[Gvsig_english] Why gvSIG CE came about & CLA

[Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas]

El 01/07/11 10:08, Benjamin Ducke escribió:
> Dear all --
> 
> Since there is obviously a real interest to know 
> more about the reasoning behind
> gvSIG CE, let me explain a few things.
> Please note that these are my own, personal thoughts
> and motivations. I cannot speak for all gvSIG CE team 
> members.
> 
> Firstly, on the matter of that CLA.
> Just to clarify: I don't think a CLA is always a bad thing.
> I just don't see the necessity in this case.
> Anyway, it is a thing that has consequences for external
> contributors and thus must be used with care. And it needs to
> be discussed, not just imposed. This much basic democracy and 
> transparency is IMHO a necessity for an open source project.
> 
> Instead, a completed CLA with IMHO strong demands
> (e.g. transfer of exclusive instead of non-exclusive copyright;
> transfer to gvSIG Association instead of a non-profit org
> such as OSGeo) was simply emailed around and everyone pushed
> to sign it. Not good style.

Maybe you haven't understood what the gvSIG Association is. Art 1 from
the gvSIG Association regulation:

***
The “gvSIG Association: Association for the promotion of the FOSS4G
Technologies and  the development of the gvSIG Project”, has been set up
in Valencia as a volunteer  association, in accordance with the “Ley
Orgánica Reguladora del Derecho de Asociación  1/2002” of 22nd March and
the current Regulations.

The aforementioned entity is set up as non-profit organization with a
defined duration
***

http://www.gvsig.com/association/regulation-english

More info at http://www.gvsig.com/association


Anyway, on the CLA request I sent to you and other collaborators I asked
for advice and comments, in fact we made a change on it based on your
CTO comments (that was agreed also by others and approved at TSC board).

We did it in off-list way to not expose publicily who had complains or
comments, in a confidence way I would say. But yes, maybe I was wrong
and I should put that discussion directly on the list on that time, and
force an answer from your side that we didn't get in private.

> 
> In my opinion, the handling of the CLA is symptomatic
> for the (current?) nature of the gvSIG project.

Yes I agree, is the symptom of a serious project wanting to do things
well for everyone and keeping in mind not just the short term technical
side but also long term, strategic topics.

Cheers

-- 
Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas
gvSIG Team at Prodevelop
Technical Collaborations Manager
http://www.gvsig.org
http://www.gvsig.com