[Python-Dev] Aligning the packaging.python.org theme with the rest of the docs

Nick Coghlan ncoghlan at gmail.com
Fri Jun 2 01:55:29 EDT 2017


On 30 May 2017 at 22:08, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 30 May 2017 21:49:19 +1000
> Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Here's an alternate wording for the README that would focus on those
>> considerations without explicitly asking folks not to use the theme:
>>
>> "Note that when adopting this theme, you're also borrowing an element
>> of the trust and credibility established by the CPython core
>> developers over the years, as well as the legal credibility arising
>> from their close association with the Python Software Foundation.
>
> The statement about "legal credibility" sounds wishy-washy and could
> lure users into thinking that they're doing something illegal by
> borrowing the theme.
>
> Also I'm not sure what is that "legal credibility" you're talking
> about.  If it's about the PSF license and the Python CLA then
> better to voice that explicitly, IMO.

It's probably better to just drop that clause and call the repository
"cpython-docs-theme" rather than "psf-docs-theme".

Explicitly affiliating the theme with the PSF made sense if we were
reserving the right to seek trade dress protections in the future, but
it sounds like folks are pretty solidly against that idea, so we can
instead leave the PSF out of it entirely.

>> That's fine, and you're welcome to do so for other Python community
>> projects if you so choose, but please keep in mind that in doing so
>> you're also choosing to become a co-steward of that collective trust
>> :)"
>
> "Becoming a co-steward of that collective trust" sounds serious enough
> (even though I don't understand what it means concretely), so why
> the smiley?

Mainly to convey that the situation isn't necessarily as profound as
that wording might suggest.

Rephrasing that part, and incorporating the amendment from above:

"Note that when adopting this theme, you're also borrowing an element
of the trust and credibility established by the CPython core
developers over the years. That's fine, and you're welcome to do so
for other Python community projects if you so choose, but please keep
in mind that in doing so you're also choosing to accept some of the
responsibility for maintaining that collective trust."

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia


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