Ask Slashdot: What To Do With Shelved OSS Project Fixes?

New submitter superwiz writes: A company for which I worked for recently had a project which required debugging a few abandoned OSS projects. 2 of the projects ended up not being used in the company products even though bugs were found and resolved in them. This puts me in a legal limbo. Since the company paid for my time to work out those bugs, they own the copyright. I can't release them. But since they shelved the projects in which the OSS code was to be used, they don't have to release the code to the public. It would be pretty simple to identify me as the person who made the changes even if I were to release the code anonymously because these changes were committed to my former employer's private repository. Should I just forget it? I don't like the idea of information loss, especially given how much benefit that company already derives from other OSS projects. But I also don't want to release the code which I don't own. Has anyone been in this situation before? How did you handle it (other than just 'forget about it')?

Comments

Easiest answer

[Mhrmnhrm]

Just ask your company. Even though they've decided not to continue using and improving that particular project, they gain nothing by withholding the fixes, but could gain developer goodwill (useful in future endeavors) and positive PR (always nice to have) by allowing the patches to at least be submitted upstream, even if they're not ultimately merged.

Re:Easiest answer

[Meadlin]

Agreed. Most of the time companies will allow the release of OSS changes as long as not core intellectual property is released. As long as you don't post the fix without consent (GET IT IN WRITING!!) you're fine. If they don't allow the release, well, you have to remember, you were paid for the work, so it's their choice..

Re:Easiest answer

[rl117]

This. I've worked at various businesses, from a small family run one, to a big megacorp. At both ends of the scale, the management have been totally OK with me submitting code to open source projects, despite it not being a core part of the business but using open source code for various parts of our work. They have often even allocated time to do the work, and when necessary signed off on copyright assignment when required. And in the case of abandoned projects where the company no longer sees any commercial value, it should be even easier, especially when the work was already done and is just sitting around. It sounds like they are familiar with open source stuff, given that you were working on it as part of the project, so it really can't hurt to ask if it's OK to contribute back those changes. Chances are they'll say yes, and if not at least you tried.

Re:Easiest answer

[aardvarkjoe]

Well, so you're not willing to go the legal route for getting the code released. You said you don't want to release the code that you don't own, so that cuts off the illegal route. And you also don't want to forget about it. So I guess you took the only thing you have left: post on Slashdot, but don't do anything about it.

Re:Easiest answer

[ShanghaiBill]

It's a former employer (I think I mentioned that in the question).

That doesn't matter. An email is good enough. If it goes through a "standard" email provider (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, whatever) then it is a lot harder to forge and back-date an email than a formal written letter, and it will thus carry greater weight in court.

You: Can I release blah blah?
Them: Sure, go ahead.
That is ALL you need.

Re: Easiest answer

[WarJolt]

Just tell me the bug, so I can fix it and we can close this story. Someone else fixing a bug is considered original work. Plus I'm probably a better coder and my fix will be awesome.

Request Permission

[corychristison]

Have you simply talked to your employer about it?

Not all businesses, or at least the management, are blood-sucking, money hungry, assholes.

Perhaps work out a deal where you do some pro-bono on the next project in exchange for the right to release the code? I mean, if the benefits of releasing it is that beneficial to the community, surely you can suck up a some unpaid time in exchange for its release...

Releasing the fixes won't make it less abandoned

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm assuming the project hasn't been updated for several years for it to be in "abandoned" status.

Honestly, why do you think your fixes would ever go anywhere and be incorporated into the project? Projects look like code, but in reality consist of people. Without the people, why does it even matter?

If there's a community of people who still use the code, describe your bug fixes to those people and they can fix them independently of you. If there isn't even this, then who exactly is going to benefit from your fixes?

Re: Have you tried asking them?

[BarbaraHudson]

The summary says they haven't done any distribution, so they have no requirement to release the source.

since they shelved the projects in which the OSS code was to be used, they don't have to release the code to the public.

Also, it's impossible to "abuse" BSD-licensed code. The license literally says do whatever you want with it, including selling it, with no need to release source ever. Microsoft has just followed the license.