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Ask HN: Using git commit hashes in legal documents?
I was just wondering: has anyone ever used VCS version numbers / hashes in legal documents for transfer of intellectual property?
This is the scenario I had in mind: I want to get some people to help me out with some code. Contributors work on code remotely, check in their final contribution & sign off on an intellectual property transfer sheet with the exact git commit hash? Seems like an elegant solution to me, but IANAL. What's the catch?
- gojomo 16y agoNever done it but sounds pretty good to me, too. The hashes are meaningful enough to the parties themselves for there to be a common understanding about what its being transferred. Explaining commit hashes to a non-technical jurist/juror, in the worst-case comes-to-litigation scenario, wouldn't be easy. Still, I think experts on either side of a dispute would agree on their significance and proper use, so this would not be the issue on which a case stands or falls. For completeness' sake I would be sure to use the full hashes, not the abbreviated ones. Of course, IANAL, and legal advice from strangers in internet threads is typically worth what you paid for it.
- lfborjas 16y agoSounds nice, but keep in mind that the git history is modifiable: http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~blynn/gitmagic/ch05.html http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~blynn/gitmagic/ch05.htm...