Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1754506AbYG3RAw (ORCPT ); Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:00:52 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751145AbYG3RAo (ORCPT ); Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:00:44 -0400 Received: from smtp1.linux-foundation.org ([140.211.169.13]:50359 "EHLO smtp1.linux-foundation.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751080AbYG3RAn (ORCPT ); Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:00:43 -0400 Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:56:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Linus Torvalds To: Adrian Bunk cc: Rene Herman , Stefan Richter , Jon Smirl , Paul Mundt , James Morris , Randy Dunlap , Dave Jones , Theodore Tso , Simon Arlott , lkml Subject: Re: 463 kernel developers missing! In-Reply-To: <20080730153247.GA21597@cs181140183.pp.htv.fi> Message-ID: References: <20080728234131.GD28055@linux-sh.org> <9e4733910807281714h2918fcbey77c8d1cea902a3fd@mail.gmail.com> <488E644D.7000507@keyaccess.nl> <9e4733910807281750p52cf150lacd0e237732046e7@mail.gmail.com> <488EF377.5080603@keyaccess.nl> <20080730072448.GB1564@cs181140183.pp.htv.fi> <4890284E.3050806@s5r6.in-berlin.de> <20080730124650.GB19966@cs181140183.pp.htv.fi> <4890646D.3060000@keyaccess.nl> <20080730153247.GA21597@cs181140183.pp.htv.fi> User-Agent: Alpine 1.10 (LFD 962 2008-03-14) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2722 Lines: 56 On Wed, 30 Jul 2008, Adrian Bunk wrote: > > I've added Linus to the recipients since stuff like e.g. Tested-by or > Bisected-by tags actually undermine what the DCE 1.1 update should > have accomplished. So if DCE 1.1 (d) is considered to be legally > required for public indefinite storage of name and email address > we have a problem here. Quite frankly, since the patches are public anyway, and the code is open source, I personally think that worry is just silly fear-mongering by people who take lawyers not just too seriously, but then think that judges and lawyers are too stupid to think for themselves. We added the lines to the DCO-1.1 because we wanted to make it _obvious_ that the legal requirements for the sign-off would never clash with any possible insane reading of things, but it was a "dot the i's" kind of thing. The fact is, people who are involved in Linux know it's public. People make public bug-reports, and they _expect_ to get attributed. I think any worries about indefinite storage should be the other way around: we should strive to make sure that the attributions are consistent and correct. If somebody really doesn't want their name and email known, they can say that. We won't accept patches from them, but it's certainly no problem to suppress "tested-by" etc things on request. Not that I have ever seen such a request that I can remember, nor do I really expect to ever see one (unless it's as a perverse reaction to this email where people just want to be silly). Anyway, normal people talking about obscure and insane readings of some random law is stupid. You should worry about "doing the right thing", not about trying to read law as if it was some mindless machine that acted like the computers you're used to. Let's face it, _everybody_ breaks laws if you think about them as some inflexible and absolute rules. Probably every day. You roll through a STOP-sign (in California, it was almost as if that's what the sign _meant_). Maybe you take a shortcut when crossing the street and you don't walk _exactly_ on the zebra-crossing (or against a red light just because there were obviously no cars within _miles_ of you). Maybe you drive 58mph in a 55 zone. Maybe you walk around and spit out the cherry-pits on the street rather than in a garbage can. Only insane people with OCD cannot understand that things aren't ever that black-and-white. Use your good _judgement_ for chrissake! Linus -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/