Re: [gpsd-dev] [PATCH 1/2] hacking: mention signing off on patches and why it's a good thing.

[Fred Wright]

On Mon, 28 Mar 2016, Paul Fertser wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 28, 2016 at 12:18:57PM +0200, Beat Bolli wrote:
> > +<p>We like getting patches made using <code>git format-patch
> > +--signoff</code> from a repository clone, as this means we don't
> > +have to compose a change comment and attribution. The --signoff option
> > +of git format-patch adds a Signed-off-by: line to the end of your commit
> > +message. It certifies that you have the rights to submit the patch under
> > +GPSD's BSD licence (see the <a href='#license'>next section</a>).</p>
>
> Please consider linking to http://developercertificate.org/ which is
> more explicit about the meaning of the SOB line.

Well it's more explicit about *a* meaning of the SOB line, which is
actually project-specific (this is made clear in the git documentation).
My patches so far have always been signed off by whomever made the
"official" commit, leading me to believe that it was more of a code review
signoff than a licensing signoff.  But I could have been wrong about that,
and adding the above link is the first official statement I've seen.

If having contributors include their own SOB lines is preferred, then they
should be encouraged to do it in the commit rather than in the
format-patch, so that the initial local commit message matches the
official commit message.  And if the patch is transferred via git tools
rather than via email, it might even preserve the commit ID.

Fred Wright