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1 .. _licensing:
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2
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3
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4 Licensing of the Orthanc ecosystem
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5 ==================================
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6
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7 .. contents::
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8
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9
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10 Philosophy
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11 ----------
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12
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13 The objectives of the Orthanc ecosystem is to share technical
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14 knowledge about :ref:`DICOM <dicom-guide>`, and to foster scientific
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15 collaborations in medical imaging by subscribing to the `open-science
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16 paradigm <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_science>`__. To this end,
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17 Orthanc is provided as free and open-source software to the benefit of
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18 the worldwide community of medical imaging.
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19
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20 In order to support this objective of global knowledge sharing, the
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21 Orthanc project enforces reciprocity. If someone finds Orthanc useful
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22 to her academic work or to her business, the community of medical
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23 imaging should gain an advantage from this use by enlarging the
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24 knowledge base. This virtuous circle guarantees the fact that Orthanc
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25 will be developed in a sustainable way in the long-term, to the
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26 benefit of all stakeholders. Predatory behaviors should be prevented,
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27 while preserving the freedoms of the users of Orthanc, including for
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28 commercial uses.
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29
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30 According to this philosophy, the University Hospital of Liège decided
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31 to release the Orthanc ecosystem under the `GPL license
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32 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License>`__
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33 in 2012. The GPL is a strong copyleft license that is recognized
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34 worldwide, and that is designed to enforce reciprocity.
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35
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36 As Orthanc is lightweight and designed for Web applications and for
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37 sharing medical images over Internet, it has been quickly deployed on
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38 cloud platforms in order to host large amount of data. Orthanc
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39 considers this use as very legitimate, for instance for scientific
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40 purpose (think of open-data databases) or for societal needs (think of
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41 teleradiology platforms in developing countries). Unfortunately, the
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42 GPL does not protect from predatory commercial behaviors over cloud
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43 platforms because of the so-called "`ASP loophole
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44 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_service_provider>`__", that
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45 does not enforce modified versions of a free and open-source software
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46 running on a server to be given back to the community.
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47
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48 For this reason, the plugins that provide scalability-related or
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49 cloud-related features (for instance the :ref:`PostgreSQL
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50 <postgresql>` and :ref:`Web viewer <postgresql>` plugins that are
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51 necessary for Web applications distributed at a large scale) were
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52 released under the stronger `AGPL licence
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53 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Affero_General_Public_License>`__.
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54 This license protects the community of medical imaging by ensuring
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55 that the features included in Orthanc instances running in remote
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56 servers are publicly available as well.
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57
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58
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59 Guidelines
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60 ----------
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61
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62 Over the years, it was observed that people fear the use of GPL and
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63 AGPL licenses, that are wrongly considered as preventing commercial
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64 uses. This is most often a wrong assumption, given that the Orthanc
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65 server that is a standalone executable, not a software library.
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66
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67 The following table provides a simple summary of the most common
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68 situations, and indicates whether the use is accepted ("Yes"),
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69 prevented ("No"), or restricted ("Dual licensing"):
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70
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71 +-----------------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
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72 | | Mode of distribution of the caller system or of the third-party plugin/script |
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73 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
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74 | Usage of the Orthanc ecosystem (callee) | Permissive | GPLv3 | AGPLv3 | Internal use | Proprietary software | Proprietary cloud |
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75 | | (MIT, BSD...) | | | | distributed to clients | platform |
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76 +=====================================================+===============+=======+========+==============+========================+===================+
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77 | Using Orthanc as such, even if some AGPL-licensed | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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78 | plugin is installed | | | | | | |
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79 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
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80 | Calling Orthanc from a third-party application | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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81 | (using REST API or DICOM protocol), even if some | | | | | | |
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82 | AGPL-licensed plugin is installed | | | | | | |
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83 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
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84 | Creating an Orthanc plugin or a Lua script, that | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Dual licensing | Yes |
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85 | is hosted by an Orthanc server where no | | | | | | |
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86 | AGPL-licensed plugin is installed | | | | | | |
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87 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
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88 | Creating an Orthanc plugin or a Lua script, that | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Dual licensing | Dual licensing |
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89 | is hosted by an Orthanc server where some | | | | | | |
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90 | AGPL-licensed plugin is installed | | | | | | |
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91 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
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92 | Reusing code from the Orthanc code (GPL) or from | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Dual licensing | Yes |
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93 | an official Orthanc plugin that is released under | | | | | | |
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94 | the GPL license | | | | | | |
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95 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
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96 | Reusing code from an Orthanc plugin that licensed | No | No | Yes | Yes | Dual licensing | Dual licensing |
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97 | under the AGPL license | | | | | | |
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98 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
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99 | Using the :ref:`Stone of Orthanc <stone>` library | No | No | Yes | Yes | Dual licensing | Dual licensing |
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100 +-----------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------+--------+--------------+------------------------+-------------------+
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101
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102 If your use case falls in some "**Dual licensing**" cell, please get
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103 in touch with `Osimis <http://osimis.io/>`__, the official commercial
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104 partner of the Orthanc project that is the only entity able to sell a
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105 `license exception
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106 <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/selling-exceptions>`__ to your company.
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107
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108 Also, if you are dealing with medical applications in Europe, note
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109 that Osimis sells **CE-approved** versions of a Web viewer plugin.
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110
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111
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112 .. _cla:
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113
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114 Contributing to the code of Orthanc
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115 -----------------------------------
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116
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117 Third-party vs. internal code
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118 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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119
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120 It is important to make the distinction between third-party code
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121 and internal code:
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122
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123 * **Third-party code** refers to source code that takes advantage of
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124 Orthanc and/or that extends Orthanc, such as new :ref:`plugins
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125 <plugins>`, :ref:`Lua scripts <lua>`, or any higher-level
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126 application that uses the :ref:`REST API <rest>` of Orthanc. This
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127 code can live outside of the official source repositories of the
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128 Orthanc ecosystem. The third-party contributors can distribute such
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129 code on whatever platform they prefer, in a way that is fully
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130 uncoupled from the Orthanc project, and keep the intellectual
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131 property of their developments. Such contributors are however kindly
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132 invited to index their contributions in the `dedicated repository on
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133 GitHub <https://github.com/jodogne/OrthancContributed>`__.
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134
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135 * **Internal code** refers to source code that only makes sense if
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136 embedded within the Orthanc core or within one of the official
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137 plugins. This includes new features and bugfixes. The way to
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138 contribute to the internal code of the Orthanc ecosystem is
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139 described in the sections below.
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140
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141
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142
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143 Contributor License Agreement
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144 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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145
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146 It is necessary for the Orthanc project to make sure that the internal
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147 code of Orthanc can be interfaced with proprietary systems, as those
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148 are still unfortunately everywhere in the healthcare market. This
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149 forces us to require all the intellectual property over the source
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150 code of Orthanc to be centralized, with the University Hospital of
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151 Liège together with the Osimis company acting as the official
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152 guardians of the whole Orthanc ecosystem. This centralization also
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153 enables the dual licensing scheme described above, which in turn
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154 allows Osimis to collect money from the industry in order to fund
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155 further free and open-source development of the Orthanc ecosystem to
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156 the benefit of the worldwide community of medical imaging, according
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157 to a virtuous cycle.
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158
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159 As a consequence, before any code can be accepted into the official
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160 repositories of Orthanc, the individual code contributors must sign a
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161 `Contributor License Agreement (CLA)
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162 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contributor_License_Agreement>`__. Here
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163 is the procedure:
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164
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165 1. Download the individual CLA (ICLA) form from the `Orthanc homepage
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166 <https://www.orthanc-server.com/resources/2019-02-12-IndividualContributorLicenseAgreementOrthanc.pdf>`__.
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167
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168 2. Print the document, then write down your signed initials on pages 1
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169 and 2, and sign page 3.
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170
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171 3. Return a scanned copy of the document to e-mail ``orthanc-legal@osimis.io``.
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172
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173 4. Wait for confirmation from the Osimis company.
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174
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175 **Important:** This form is only valid for individual contributors
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176 acting as physical persons. If your company wishes to become
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177 contributor, please request a Corporate CLA at the same e-mail
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178 address: ``orthanc-legal@osimis.io``.
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179
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180
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181 Submitting code
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182 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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183
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184 Once the CLA onboarding process has succeeded, use `Mercurial
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185 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercurial>`__ to fork the official
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186 repository of interest from BitBucket. Here are the location of those
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187 repositories:
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188
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189 * The `Orthanc server <https://bitbucket.org/sjodogne/orthanc/src>`__.
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190
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191 * The `official plugins <https://bitbucket.org/sjodogne/>`__ originating from the University Hospital of Liège.
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192
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193 * The `official plugins <https://bitbucket.org/osimis/>`__ originating from Osimis.
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194
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195 Once you have finished modifying the code in your forked repository,
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196 issue a `pull request
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197 <https://confluence.atlassian.com/bitbucket/tutorial-learn-about-bitbucket-pull-requests-774243385.html>`__.
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198
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199 **Some words of warning:**
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200
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201 * Please stick to the :ref:`coding style <coding-style>` of Orthanc.
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202
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203 * It is your responsibility to make sure that you have the
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204 intellectual property over all the source code you commit into
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205 Orthanc.
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206
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207 * All the contributions will be carefully reviewed. Some contributions
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208 may be modified, yet even rejected. A rejection might for instance
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209 occur if your contribution does not match the Orthanc roadmap, does
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210 not meet our high-quality code standards, or breaks backward
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211 compatibility. Please be sure that we warmly welcome contributions,
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212 but that we are quite strict.
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213
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214 * In the case of a doubt wrt. a potential contribution, please discuss
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215 it on the `Orthanc Users
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216 <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/orthanc-users>`__
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217 discussion group before starting the actual development.
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