Torvalds proposes tighter tracking for Linux kernel

IDG News Service - Linux originator Linus Torvalds has proposed changes to the kernel development process that would make it easier for Linux kernel developers to respond to questions of source-code ownership like those raised by The SCO Group Inc. in its multibillion-dollar lawsuit against IBM.
In an e-mail sent on Saturday to the Linux kernel mailing list, Torvalds proposed that kernel developers begin certifying that the code they contribute is entitled to be included in the Linux kernel, along with a technique for "signing off on patches" that would better track which developers had handled source-code contributions.
That idea won the backing today of the Open Source Development Labs, which announced its support for Torvalds' proposed changes to the kernel submission process.
Under that process, "contributions to the Linux kernel may only be made by individuals who acknowledge their right to make the contribution under an appropriate open-source license," the OSDL said in a statement. "The acknowledgement, called the Developer's Certificate of Origin (DCO), tracks contributions and contributors. The DCO ensures that appropriate attribution is given to developers of original contributions and derivative works, as well to those contributors who receive submissions and pass them, unchanged, up the kernel tree."
All contributors to the kernel will be asked to sign off on any submission before it will be considered for inclusion, the OSDL said. The group also plans to launch an educational campaign for developers and users about the DCO and the new submission process.
Torvalds' plan, now the subject of discussion among kernel developers, could be adopted in time for the development of the Linux 2.7 kernel, Torvalds said in an e-mail interview. "I think we're going to do it, although realistically it probably won't be all up and running until maybe a couple of months from now," he said.
Torvalds himself has been subpoenaed as part of the SCO vs. IBM lawsuit (see story), and while he acknowledged that SCO's claims provided a "big impetus" for the changes, he said they were also designed to reassure Linux users and stakeholders who are not involved in the kernel development process. "People who don't understand how I interact with the people I work with literally feel better just having it down more as a documented process," he said.
The proposed changes will make it easier for companies that contribute to the Linux kernel to standardize their development process and "will placate some CEOs and CTOs waiting for the outcome of SCO's legal claims against IBM," Stacey Quandt, an analyst at Santa Clara, Calif.-based

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