[Mesa-dev] Requiring a full author name when contributing to mesa?

[Mark Janes]

Ian Romanick <idr at freedesktop.org> writes:

> On 12/11/19 2:27 PM, Timothy Arceri wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> So it seems lately we have been increasingly merging patches with made
>> up names, or single names etc [1]. The latest submitted patch has the
>> name Icecream95. This seems wrong to me from a point of keeping up the
>> integrity of the project. I'm not a legal expert but it doesn't seem
>> ideal to be amassing commits with these type of author tags from that
>> point of view either.
>> 
>> Is it just me or do others agree we should at least require a proper
>> name on the commits (as fake as that may be also)? Seems like a low bar
>> to me.
>
> First we don't allow single Unicode characters or emojis, and now you
> want to require realistic looking names.  Where does it end, Tim?!?
> WHERE DOES IT END???
>
> 🤣
>
> But seriously... I definitely agree with the sentiment.  It seems really
> lame to have a bunch of commits from clearly nonsense names.  Who are
> these randos?

Perhaps they are graphics developers working at corporations where
management is not enthusiastic about contributions to mesa?

Or, agents seeking to damage mesa by submitting vulnerable or
IP-entangled code?

The kernel does not allow anonymous contributions, to ensure all
contributions are compatible with the GPL.

> Where's the accountability?
>
> As far as any possible legal aspects go, since we don't require (as far
> as I'm aware) submitters to sign any sort of certificate of origin, I
> don't know that Icecream95 is any better or worse than Ralphio Grant (a
> realistic looking name that I just made up) or Ian Romanck.
>
> It seems to me that this is a social problem, so it likely has a social
> solution.  If we don't want people to be anonymous cowards with clearly
> phony names, we should try to make the alternatives of being involved in
> the community and using a real name more attractive.  We should do our
> best to encourage people to "do the right thing."
>
> I don't think it's very realistic for us to try to compel people to do
> so, and I don't think there's much value in it... especially if it
> drives away people making technically competent contributions.
>
>> [1]
>> https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/merge_requests/3050#note_361924
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