Re: Why are so many great packages not trying to get included in GNU Emacs?

[Phillip Lord]

Stefan Monnier <address@hidden> writes:

>   The mindset on github is one that doesn't encourage careful
>   consideration of licensing and authorship but instead encourages
>   "happy sharing" [ Paradoxically, the FSF's insistence on tracking
>   copyright assignments makes this very problematic (even tho, "happy
>   sharing" is really what we all want to do) unless it's between people
>   who we know have signed the copyright paperwork.  ]


It is worth saying that while the process of getting copyright
assignment is clunky, it is not insurmountable. However, the process of
working out whether someone has copyright assignment already is a total
pain.

It should be possible to check automatically whether commits coming in
from any git repo are from someone who has assigned copyright. That
would, at least, remove the hassle in the case where the papers have
been done.

I have been through the process with dash.el as you know, and while I
managed to get it into ELPA, I have not managed to update it for a while
because there are new contributors and the process is all too painful.

Phil