[opensource-wg] Call for contributions: Example credit policy

Dear Valerie,


Thank you for your message.


Am 20.12.23 um 03:27 schrieb Valerie Aurora:

> Thanks for everyone's enthusiasm at the RIPE session about the open
> source project credit policy! While recovering from COVID I managed to
> put together a starting draft that included all of the suggestions I
> could remember.
> 
> Please edit the draft, via comments, suggestions, or direct edits:
> 
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A4PVQ8iAZFPWySxMdY-EYDArII3BrlK_t70Cek6iwhc/edit?usp=sharing
> 
> Please don't share this link outside this group but do feel free to
> share copies or solicit outside feedback. A copy of the current text
> is at the end of this email.

(I always wonder, why a Open Source group use proprietary software like 
Google Docs. Does RIPE offer alternatives already? Otherwise, I’d 
suggest some Git repository.)

> Thank you in particular to Maria Matějka, Martin Winter, and Marcos
> Sanz for many excellent points and solutions.
> 
> Valerie
> 
> Link to video and slides: https://ripe87.ripe.net/programme/meeting-plan/os-wg/

Thank you for your very professional presentation.

> Introduction
> 
> The purpose of this document is to develop an example credit policy: a
> written description of how an open source software project gives
> credit for contributions.
> 
> The problem: people disagree about credit for contributions
> 
> Open source software projects receive a wide variety of contributions
> from many different people and organizations. Each contributor has
> their own assumptions and expectations for what kind of credit
> contributions should receive. When there is a mismatch between the
> credit a contributor expects to get and what they actually get, the
> project suffers.

I’d say: … project could suffer.

> This is an especially important problem for open source software
> because the main motivation for contributing is often recognition and
> credit; when people don't receive what they expect, they are less
> likely to contribute in the future.
I disagree with this statement – especially what the main motivation is. 
It’s about scratching an itch, or to contribute to something bitter, ….

> Two concrete examples:
> 
> How I got robbed of my first kernel contribution – Ariel Miculas

[…]

I took the time to read Ariel’s article, and I think this is blown out 
of proportion. Ariel was credited, and the subsystem maintainer Michael 
apologized. Things happen.

Has this issue come up more often in the RIPE related Open source 
projects (BIRD, Quagga, OpenBGPD, XORP, DHCP, RRDtool, ntop and Nagios, 
…), that the working group wants to take this on?


Kind regards,

Paul