Appendix 3: The eCos Copyright Assignment Form, Revision 1.1

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Appendix 3: The eCos Copyright Assignment Form, Revision 1.1

Rationale

This preamble describes how to use the standard eCos copyright assignment form. The rationale behind this assignment is to avoid any possible confusion over the legal ownership of eCos , and to indemnify Red Hat and all eCos users against copyright or patent claims on contributed code used within eCos . Red Hat would be especially vulnerable, but all users and their eCos based applications could be affected.

All contributions to eCos for which there are copyright assignments will be covered by the Red Hat eCos public license. The license provides a guarantee that the contribution will remain freely available to all.

This agreement gives Red Hat ownership of your changes but promises that you will retain the right to use your contributed changes as you see fit.

Because employers often can claim ownership over things that employees write, you may also have to get your employer to sign a disclaimer that says that they have no claim to the changes you are contributing.

Please read everything, and if you have any questions, email

ecos-assign@redhat.com

for help.

Thanks for your contribution to eCos !

How to assign copyright

The way to assign copyright to Red Hat is to sign an assignment contract. This is what makes Red Hat the legal copyright holder, so that Red Hat can register the copyright on the new version.

If you are employed as a programmer (even at a university), or have made an agreement with your employer or school that gives them ownership of the software you write, then Red Hat needs a signed letter from your employer disclaiming rights to the contributed software.

The disclaimer should be printed on the company's headed paper, and signed by an officer of the company, or someone authorized to license the company's intellectual property. Here is an example of wording that can be used for this purpose:

<INSERT COMPANY NAME> hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the changes and enhancements made by <INSERT YOUR NAME> to eCos , including any future revisions of these changes and enhancements.

<INSERT COMPANY NAME> affirms that it has no other intellectual property interest that would undermine this release, or the use of eCos , and will do nothing to undermine it in the future.

<INSERT SIGNATURE OF OFFICER OF COMPANY>,
<INSERT DATE>
<INSERT PRINTED NAME OF OFFICER OF COMPANY>
<INSERT TITLE OF OFFICER>

If your employer says they do have an intellectual property claim that could conflict with the use of the program, then please contact Red Hat to discuss possible next steps.

Below is the usual assignment contract. You need to edit and replace <INSERT NAME OF CONTRIBUTOR> with your full name. Please print a copy, sign, date, and mail it to:

Legal Department (eCos Assignments)
Red Hat, Inc.
2600 Meridian Parkway
NC 27713
USA

Don't forget to include the original signed copy of the employer's disclaimer.

Please try to print the whole first page of the form on a single piece of paper. If it doesn't fit on one printed page, put it on two sides of a single piece of paper, and attach the second page of the form. Please write the date using letters rather than numbers to avoid any confusion due to international day/month ordering conventions.

Note: This text is also available in the eCos software distribution, in the file assign.txt.

 
  --------------------------------- Cut Here ----------------------------------
 
eCos ASSIGNMENT
 
For good and valuable consideration, receipt of which I acknowledge, I,  <INSERT NAME OF CONTRIBUTOR>, hereby transfer to Red Hat, Inc. my entire  right, title, and interest (including all rights under copyright) in my  changes and enhancements to eCos, subject to the conditions below. These changes and enhancements are herein called the "Work". The Work  hereby assigned shall also include any future revisions of these changes and  enhancements hereafter made by me.
 
Upon thirty days prior written notice, Red Hat agrees to grant me  non-exclusive rights to use the Work (i.e. just my changes and enhancements,  not eCos as a whole) as I see fit; (and Red Hat's rights shall otherwise  continue unchanged).
 
I hereby agree that if I have or acquire hereafter any patent or interface  copyright or other intellectual property interest dominating the software  enhanced by the Work (or use of that software), such dominating interest will  not be used to undermine the effect of this assignment, i.e. Red Hat and the  general public will be licensed to use, in that program and its derivative  works, without royalty or limitation, the subject matter of the dominating  interest. This license provision will be binding on my heirs, assignees, or  other successors to the dominating interest, as well as on me.
 
I hereby represent and warrant that I am the sole copyright holder for the  Work and that I have the right and power to enter into this contract. I hereby  indemnify and hold harmless Red Hat, its officers, employees, and agents  against any and all claims, actions or damages (including attorney's  reasonable fees) asserted by or paid to any party on account of a breach or  alleged breach of the foregoing warranty. I make no other express or implied  warranty (including without limitation, in this disclaimer of warranty, any  warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE).
 
Agreed:  [signature]

 
  [Print Name]
 
  Date:  [Please write using letters]
 
For Red Hat:
 

 
 Date:
 
 -------------------- Cut Here and print on separate page ---------------------
 
[Please print your name here]
 
[For the copyright registration, of what country are you a citizen?]
 
[In what year were you born?]
 
[Please write your email address here]
 
[Please write your address here, so we can mail a signed copy of the agreement back to you]
 
 
[Please write a brief description of the contribution]
 
 
 
 
 
 
[Which files have you changed so far, and which new files have you written so far?]
 

Index

Symbols

alarms 65, 68

initializing 68

chips, supported 13

clocks 65, 67

component definition language (CDL) 18

Configuration Tool 46

counters 68

CygWin 30

delayed service routines 68

Developer's Kit

bundled with GNUPro Toolkit 19

package contents 21

device drivers

serial 19

disk space requirements 23

ecosconfig.tcl 51

examples

hello world program 60

pkgconf.tcl list of available options 51

pkgconf.tcl list of available targets 52

program that creates an alarm 66

two-threaded program 61

G++ 19

GCC 19

command notation 14

GDB 19

command notation 14

GNUPro Toolkit 19

Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) 16

hardware setup 34

Hitachi EDK7708

system requirements

Hitachi EDK7708 board 23

host operating systems, supported 13

I/O library 19

installation instructions

UNIX 31

Windows 30

ISO C library 18

kernel, real-time

features 17

libraries

ISO C 18

math 18

standard I/O 19

Linux

i386 synthetic target

setup 38

system requirements 24

math library 18

measuring

sample numbers 70

mutex 63

Net site 19

packages 21

performance

sample numbers 70

pkgconf.tcl

available options 51

list of targets 52

problem reports, submitting 25

ROM monitor (CygMon)

images available 19

Running Applications on the Target 39

sample programs

hello.c 60

simple-alarm.c 65

twothreads.c 61

serial device drivers 19

SH3

package contents 22

SH3/EDK7708

hardware setup 36

simulator

delays, as compared with hardware 63, 67

software installation instructions

UNIX 31

Windows 30

Sourceware 31

supported

host operating systems 13

target microprocessors 13

target platforms 13

system performance

sample numbers 70

system requirements 23

target

selecting with pkgconf.tcl 55

supported microprocessors 13

supported platforms 13

UNIX

ecosconfig.tcl 51

software installation instructions 31

Windows

Configuration Tool 46

software installation instructions 30


Appendix 3: The eCos Copyright Assignment Form, Revision 1.1

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