Producing community binaries for OpenJDK

[dalibor topic]

On 29.03.2017 16:51, Ben Evans wrote:
> Microsoft have a simple click-through arrangement, on Github, where I
> certify I have the right to make the contribution and that I agree to
> the relevant licensing terms. The first time I make a PR, I am
> prompted to perform the clickthrough, and then it goes away.
>
> Why is the situation with OpenJDK any different at all to that?

OpenJDK does not use GitHub. It's not owned by Microsoft. It uses the 
OCA. You can find out more about it here: 
http://openjdk.java.net/contribute/ .

If what you're asking here is why one can't just contribute other 
people's random code off GitHub to OpenJDK, that's because one can only 
contribute what's one's own. Other people's code is not.

If there is a doubt whether something is one's own or not, it's much 
better and simpler for OpenJDK developers to err on the side of caution, 
and neither encourage nor accept such contributions at all.

And that's ultimately why all the occasionally occurring ideas about 
alternative contribution flows are doomed from the start. They make no 
sense in the real world.

cheers,
dalibor topic

> Ben
>
> On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 4:00 PM, dalibor topic <dalibor.topic at oracle.com> wrote:
>> On 29.03.2017 10:59, Martijn Verburg wrote:
>>>
>>>     As long as we're talking about flow of ideas, that might make sense.
>>>
>>>     If the expectation is that patches and build infra code would get
>>>     promoted
>>>     into OpenJDK, I think that's very unlikely, as OpenJDK requires an
>>>     OCA for contributions, while GitHub does not. So over time, the cost
>>>     of untangling who did what in some random GitHub repo in order to
>>>     arrive at something that can be contributed tends to overshadow any
>>>     benefit from such accumulations of code.
>>>
>>>
>>> Sure, that's actually a cycle I want to introduce (some sort of CLA) but
>>> appreciate the IP flow here.
>>
>>
>> There is no need for any cycles.
>>
>> OpenJDK Projects can not take random code from GitHub (or any other place).
>> Regardless of the arrangement you arrive at for managing some GitHub repo.
>>
>> As soon as you start having more than one contributor, you end up with
>> something none of them can go ahead and just contribute on their own. At
>> that point the conversation about contributions becomes exponentially more
>> complicated, and in the overwhelming majority of cases it's not worth
>> spending the time or effort on.
>>
>>> Which we might do if this thing has legs, but it has a long way to go to
>>> see if it's useful or desirable yet.
>>
>>
>> Sure, but in that case you should not really expect to see any of that code
>> make its way back into OpenJDK. For example, you most likely won't be able
>> to take any such code back into OpenJDK once you do decide to start a new
>> Project.
>>
>> Basically, once you have a PoC of some random idea for the JDK developed
>> outside OpenJDK, you might have just enough code to prove some idea works,
>> but you may have too much code and history for it to be worth putting any
>> work into turning it into something that can be contributed back to OpenJDK,
>> if you have more than one contributor.
>>
>> So one can assume that such externally, 'socially' developed code will be in
>> the vast majority of cases undesirable for OpenJDK, regardless of its
>> utility. That means the best potential outcome for its authors is to produce
>> something useful but undesirable.
>>
>>
>> cheers,
>> dalibor topic
>> --
>> <http://www.oracle.com> Dalibor Topic | Principal Product Manager
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>> <tel:+491737185961>
>>
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-- 
<http://www.oracle.com> Dalibor Topic | Principal Product Manager
Phone: +494089091214 <tel:+494089091214> | Mobile: +491737185961
<tel:+491737185961>

ORACLE Deutschland B.V. & Co. KG | Kühnehöfe 5 | 22761 Hamburg

ORACLE Deutschland B.V. & Co. KG
Hauptverwaltung: Riesstr. 25, D-80992 München
Registergericht: Amtsgericht München, HRA 95603

Komplementärin: ORACLE Deutschland Verwaltung B.V.
Hertogswetering 163/167, 3543 AS Utrecht, Niederlande
Handelsregister der Handelskammer Midden-Niederlande, Nr. 30143697
Geschäftsführer: Alexander van der Ven, Jan Schultheiss, Val Maher

<http://www.oracle.com/commitment> Oracle is committed to developing
practices and products that help protect the environment