Re: [Boost-users] Why is there so much co-dependency in Boost? Is there anything to be done about it?

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] Why is there so much co-dependency in Boost? Is there anything to be done about it?
From: Sebastian Redl (sebastian.redl_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-09-07 02:59:36

On 06.09.2012 19:21, Charles Mills wrote:
> The "offending" code unfortunately does not even have to come from the 
> Internet:
>
> Jones is working on a software project. He engages his buddy Smith to 
> write portions of the code on a handshake sub-contractor basis. Jones 
> subsequently contributes some of the code to Boost or another open 
> source project, with all of the proper paperwork.
>
And all of the proper style normalization.
>
> Smith probably has a copyright claim on any code that uses the open 
> source project.
>
> Smith is a nice guy and told Jones "he would never sue anybody" but 
> when he sees the name Disney the cash register in his mind goes 
> ca-ching! He rationalizes suing on the basis that Disney (or fill in 
> your favorite corporation) is part of the evil empire.
>
>
I still wonder how code review, even of a thousand lines of code, is 
going to make a difference here. When Jones submitted his thing to Boost 
(or any other open source project), he probably went over it and made 
small changes to conform to style guidelines. Maybe Jones and Smith knew 
each other from college and had the same teachers and worked on projects 
together, so their coding styles are very similar in the first place. 
How is any reviewer (who doesn't even know Smith exists) going to notice 
that the code isn't all Jones's to begin with?

I'm not asking this just to be ornery. I'm actually genuinely curious if 
somebody thinks there is any technical merit to this process, or if it's 
all just legal window dressing.

On another legal note, wouldn't Jones be liable if he published code 
that isn't his under an open-source license? The license says that the 
author cannot be held liable for any damages coming from using the code, 
but in this case, Jones doesn't have the copyright, so he can't release 
the code under the license, so the license wouldn't apply.
So I wonder if a company that got sued over code that is in Boost but 
wasn't properly released by the actual author but instead by someone 
else could claim that they used the code in good faith and forward the 
blame to whoever released it.
(Which probably wouldn't help Disney much if their release is delayed, 
but it might make Smith think twice about suing if doing so would get 
Jones into trouble.)

Sebastian