[CMake] Please help with procedure for making contributions

[David Cole]

On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 8:48 PM, Steven Velez <sbv1976 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> After having searched the cmake web site and wiki, I have been unable
> to find a documented procedure for submitting patches to CMake.   Via
> brwosing the bug tracker and watching this list, it seems generally
> apparent that a non-committer who wants to make a contribution simply
> opens an issue and attaches his (or her) patch.  Is that all there is
> to it?

Yes, that's it. This list and its traffic are the living documentation of
CMake, if you will. While we do have the official "help" documentation web
pages, and there is some good stuff on the Wiki, asking here is the way to
get answers when searching teh Interwebz yields nothing.

To contribute a patch, please search the bug database for an existing issue
(or open a new one if necessary), and attach it there.

To preserve your authorship in the patch, prepare a git commit with the
correct authorship in it, and then use the git command:

  git format-patch -1


>
> I imagine that like most developers working for an organization
> focusing on closed source software, everything I produce is legally
> theirs, so I have been very careful about getting permission from them
> to make a contribution.  However, they would like me to be completely
> sure of all formalities that must be followed in doing so.  For
> example, do you have contributors sign an assignment of copyright or
> some other contributor's agreement?  Are there any cases in which
> contributions will not be covered by the same "BSD" license that CMake
> is covered by. (be aware, that my patch is very small, and we are just
> crossing t's).
>
> Any information would be appreciated.

We do not have an official contributor's agreement that needs to be signed.
But if your patch just blends stuff into the existing code base (crossing
t's or dotting i's), then it becomes part of the existing code base, covered
by the same license CMake is covered by.

I am not a lawyer, but the intent of contributing code to an open source
project is to allow that project to copy it around and freely distribute it.
So if you want to keep any kind of copyright for yourself (or your company),
do not contribute it unless you're willing to allow the project to do that
even though you retain your own copyright. (You'll notice some of the module
files have additional copyrights on top of the standard CMake copyright
notice.)


>
> Thanks,
> Steven

You're welcome,
David


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