Poll: Contributor Licensing Agreement (CLA), Yay or Nay?

1

Some projects require a Contributor Licensing Agreement. It assigns copyrights to the primary developer, and may require proof of having permission from employers or schools.

This Why the FSF Gets Copyright Assignments from Contributors - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation has been used as justification, saying it recommends CLAs.

On the other side, this Why Your Project Doesn't Need a Contributor Licensing Agreement - Conservancy Blog - Software Freedom Conservancy for example recommends against using CLAs.

My interpretation is the first is really recommending, and explaining a requirement for, assigning copyrights to the Free Software Foundation in particular, for projects they run. This is different from recommending assigning copyrights to primary developers of other, independent projects.

The split for developers involved with F-Droid and other projects would be interesting to know, and wasn’t found with a brief search. If you could point to statistics, and/or answer the polls below, it would be appreciated. Comments on why’s etc. are also welcomed.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Please answer one or both below, as the shoes fit.

Poll for primary developers who run their own projects:
  • Other Contributors to my project ARE required to submit a CLA.
  • Other Contributors to my project are NOT required to submit a CLA.
0 voters
Poll for developers who who are contributors to others’ projects:
  • Contributors ARE required to submit a CLA.
  • Contributors are NOT required to submit a CLA.
  • Some do, some don’t require a CLA. I participate in both.
0 voters
2

If it helps Creators/Developers make income for their work, then sure.

3

While it doesn’t cover all of the use cases of a CLA, I believe the DCO is the best form of a CLA: Developer Certificate of Origin - Wikipedia

Of note, from what I understand, most large companies (who typically own the copyright to your work out of office hours), will require any project you might want to contribute to in personal time to have a CLA in-place.

I personally am against CLAs, that aren’t akin to the DCO.

2 Likes
4

Would this get more results if votes were hidden/anonymous?

6

@uniqx

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In case anyone thinks this is a way to send a message/post via email, FYI, it is not, for me. PM would be seen, eventually.