Re: Questions for Thomas Dickey

[Thomas Dickey]

On Thu, 8 Jul 2004, Ahmad Attia wrote:

>
>
>
>
> Hi Thomas,
>
> The ncurses ANNOUNCE file shows that you are the maintainer of the ncurses
> code.  I have developed an application and it dynamically linked to the
> ncurses library.  RIght now I am filling out some legal forms and needs
> some answers to some questions in the form.  If you can answer these
> questions I would really appreciate it.
>
> Does the maintainer perform any review of contributions (other than a
>       technical review) to understand whether he has the right to
>       redistribute the code or does the maintainer accept contributions
>       without asking questions?  Please explain.

The policy is that substantial contributions (more than a few lines of
code) would require the contributor to submit paperwork to FSF.   I've
only seen a very few cases of that though (none recently incorporated,
and in fact no more than a handful of patches as long as this email ;-).

>
>
> Specifically, does the maintainer require contributors to accept/sign any
>       kind of contributor?s statement?  If yes, please provide a copy in
>       Exhibit B.
>
>       Yes __      No ___

see above.  For short patches, the code itself is not the important part,
but identifying the improvement or fix precisely is what is important.

> How long has this package been available?  Has the license changed over
>       time?

about ten years.  The license changed in 1998 to the present form.

> Has this code been distributed by others?  If yes, who and how so?

it is widely distributed (most Unix and similar systems provide some sort
of package)

>
> Are you aware of any patents (whether IBM or third party patents) on these
>       types of function? If yes, please list.
>
>       Yes __ (list below)     No ___

no.

> Please list the likely patent holders for this type of functionality.

most of the technology involved is more than 20 years old (it is possible
that some improvements could be patented, but I've not encountered any
discussion of this sort of thing in a meaningful way).

-- 
Thomas E. Dickey
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net