Re: Contributor Clauses in Licenses

--===============2189918322909998138==
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="000000000000274380064579617b"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

--000000000000274380064579617b
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

> Say I submit a 3-line PR to the included documentation for an OSS project.
No text contained within the license can enforce that my PR is under that
license.

I am not so sure. Strongly reciprocal licenses essentially say that any
derivative work must be under their terms, or it's infringing. These are
well accepted by OSI. Terms with the effect of creating legal clarity for
the combined work would in general be allowable. Obviously some arbitrary
terms would not be.

Bruce Perens K6BP

On Mon, Dec 8, 2025, 15:22 David Woolley <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 08/12/2025 21:57, Josh Berkus wrote:
>
> >
> > Other way around.  The outgoing license is trying to put conditions on
> > how you contribute to the upstream project.
>
> I think that's what I was saying, but to be concrete, my exposure to
> CLA's is for Asterisk, in which case the CLA allows Sangoma to use any
> contributions in their proprietary products.  Note that they are not
> including the need for the CLA, for official contributions, in their
> open source licensing, so the particular point of this thread doesn't
> apply.
>
> Taking up another point, that licence doesn't guarantee that
> contributions will be accepted.  Agreeing to the CLA is necessary, but
> not sufficient, for inclusion in the official repositories.
>
> _______________________________________________
> The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and not
> necessarily those of the Open Source Initiative. Official statements by the
> Open Source Initiative will be sent from an opensource.org email address.
>
> License-discuss mailing list
> [email protected]
>
> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org
>

--000000000000274380064579617b
Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<div dir=3D"auto"><div><br style=3D"font-size:12.8px;background-color:rgb(2=
47,249,253)"><span style=3D"font-size:12.8px;background-color:rgb(247,249,2=
53)">&gt; Say I submit a 3-line PR to the included documentation for an OSS=
=C2=A0</span><span style=3D"font-size:12.8px;background-color:rgb(247,249,2=
53)">project.=C2=A0 No text contained within the license can enforce that m=
y PR is u</span><span style=3D"font-size:12.8px;background-color:rgb(247,24=
9,253)">nder that license.=C2=A0=C2=A0</span></div><div dir=3D"auto"><span =
style=3D"font-size:12.8px;background-color:rgb(247,249,253)"><br></span></d=
iv><div dir=3D"auto"><span style=3D"font-size:12.8px;background-color:rgb(2=
47,249,253)">I am not so sure. Strongly reciprocal licenses essentially say=
 that any derivative work must be under their terms, or it&#39;s infringing=
. These are well accepted by OSI. Terms with the effect of creating legal c=
larity for the combined work would in general be allowable. Obviously some =
arbitrary terms would not be.</span></div><div><br></div><div data-smartmai=
l=3D"gmail_signature"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Bruce Perens K=
6BP</div></div></div></div></div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_=
container"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Mon, Dec 8, 2025, 15:22=
 David Woolley &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">forums@dav=
id-woolley.me.uk</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" =
style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">On =
08/12/2025 21:57, Josh Berkus wrote:<br>
<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; Other way around.=C2=A0 The outgoing license is trying to put conditio=
ns on <br>
&gt; how you contribute to the upstream project.<br>
<br>
I think that&#39;s what I was saying, but to be concrete, my exposure to <b=
r>
CLA&#39;s is for Asterisk, in which case the CLA allows Sangoma to use any =
<br>
contributions in their proprietary products.=C2=A0 Note that they are not <=
br>
including the need for the CLA, for official contributions, in their <br>
open source licensing, so the particular point of this thread doesn&#39;t a=
pply.<br>
<br>
Taking up another point, that licence doesn&#39;t guarantee that <br>
contributions will be accepted.=C2=A0 Agreeing to the CLA is necessary, but=
 <br>
not sufficient, for inclusion in the official repositories.<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and not necess=
arily those of the Open Source Initiative. Official statements by the Open =
Source Initiative will be sent from an <a href=3D"http://opensource.org" re=
l=3D"noreferrer noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">opensource.org</a> email addr=
ess.<br>
<br>
License-discuss mailing list<br>
<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" target=3D"_blank" r=
el=3D"noreferrer">[email protected]</a><br>
<a href=3D"http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss_lis=
ts.opensource.org" rel=3D"noreferrer noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">http://l=
ists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org</=
a><br>
</blockquote></div>

--000000000000274380064579617b--


--===============2189918322909998138==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: inline

X19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX18KVGhlIG9waW5p
b25zIGV4cHJlc3NlZCBpbiB0aGlzIGVtYWlsIGFyZSB0aG9zZSBvZiB0aGUgc2VuZGVyIGFuZCBu
b3QgbmVjZXNzYXJpbHkgdGhvc2Ugb2YgdGhlIE9wZW4gU291cmNlIEluaXRpYXRpdmUuIE9mZmlj
aWFsIHN0YXRlbWVudHMgYnkgdGhlIE9wZW4gU291cmNlIEluaXRpYXRpdmUgd2lsbCBiZSBzZW50
IGZyb20gYW4gb3BlbnNvdXJjZS5vcmcgZW1haWwgYWRkcmVzcy4KCkxpY2Vuc2UtZGlzY3VzcyBt
YWlsaW5nIGxpc3QKTGljZW5zZS1kaXNjdXNzQGxpc3RzLm9wZW5zb3VyY2Uub3JnCmh0dHA6Ly9s
aXN0cy5vcGVuc291cmNlLm9yZy9tYWlsbWFuL2xpc3RpbmZvL2xpY2Vuc2UtZGlzY3Vzc19saXN0
cy5vcGVuc291cmNlLm9yZwo=

--===============2189918322909998138==--