From 9dc1f2681874efbf8d13fcdc39efd1f423f211a7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Pekka Paalanen Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2021 11:56:52 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] CONTRIBUTING: make S-o-b mandatory but pseudonym ok This was prompted by a recent discussion on #dri-devel IRC channel, where the use of pseudonyms to maintain anonymity was said to be a normal and accepted practice. See: https://people.freedesktop.org/~cbrill/dri-log/index.php?channel=dri-devel&highlight_names=&date=2021-02-09 and look for the discussion around pq and Lyude. Until then, I was hesitant to accept Signed-off-by's with names that looked very much not a real name. Clarify our documentation that pseudonyms are ok. Note, that is not what the Linux kernel documentation says today in https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst which says that pseudonyms are not ok. According to the discussion, this should probably be fixed in the kernel too. Since we are now ok with pseudonyms in Signed-off-by, there is no reason left to accept any patches without a Signed-off-by. This clarifies our policy and takes the burden of case-by-case consideration away from maintainers. The wording about needing to use a personal email address is my addition. The intention is to ensure a globally unique handle for a person while that person remains anonymous, so that the Signed-off-by cannot be mistaken for someone elses. Signed-off-by: Pekka Paalanen --- CONTRIBUTING.md | 11 +++++++---- 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md index be4dc186..50007e6b 100644 --- a/CONTRIBUTING.md +++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md @@ -96,17 +96,20 @@ cope with the way git log presents them. See [notes on commit messages] for a recommended reading on writing commit messages. -Your patches should also include a Signed-off-by line with your name and -email address which indicates that you agree to the +Your patches must also include a Signed-off-by line with your name +(or pseudonym) and email address which indicates that you agree to the [Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1](DCO-1.1.txt). If you're not the patch's original author, you should -also gather S-o-b's by them (and/or whomever gave the patch to you.) The +also gather S-o-b's from them (and/or whomever gave the patch to you) in +addition to your own S-o-b. The significance of this is that it certifies that you created the patch, that it was created under an appropriate open source license, or provided to you under those terms. This lets us indicate a chain of responsibility for the copyright status of the code. -We won't reject patches that lack S-o-b, but it is strongly recommended. +**Agreeing to DCO 1.1 is mandatory.** Patches without a Signed-off-by cannot +be accepted, but using a pseudonym is fine as long as the email address is +yours personally. When you re-send patches, revised or not, it would be very good to document the changes compared to the previous revision in the commit message and/or the