Re: [PDO] Re: [PHP-DEV] PDO 2: Request for Comments

Hi Bill,

> The way I read it, you would not be taking legal responsibility for code 
> you contribute.

Let's just say that the way you read it and the way most of the PHP devs 
read it are two very different things. You aren't going to convince people 
who don't want to be convinced, so basically we need to work together to 
hammer out a solution that *everybody* is comfortable with. Most people will 
happily work with companies for the benefit of PHP/the userbase/the 
companies themselves, it's just that nobody wants those companies to gain 
control over PHP in the process.

> b. You are granting to the PDO project permission to use your contribution 
> for free and you don't expect compensation.

The entire PHP project always worked on that understanding. But would I, 
without signing a piece of paper, still be able to join the discussions 
about aspects of PDO design in some conference bar? Or would such 
discussions be more likely held in a private room between consenting adults, 
so to speak, with one eye out for industrial spies?

> With a CLA, it's simply spelled out.  This helps to avoid 
> misunderstandings.

It helps to create an 'us' and a 'them', and we've always managed to avoid 
this in the past pretty well. This isn't analogous to the situation with the 
ZF or MySQL, where the company itself is responsible for initiating the 
project and 'us' and 'them' are part of the deal; it's more that we've 
always been 'us', and now a 'them' has turned up, abused our system, and is 
now insisting that we should be reasonable and see things their way.

- Steph