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Industry Context

When to Use

Use this when you want to understand how Drupal's approach compares to other major open source projects, or when you need to make arguments for or against specific AI policies in governance discussions.

Decision

Project Policy Key Mechanism Rationale
QEMU Ban Commit policy prohibits AI-generated code (June 2025) DCO compliance — cannot certify AI output as your own work
Gentoo Ban Council voted 6-0 to ban (April 2024) Copyright uncertainty, quality concerns, unable to verify originality
Linux kernel Disclose Co-developed-by trailer proposed (2025), Signed-off-by required DCO requires personal certification; AI assistance disclosed via trailers
Apache Disclose Generated-by trailer convention, ASF guidance document AI welcome with attribution; committer takes responsibility
Drupal Disclose Issue template checkboxes, honor system Transparency-first; human responsible for submitted code

Pattern

Git Trailers (for repos you control):

# Co-Authored-By — most common, GitHub renders in UI
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

# Co-developed-by — Linux kernel style
Co-developed-by: Claude Sonnet 4 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: Your Name <you@example.com>

# Generated-by — Apache style
Generated-by: Claude Sonnet 4

On drupal.org: Attribution is handled via issue checkboxes, not commit trailers. Maintainers write the final commit message. Use trailers in your own projects.

DCO tension: DCO requires you to certify the contribution is your original work. QEMU says AI-generated code cannot be certified this way. Linux kernel says yes if you take responsibility. Drupal doesn't use DCO but the principle applies: you are responsible for what you submit.

Practical guidance: Treat AI-assisted code as your own. You prompted it, you reviewed it, you submit it, you defend it. If you can't do that, don't submit it.

Common Mistakes

  • Wrong: Citing QEMU's ban to argue Drupal should ban AI → Right: Different projects have different governance models — QEMU's DCO-based argument doesn't apply directly to Drupal's credit-based system
  • Wrong: Assuming legal questions are settled → Right: Copyright law for AI is actively evolving; don't make definitive legal claims
  • Wrong: Ignoring the trend → Right: Most major projects are moving toward disclosure-based policies; bans are increasingly the exception
  • Wrong: Not considering DCO implications in your own repos → Right: Even without formal DCO, the principle that you certify your submission matters

See Also