I agree this topic isn’t clear enough.

The issue of legal or illegal access to Windows source code will be readdressed and a formal statement made in the coming days.

Ged.

From: ros-dev-bounces@reactos.org [mailto:ros-dev-bounces@reactos.org] On Behalf Of Joshua Bailey
Sent: 18 May 2009 11:55
To: ros-dev@reactos.org
Subject: [ros-dev] I want to develop the kernel of ReactOS, how do i join????

Hello mailing list folks!



While Xiaoming wouldn't be able to have commit access, would he be able to contribute in other ways not related to coding,

i.e., hardware or software testing?  Just curious.



Mr. Ionescu, I probably would have tried to tell Xiaoming what I know about the rules, too, even though I'm not a developer.

Actually, the FAQ is pretty clear in regards to ReactOS only using clean-room reverse engineering.

http://www.reactos.org/en/about_userfaq.html.  I would have just referred him to this, if you or another developer hadn't jumped in 

to give a more precise answer.  I usually leave it up to the devs to answer questions, but I try to answer questions if I can
 when 

no developer is at hand at the moment.  I hope that doesn't mean I have a drug problem. :)



To be honest, I was pretty confused myself about who could do what if they had seen Windows source code beforehand.  I know the

current position is that seeing source code != no ReactOS programming for you, but then again there was the whole debate a few years 

back about whether the devs at the top had seen any Windows source code and I'm still not sure how that got resolved.  I had 

alternately heard that people who had seen source code couldn't contribute, or if they had they could only code stuff whose Windows 

equivalents they hadn't seen the source code to, so it's not something that was just made up.  I'm not trying to restart old flame wars,

but the fact is that the policy regarding Windows source code hasn't always been so clear, which may have left some people (myself  

included) confused.  While I personally wouldn't
 have replied assuming the same level of authority as a developer, I don't think us 

ordinary folks should be blamed if we've gotten a little confused about this througout the course of the past few years.



I don't mean to start off here on a bad note, but I get irritated because on the forums someone asks a simple question, someone answers,

the devs get angry because they feel someone overstepped their authority, even thought the devs tend to give a terse answer with no 

explanation. The newbie scared of asking anything else about the project because folks get so angry with one another, and figures it's

not worth the trouble of getting involved.



By the way, if the formatting here looks like it was written by a crackhead, it's because this is my first time posting on the mailing

list.  (I'm more active on the forums.) Then again, my hometown inspired The Wire, so who knows. :P



-Joshua Bailey