[llvm-dev] RFC: Adding a staging branch (temporarily) to facilitate upstreaming

[Alex Bradbury via llvm-dev]

On Tue, 30 Jun 2020 at 06:15, Chandler Carruth via llvm-dev
<llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
>
> As I understand it, a key need is to explicitly contribute this to the LLVM project to make it unambiguous that it has been contributed and is completely available for folks not at Apple to iterate on the code and turn it into code-reviewable chunks.
>
> So whatever happens needs to be quite explicit in its nature as a contribution. IMO, a branch of the repository definitely qualifies.
>
> IMO, a pull request isn't as clear given that they haven't been used for contributions before. This is not a time to be innovative IMO. A branch as a staging location has been used many times over the history of the project though and seems nicely unambiguous in that regard.

One of the advantages of the Apache license LLVM has now moved to is
that it provides a clarity on issues such as what represents a
"Contribution" (defined in section 1
https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0). I take your point that
being innovative is undesirable and see the advantage of following a
well-trodden path, but I do think it might be worth looking to take
advantage of these clearer definitions in the future (even if not for
this instance), getting confirmation from lawyers as required.

Best,

Alex