Re: [FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 3/3] doc: add spi.txt

[Michael Niedermayer <michael@niedermayer.cc>]

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On Fri, Oct 13, 2023 at 12:53:34AM +0200, Stefano Sabatini wrote:
> On date Wednesday 2023-10-11 20:10:15 +0200, Michael Niedermayer wrote:
> > This explains how to request refunds and what can be funded by SPI
> > ---
> >  doc/spi.txt | 50 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >  1 file changed, 50 insertions(+)
> >  create mode 100644 doc/spi.txt
> > 
> > diff --git a/doc/spi.txt b/doc/spi.txt
> > new file mode 100644
> > index 0000000000..7d85de8f09
> > --- /dev/null
> > +++ b/doc/spi.txt
> > @@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
> 
> Add a short introduction about SPI here.
> 
> SPI (Software in the Public Interest) is a non-profit corporation
> registered in the state of New York founded to act as a fiscal sponsor
> for organizations that develop open source software and hardware. For
> details check here:
> https://www.spi-inc.org/
> 
> FFmpeg is an SPI associated project and donations can be collected and
> handled by SPI on behalf of FFmpeg. For details about the association
> check here:
> https://www.spi-inc.org/projects/ffmpeg/
> 
> 
> > +How to request refunds from SPI:
> > +--------------------------------
>  > +Send a mail to ffmpeg-devel with [REFUND-REQUEST] in the subject
> 
> Expanding on this:
> 
> Send a mail to ffmpeg-devel with the [REFUND-REQUEST] tag and a short
> description of the refund topic in the subject.
> 
> In the mail, you also need to provide the amount to be refunded, with
> a short description of how the money was spent.
> 
> There is no need and is not recommeded to send receipts when sending
> the refund request on the ffmpeg-devel mailing-list, but they are
> usually needed later when the request is approved and the refund
> request is sent to SPI:
> https://www.spi-inc.org/treasurer/reimbursement-form/
> 
> > +
> > +
> > +What can be payed by SPI:
> > +-------------------------
> 
> > +FFmpeg money collected at SPI can be used for any purpose which is OK by
> 
> OK => fine/compliant/in line with
> 
> > +501(c)3 nonprofit rules, and within our mission (Free & OSS software).
> > +
> > +In practice we frequently payed for Travel and Hardware.
> 
> > +For other things, it is recommanded to disscuss them beforehand
> 
> recommended .. to discuss
> 
> > +on ffmpeg-devel and if the community agrees to fund them, also with
> > +SPI through stefano before starting with anything.
> 
> My take on this:
> 
> For other refund expenses or sponsorships, it is recommended to
> discuss them beforehand on ffmpeg-devel. If there is a community
> agreement on their approval, the current FFmpeg liaison will followup
> to get an approval on the SPI side.
> 
> > +
> > +
> > +Is it possible to fund active development by SPI:
> > +(the texts below have been taken from multiple
> > + replies FFmpeg has received from SPI, they have been edited
> > + so that "I" was replaced by "SPI" in some cases.)
> > +-------------------------------------------------
> > +Paying for development *does* require substantial
> 
> > +additional paperwork, but it is not prohibitied.
> 
> prohibited
> 
> > +
> 
> > +Several SPI projects pay contractors for development
> > +efforts.  SPI needs a contract in place which describes the work to be
> > +done.  There are also various things SPI needs to check (e.g. are they a
> > +US person or not, as with GSoC mentor payments; are they really a
> > +contractor and not a employee).
> > +
> > +SPI can't deal with employment at the moment because that involves a
> > +lot of work, like health insurance, tax withholding, etc.  Contractors
> > +are easier because they have to take care of that themselves; Whether
> > +someone is a contractor vs employee depends on various factors (that
> > +of course are different in every country) and can be disputed (see
> > +e.g. the debate about whether Uber drivers are employees); SPI has a
> > +questionnaire about their circumstances.)
> > +
> > +Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits all when dealing with contractors.
> > +As already mentioned, without knowing the contributor's country
> > +
> > +SPI does have templates, but they depend on the contractors country. If it's
> > +US, Australia, France and a couple others SPI could provide them next day,
> > +otherwise SPI would need to ask their attorney to draft one, which would
> > +take some time
> > +
> > +Also, SPI has two models, MSA (which transfers ownership) and CSA (which
> > +grants a license instead). SPI usually sends the MSA (it's better for most
> > +purposes), but for development purposes, some projects prefer that the
> > +contractor retain ownership rights.
> 
> This part is a useful resume of the past internal discussions, but at
> the same time we never really went down to this road, so I'm not sure
> moving this to the repo would be helpful from the operational point of
> view. It's probably useful to clarify the current status quo with the
> other developers though.
> 
> About the placement of the text, given that this is an internal memo
> intended for developers probably it's better to keep it in the ffmpeg
> repo rather than on the web one (as it was proposed in another reply).

ill post a V2 with your suggested changes
it doesnt really matter where it is, important is that it is somewhere

thx

[...]

-- 
Michael     GnuPG fingerprint: 9FF2128B147EF6730BADF133611EC787040B0FAB

Democracy is the form of government in which you can choose your dictator

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