[DB-SIG] Passing the informixdb torch

[Guido van Rossum]

> Since Bertil Reinhammar is nowhere to be found, I'd like to volunteer to
> take over as maintainer of the informixdb module.  I've made a number of
> patches to it over the last few months and thought they might be worth
> sharing with the user group at large, but I'd rather incorporate them
> into the main distribution than simply post a patch file to the SIG.
> 
> How, though, does one go about assuming responsibility for someone
> else's product?  If I wanted to make enhancements in future, how (if at
> all) would that affect the existing copyright?  Do you think IV DocEye
> AB (the current copyright holder) should be contacted about this?
> 
> And lest I be too presumptuous, are there others who'd like the job? 
> Should we hold elections for the post? :-)

Good questions.

There are some good guidelines in Eric Raymond's "Homesteading the
Noosphere" paper.  Generally, if the original author doesn't speak up,
it's okay to tentatively assume responsibility, and if you do a good
job at it, you become the next owner.

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/homesteading/index.html

Regarding the copyright: I haven't seen the informixdb copyright; if
it allows you to distribute modified versions, you shouldn't have to
get in touch with them.  The new copyright will then be jointly owned.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)