Since this point generated confusion, I wish to clarify it. Others may be in the same position.
>> Because I am an IBM employee, any modifications I
>> make to the EROS repository become IBM property.
>
> Kragen wrote in reply:
>
> ... It may be that, because you have signed a copyright assignment
> agreement with IBM (perhaps in order to become or remain an IBM
> employee), your work is IBM property.... Simply being an
> employee and working on a project on your own does not cause your
> work to become the property of your employer.
The issue is indeed that I have signed an intellectual property assignment as a condition of employment. Outside of California (which has very liberal laws on this), this means that among other things, any software I write is owned by IBM.
There is room for debate about whether applying patches constitutes writing software. I have chosen to take a conservative view, because it is more important to preserve EROS than to apply patches, and I am still trying to get IBM to engage.
Jonathan S. Shapiro, Ph. D.
Research Staff Member
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Email: shapj@us.ibm.com
Phone: +1 914 784 7085 (Tieline: 863)
Fax: +1 914 784 6576