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Clarification of open-source policy [answered]

asked 2013-12-26 22:56:24 +0300

levi gravatar image

updated 2019-02-11 15:09:36 +0300

jiit gravatar image

"Our goal with the Sailfish OS is to develop an open source operating system in co-operation with the community [...]. We are currently in the process of putting in place the processes and licensing structures that will enable you, the community, to take part in developing Sailfish." SailfishOS.org

Could you please provide more details and clarify your open-source policy? The information quoted above is at least 6 months old and meanwhile there exists quite some confusion in regards to the status and scope to which SailfishOS is or will be open-source.

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The question has been closed for the following reason "the question is answered, an answer was accepted" by JSEHV
close date 2016-02-08 13:52:47.751470

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2

Perhaps add some information on where to actually contribute? (e.g. link to this forum; bug tracker; IRC channels; etc.)

sjn ( 2013-12-27 00:17:23 +0300 )edit

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answered 2013-12-30 15:58:56 +0300

I can say roughly how things work at the moment - don't take this as the 100% exact way things go, or expect things from it or that the situation is permanent. There's always exceptions, but you can see by our track record and published source that we're trying to do our best.

The current situation, unless excepted by our navigation for specific cases.

It's typically okay to open source, except for these contribution types as listed below:

  • Jolla artwork/trademark and/or look-and-feel (this pretty much means UI)
  • 3rd party closed source software (a natural, really)
  • Contributions that has been written using NDA materials from third party (don't want to taint open source projects)
  • Contributions requiring copyright transfer unless OK'ed by navigation (can't give away IPR rights)

This means that the default policy is to open source unless it's covered - and we usually contribute those to Mer or Nemo Mobile projects.

In addition to that, if something has been closed source at first, it has to be treated as if it was in the list above and get specific approval. If something is really exciting, innovative or somehow problematic naturally you may want to get the opinion of the navigation. We also work with upstream-when-and-if-possible - MeeGo was upstream-first and that caused problems on it's own. So we try our best to upstream, but we can't always wait for upstream releases to move forward.

As a personal philosophy, I think that you should only open source if you can keep a component completely in the open - git repositories, commit histories, accept patches. That makes some bits problematic.

As you can see, it's a fairly balanced way of doing things - with room for improvement on a case-by-case basis.

I would also suggest to participate in this: https://together.jolla.com/question/680/co-creation-leading-to-co-development/ on how we can improve matters.

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Comments

2

Thanks. Do you think we will get something official from Jolla within a reasonable time frame?

levi ( 2014-01-01 16:17:02 +0300 )edit
3

Thanks for clarification. It would be nice to have nemomobile (trademark/3rd party/nda/copyright free) images for Jolla device.

xmlich02 ( 2014-01-16 14:30:50 +0300 )edit
3

If you never planed to make Sailfish even close to "truely open" why was it advertized that way?

torpak ( 2014-01-30 09:58:42 +0300 )edit
1

It never ceases to amaze me how so many uninformed users continue to materialise.

Zero idea what "open" means & how all the current alternatives compare in "real world terms".

No idea how to research & understand all the metrics involved in assessing total openness.

Amazing stuff...

jalyst ( 2014-01-30 10:06:41 +0300 )edit
1

That is debatable and i don't think personal insults are conductive to a rational discussion, do you?

torpak ( 2014-01-30 10:09:53 +0300 )edit
4

answered 2013-12-27 03:04:42 +0300

shmerl gravatar image

updated 2013-12-27 03:05:11 +0300

There was at least a rough list of the closed and open packages provided before: http://piratepad.net/JollaSoftwareState

It doesn't clarify the policy or future plans of course, it's just where things are now.

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1

Thanks but you are right--this does not answer anything w.r.t. Jolla's open-source policy.

levi ( 2013-12-27 12:33:29 +0300 )edit

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Asked: 2013-12-26 22:56:24 +0300

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Last updated: Dec 30 '13