[ZODB-Dev] future of nested transactions

[Tim Peters]

[Edward Moy]
> OK, I have something that seems to work.

Cool!  Congratulations.

> I've taken some bits from ZODB4 and grafted them to top-of-tree ZODB,
> and also took the ZODB4 test_txn.py unit test and adjusted it.  The
> changes are going though our code clearance process right now, but I
> was asked the following question:
>
> "Do they require copyright assignment, or are they willing to accept
> your changes with an Apple copyright, as long as we give it back under
> the same license?"

The FAQ starts here:

    http://dev.zope.org/CVS/ContributorIntroduction

and the Zope Contributor Agreement is here:

    http://dev.zope.org/DevHome/CVS/Contributor.pdf

The short course is that nearly everything in Zope is under the ZPL (Zope
Public License), and that's a requirement (to simplify everyone's life).
The contributor agreement doesn't ask for copyright assignment, but does ask
for "joint ownership"; paragraph 3 of the contributor agreement says (in
part):

    Upon committing a change or new work to the Zope source Repository
    (a "Contribution"), you agree to assign, and hereby do assign, a
    one-half interest of all right, title and interest in and to copyright
    and other intellectual property rights with respect to your new and
    original portions of the Contribution to Zope Corporation.  You and
    Zope Corporation each agree that the other shall be free to exercise
    any and all exclusive rights in and to the Contribution, without
    accounting to one another, including without limitation, the right to
    license the Contribution to others under the Zope Public License.

For the same keep-life-simple reasons we're not going to put code in Zope
that's not under the ZPL, we're not going to put code in Zope bearing an
Apple copyright notice either.  The effect of the contributor agreement is
to give Zope Corp the relevant ownership rights without making Apple give up
their rights.