Debian joined forces with Software Freedom Conservancy

Aug 20, 2015 02:23 GMT  ·  By

The Debian Project has announced that it has joined forces with Software Freedom Conservancy, a non-profit organization that acts as a home for open-source and free software projects, to create the Debian Copyright Aggregation Project.

The announcement for the new Copyright Aggregation Project was made public by Bradley M. Kuhn, Software Freedom Conservancy's Distinguished Technologist and President, at the DebConf 2015 event that takes place these days in Heidelberg, Germany, and promises to give Debian developers and contributors the freedom they need when developing open-source software.

Conservancy's Debian Copyright Aggregation Project ensures that developers who contribute to the Debian GNU/Linux operating system with free/open-source software project will be able to either sign Conservancy's license enforcement agreement to enforce Free Software licenses like GPL (GNU General Public License) or allow Software Freedom Conservancy to take care of their copyrights at all times.

"With this new program, Debian has a fantastic opportunity to build an ongoing collaboration with Conservancy to enforce Debian contributors' rights in accordance with the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). I welcome the experience and sage advice from Conservancy on licensing and policy matters, and applaud their various other efforts on software freedom," says Neil McGovern, Debian Project Leader.

Debian contributors can now join the Copyright Aggregation Project

Thanks to the new Copyright Aggregation Project, Software Freedom Conservancy will be able to safely and securely keep Debian's long-term interests and its commitment to software freedom by providing license compliance, consulting, and advice services. Lucas Nussbaum was in charge of implementing the framework needed for all these services to the Debian community.

Debian contributors can now join the Copyright Aggregation Project by accepting enforcement or assignment agreements. All you have to do is to contact the Software Freedom Conservancy organization using the email address attached to the press release posted at the end of the article. A self-service system that will be used for filling the paperwork will also be implemented soon.

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