Re: On Contributing To Emacs

[Theodor Thornhill]

Akira Kyle <akira@akirakyle.com> writes:

> On Wed, Dec 29, 2021 at 11:30 PM Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:
>>
>> > It is really a shame that this process is so time consuming and
>> > discouraging for someone like me.
>>
>> The word "shame" doesn't belong here IMO, or at least it isn't the
>> copyright assignment process that should be ashamed.  Blame the
>> ridiculous software copyright issues and large corporations that are
>> behind those, and also dishonest people and companies which use free
>> software without making their code freely available.
>>

[...]

> Sorry for the additional noise this caused, I just thought it would be
> important to voice my frustrations here so that the viewpoint from
> someone trying to become a newer contributor is heard. My impression
> is that such viewpoints are underrepresented on this list.

Agreed.  I don't see it as insignificant either.  In my experience, my
employers have been accomodating, but always confused, as none of them
ever received such a request.  They view it as a hassle, and usually
have delayed it for a long time.  I even had to go several rounds with
the clerk in some minor issue that required the ceo of $employer to read
and sign things multiple times.  Surely that was my fault, but still
embarassing and aggravating.

One other thing noone seems to mention is that when you change jobs, you
have to do it all over again.  Having to go over this in a new job while
trying to settle in socially and professionally is suboptimal.  I'm
lucky my latest employer has no such "we own your free time as well as
work time" clause, so I don't have to do all over again.

I also don't view this as tangential to emacs development, as this is a
major hurdle for many people to contribute.

Just my two cents.

Theo