@matheusbsbs / matheus-bagliano / commits / a650fa7497

SubmittingPatches: clarify DCO is our --signoff rule

The description on sign-off and DCO was written back in the days where there was only a choice between "use sign-off and it means the contributor agrees to the Linux-kernel style DCO" and "not using sign-off at all will make your patch unusable". These days, we are trying to clarify that the exact meaning of a sign-off varies project to project. Let's be more explicit when presenting what _our_ rules are. It is of secondary importance that it originally came from the kernel project, so move the description as a historical note at the end, while cautioning that what a sign-off means to us may be different from what it means to other projects contributors may have been used to. Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> Reviewed-by: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> Reviewed-by: Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@sfconservancy.org> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

Junio C Hamano committed Oct 19, 2020 at 18:03 UTC a650fa74970bc7489dcc0c68c84f3f23460a6aca
1 file changed +14 -11
Documentation/SubmittingPatches
+14 -11
@@ -300,15 +300,12 @@ patch.
300 [[sign-off]]
301 === Certify your work by adding your "Signed-off-by: " line
302
303 -To improve tracking of who did what, we've borrowed the
304 -"sign-off" procedure from the Linux kernel project on patches
305 -that are being emailed around. Although core Git is a lot
306 -smaller project it is a good discipline to follow it.
303 +To improve tracking of who did what, we ask you to certify that you
304 +wrote the patch or have the right to pass it on under the same license
305 +as ours, by "signing off" your patch. Without sign-off, we cannot
306 +accept your patches.
307
308 -The sign-off is a simple line at the end of the explanation for
309 -the patch, which certifies that you wrote it or otherwise have
310 -the right to pass it on as an open-source patch. The rules are
311 -pretty simple: if you can certify the below D-C-O:
308 +If you can certify the below D-C-O:
309
310 [[dco]]
311 .Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1
@@ -338,14 +335,15 @@ d. I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
335 this project or the open source license(s) involved.
336 ____
337
341 -then you just add a line saying
338 +you add a "Signed-off-by" trailer to your commit, that looks like
339 +this:
340
341 ....
342 Signed-off-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.example.org>
343 ....
344
347 -This line can be automatically added by Git if you run the git-commit
348 -command with the -s option.
345 +This line can be added by Git if you run the git-commit command with
346 +the -s option.
347
348 Notice that you can place your own Signed-off-by: line when
349 forwarding somebody else's patch with the above rules for
@@ -353,6 +351,11 @@ D-C-O. Indeed you are encouraged to do so. Do not forget to
351 place an in-body "From: " line at the beginning to properly attribute
352 the change to its true author (see (2) above).
353
354 +This procedure originally came from the Linux kernel project, so our
355 +rule is quite similar to theirs, but what exactly it means to sign-off
356 +your patch differs from project to project, so it may be different
357 +from that of the project you are accustomed to.
358 +
359 [[real-name]]
360 Also notice that a real name is used in the Signed-off-by: line. Please
361 don't hide your real name.