU ELPA, and if not, it may mean rewriting some sections.

[MaikuMori]

@jwiegley Still haven't received any response, but my contribution was minor (readme) so don't have to wait for me.

[marcwebbie]

I don't see any form to sign.

2016-01-25 16:07 GMT-02:00 Miks Kalnins [email protected]:

@jwiegley https://github.com/jwiegley Still haven't received any
response, but my contribution was minor (readme) so don't have to wait for
me.

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.

[jwiegley]

@marcwebbie Send a message to [email protected].

[edvorg]

Hi @jwiegley, I found that my change was reverted due to some bugs in
compile time mode, so no need to wait for my submission as well.

On Tue, Jan 26, 2016, 3:20 AM John Wiegley [email protected] wrote:

@marcwebbie https://github.com/marcwebbie Send a message to
[email protected].

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[rski]

Hi @jwiegley, are you still looking into bringing use-package into Emacs?

[jwiegley]

Indeed, my summer just became catastrophically busy. It's in no way less important to me, though.

[rski]

@jwiegley is there any way I can help? I could try rounding up the contributors again for copyright assignment.

[jwiegley]

@rski Your help is most welcome! Really we just need to make a checklist. I have the list of assignments here, so even just building the checklist to start would help me, as then my task is limited to merely checking off names.

[rski]

great, I had a checklist in mind as well. I'll do it sometime later today.

[phillord]

@rski @jwiegley I've been working with [email protected] to make this process a bit easier to manage. This might be a good opportunity to see if it works. Want to email for details?

[jwiegley]

Mail sent, but I don't know @rski 's address.

[Silex]

@jwiegley: I forgot to update you with this but my copyrights were assigned to GNU (I only have typo commits tho).

[jwiegley]

Ok, this is next on the TODO list. :)

[thomasf]

I'm not sure that any of my code still is traceable in use-package but I have finally bought a printer so that I can print and send the assigment form back..

[hartzell]

@jwiegley -- my only contribution appears to be this documentation related buglet fix.

Do you need an assignment for that?

[jwiegley]

@hartzell No, it won't be needed for that fix, thanks for asking!

[BernardHurley]

Sorry for leaving this so long but I have had a numbers of medical problems. I can’t remember off hand what I contributed but I will willingly sign a assignment, if needed. How do I go about it?

[jwiegley]

@BernardHurley I'm sorry to hear about your health, Bernard. I hope things have turned to the better in the meantime!

If you send an e-mail to [email protected] and ask them for forms for contributing to GNU Emacs, they will help you through the process.

[ReneFroger]

What is the current status of this? Is use-package already included in MELPA yet?

[rchar01]

Hi, what's the current status?
Do you have a current list of authors/commits without signed assignment forms?

[basil-conto]

I have already signed papers for Emacs contributions.

[kaushalmodi]

My assignment is on file too.

[killdash9]

I have also signed papers for Emacs contributions.

On Tue, Apr 21, 2020 at 7:14 PM Basil L. Contovounesios <
[email protected]> wrote:

I have already signed papers for Emacs contributions.

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[carldotac]

My only contributions were fixing typos in documentation.
https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package/commits?author=carldotac
My understanding is you don't need assignment from me, but if it's helpful, I'll fill out the forms.

[justbur]

My copyright assignment is on file

[Silex]

Is this still active? I said my copyright assignment was done ages ago and I'm still not ticked. I suspect this issue should be closed.

[rememberYou]

Sorry for the delay in responding,

I didn't have any notification about this issue. I sent an e-mail to [email protected] according to sign the copyright assignment for use-package.

[canatella]

I've signed at merge time, so I guess I'm still ok.

[raxod502]

I have a copyright assignment on file, although I would like to point out that I am unwilling to assign copyright for any of my work except as I explicitly specify. I am fine assigning copyright for my contributions to use-package.

[joewreschnig]

My papers are on file.

[raxod502]

@jwiegley I went through the thread and updated the checklist in the OP. There are 10 people left who have >15 lines of contributions, but who haven't said here that they signed paperwork. (Does the FSF not maintain a public listing of people on file, or is it not possible to send them a list of people for verification?)

[jabranham]

I've signed the FSF copyright forms.

[nickmccurdy]

I seem to have more minor changes, mostly documentation/configuration, and the only one directly involving code just adds 3 lines. Would I still need to submit paperwork, and if so, is emailing [email protected] still the easiest way? Either way I'd happily consent to allowing my copyrighted work into Emacs and attribution would be nice.

[phst]

My contributions should be covered by an existing agreement between Google and the FSF.

[Fuco1]

Hi, I have signed the emacs contributor agreement on 11 Feb 2015, you can check me completed :)

[dudebout]

@raxod502, I went through the list in the summary, and noted a few missing entries:

• [X] Fuco1 (done on February 11 2015)
• [ ] andschwa
• [X] dudebout (done on December 10 2015)
• [ ] kovrik
• [X] nickmccurdy (minor changes only)
• [X] phst (should be covered by Google/FSF agreement)
• [ ] thomasf (engaged in the thread but no confirmation)
• [X] vermiculus (minor changes only: unquoting lambda forms)
• [X] waymondo (done on November 11 2015)

[andschwa]

Hi, I have signed copyright assignment forms for my contributions to GNU Emacs already. However, last I heard (~December) they were still reviewing the disclaimer from my company. Just sent an email off to the copyright clerk to see where that landed.

Edit: for what it's worth, it appears that my changes were only to documentation, so perhaps you don't have to wait on my assignment anyway.

[jwiegley]

Looks like we are very close to being able to make a patch submission to Emacs! Just three more contributors to confirm?

[andschwa]

Hi all,

The last I heard from the FSF copyright clerk was in July, his response was:

Thanks for checking in. There is nothing new to report at this time, but you reminder has been sent up the chain. Feel free to ping me as often as you would like, and I will pass those along as well. I do apologize for the time this is taking.

I will ping again, but my copyright assignment paperwork is signed and turned in, this is all in the hands of the clerk (and I guess FSF legal too) right now.

[progfolio]

@phillord Thanks. I understand why the process is somewhat manual, I don't think the way that copyright assignment like it is described on the FSF site (from a US point of view?) is compatible with Swedish law where you either are required to have an actual contract to establish ownership of code with the exception of public domain which is allowed.

@thomasf:

I reached out to the FSF regarding the above comment to see if they could offer some clarification.
Here's the response I got:

I'm not sure the scenario that was described is accurate for Sweden. However, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but if it is necessary the FSF can seek out legal counsel to verify (although this will take additional time).

A couple of factors lead me to believe we can accept copyright assignment from Swedish citizens.

1. We have accepted dozens and dozens (if not hundreds) of copyright assignments and disclaimers from Swedish citizens starting as early as 1987.

2. Sweden has signed on to the Berne Convention which would make it operate like almost all countries when it comes to copyright. https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/notifications/berne/treaty_berne_45.html

As I mentioned, I am not a lawyer, but I have access to one if necessary.

[progfolio]

I've also reached out to @kovrik on github and reddit to see if they could comment on their intent on whether or not they will follow through with the paperwork. Have not heard back.

[kovrik]

@progfolio
Hi,

Sorry for such a late response.
Yes sure, I have no issues with that.
Will flick an email to [email protected] (is that the easiest way?).

Cheers,
kovrik

[progfolio]

Not a problem! Appreciate the response. Yes, you've got the idea.
As John described above: https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package/issues/282#issuecomment-155909393

Just let them know your intention and they'll send you an email with further instructions.
Thank you.

[mplscorwin]

Hello. I notice some conversation on emacs-devel today suggesting, I think incorrectly, that progress has stalled on this. Can I ask for an updated status on assignment and merge to Emacs core?

Thank you so much for use-package and especially for all of the administivia around this task; can't wait to see this capability in core!

[andschwa]

Update on my case: I’ve been informed my papers are next in line for review. Maybe we’ll be done with this soon!

[jwiegley]

OK, I've talked with the other maintainers and we're a go for integration. I'll get the commit ready this week, and as soon as we have either papers signed or replacements for work unsigned, it can go in!

[thomasf]

So I have just packed up the printer I bought a few years ago just to print out the copyright assignment form.. Will try to install it today and mail it during the coming weeks when I have an errand to go outside the house where I can send a letter.

I'd still much rather give an unlimited usage licence to the FSF to do what they want with my code because copyright assignment is much less legally certain here. This is mostly for FSF's' sake though and IANAL so I'll sign it if that is what you want.

[jwiegley]

Thank you @thomasf, whatever it is that the FSF requires to include your work with Emacs. I have no personal preferences as to the extent of the liberties you allow.

[progfolio]

So I have just packed up the printer I bought a few years ago just to print out the copyright assignment form.. Will try to install it today and mail it during the coming weeks when I have an errand to go outside the house where I can send a letter.

The form can be signed digitally, too. May be more convenient than digging out the printer if you're familiar with gpg.

[MatthewZMD]

mail it during the coming weeks when I have an errand to go outside the house where I can send a letter.

@thomasf The letter doesn't have to be mailed, you can simply send them through email.

Will flick an email to [email protected] (is that the easiest way?).

@kovrik You can ask for a letter at [email protected] too.

[thomasf]

So I have just packed up the printer I bought a few years ago just to print out the copyright assignment form.. Will try to install it today and mail it during the coming weeks when I have an errand to go outside the house where I can send a letter.

The form can be signed digitally, too. May be more convenient than digging out the printer if you're familiar with gpg.

Oh, I don't think this was available when I started the process in 2015 or it was very secret.

I only have the PDF version that I got emailed in 2015, should I contact [email protected] again to get new info on how to digitally sign using gnupg?

[kidd]

I'm following this thread like reaching the end of an epic novel that you want to finish, but you really don't want to end, because you're so engaged with the characters you'll miss them afterwards.

/r/oddlysatisfying and wholesome.

A huge thanks everyone involved on this mission. You rock!

[progfolio]

So I have just packed up the printer I bought a few years ago just to print out the copyright assignment form.. Will try to install it today and mail it during the coming weeks when I have an errand to go outside the house where I can send a letter.

The form can be signed digitally, too. May be more convenient than digging out the printer if you're familiar with gpg.

Oh, I don't think this was available when I started the process in 2015 or it was very secret.

I only have the PDF version that I got emailed in 2015, should I contact [email protected] again to get new info on how to digitally sign using gnupg?

If the pdf is the contract that you would physically sign, then you can just sign it with gpg and send that with your public key back to the FSF contact. I did mine recently, so I do not know if the process or paperwork has changed since 2015.

[thomasf]

I just tried to find some information about digitally signing.. It seems like it maybe was introduced in 2016 but it's only available for USA or Italy.

After receiving the necessary form, the contributor needs to sign it. Contributors residing in the USA or Italy may use GPG in order to sign their assignment. Contributors located anywhere else can print, sign, and then email (or fax) a scanned copy back to the FSF.

https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/Copyright-Papers.html

I have already had COVID19 once and haven't fully recovered yet after 5 months so I'm not leaving home unless I have a very important reason so I'll post it when I can.

[MatthewZMD]

I just tried to find some information about digitally signing.. It seems like it maybe was introduced in 2016 but it's only available for USA or Italy.

After receiving the necessary form, the contributor needs to sign it. Contributors residing in the USA or Italy may use GPG in order to sign their assignment. Contributors located anywhere else can print, sign, and then email (or fax) a scanned copy back to the FSF.

https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/Copyright-Papers.html

I have already had COVID19 once and haven't fully recovered yet after 5 months so I'm not leaving home unless I have a very important reason so I'll post it when I can.

That's terrible to hear, hope you're feeling better now! :-(

You can print the paper, sign, scan at home and email to [email protected]. You can also fax [phone].

This is part of the email I received from the [email protected] when I was filling out the document couple months ago:

Thank you so much for contributing. Please find the attached PDF(s) of your 
assignment(s) in the email after this one. Please print out the form, sign it, 
and then email a scanned copy in PDF format to <[email protected]> or fax it to us 
at [phone]. You can also send it to us via the postal mail if you prefer:

Copyright & Licensing Associate
Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
Boston, MA 02110

Once the FSF has signed it, we will send you a digital copy in PDF format for 
your records.

You should email them for the latest info, although I doubt there will be any additional changes.

Hope use-package makes into emacs core soon!

[ane]

Why is digital signing only available for residents of the USA and Italy, I wonder?

[thomasf]

Why is digital signing only available for residents of the USA and Italy, I wonder?

Probably because no one on the FSF side has looked into whats legally required from an digital cryptographic signature of any other country.

...

In any case, I printed, signed, scanned, converted back to PDF and e-mailed my back a week or so ago. No reply yet but it should be on in someones inbox at least now.

[thomasf]

My assignment form is also signed by FSF and complete now.