[CentOS-devel] CentOS CLA (Contributor License Agreement)

On 29 June 2015 at 11:09, Karsten Wade <kwade at redhat.com> wrote:
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> Second, the only problem I've ever had with the FPCA is that it is
> written as a legal document, so causes people's eyes to glaze over.
>
> I've got an alternative to consider, which is a bit easier to read and
> accomplishes the same thing. I wrote it with Richard Fontana, who was
> lead author and legal counsel on the FPCA.
>
> http://www.theopensourceway.org/wiki/Contribution_policy
>
> This policy is specifically written so that it can be reused -- it's
> released under the CC BY SA.
>
> To make the goal clear for all -- if you have contributors to a
> project, it is a great boon to have a clear contribution policy.
>
> These contributor agreements focus on what Richard terms "Inbound ==
> Outbound" -- incoming contributions are licensed under the terms of
> the overall project contributed to. If there is no associated license
> or coverage, the agreement provides a default one for code and software.
>
> It doesn't need to be a complicated policy (read the above, IMO it
> accomplishes what the FPCA does in fewer words.)
>

OK this was brought up in Fedoraland before and I remember Richard
saying that the reason for the difference depended on what type of
contributions and what they  may need to do later on for the parties
involved. However, I think it would be better to get Richard to
directly comment than rely on my bad memory or my inability to parrot
legal theory.

> This project is now handling contributors more than before (x5 or more
> when you add the SIGs and other activity to the pre-existing Core, QA,
> Infra, etc. groups.) It makes sense to have an agreement in place for
> inbound contributions.

Especially in the wonderful world of mixed up copyright laws.


-- 
Stephen J Smoogen.