[License-discuss] FAQ entry on CLAs

[Allison Randal]

On 01/20/2015 10:46 AM, Engel Nyst wrote:
> 
> That doesn't make any sense. How is the open source license not good?
> How doesn't it give permissions set out in OSD? And WHY was it approved
> if it doesn't comply?

You're missing the point. The open source license is good, does give the
permissions set out in the OSD, and does comply with the requirements of
the OSD. But meeting one set of requirements for OSD doesn't guarantee
it meets some other related set of requirements for inbound=outbound. A
license isn't "bad" or "anti-open source" if it doesn't happen to work
in an inbound=outbound contribution policy.

If you want specific examples, I'd say GPL and Apache both work fine
with inbound=outbound. GPL takes a position close to compelling
inbound=outbound. Apache 2.0 was specifically designed with
inbound=outbound in mind, you can see fingerprints of it all over the text.

You're confusing "no comment" for "opposition". OSI makes no comment on
whether particular open source licenses are appropriate for use in an
inbound=outbound contribution policy. That doesn't mean it's opposed to
inbound=outbound.


To take this in a more productive direction, you may be interested in
some research I started last year, in which early results indicate that
inbound=outbound is the most common contribution policy currently used
for open source projects, and that DCO is regarded as substantially
preferable to CLA or CAA. I still need to write up the study in more
detail, but a couple of graphs I've produced so far are useful
illustrations.

Contribution policies developers have contributed under in the past:
https://github.com/allisonrandal/contrib-policy-survey/blob/master/graphs/signed.png

Contribution policies developers are willing to contribute under in the
future:
https://github.com/allisonrandal/contrib-policy-survey/blob/master/graphs/future.png


I totally support campaigning for inbound=outbound and DCO, but the OSI
FAQ pages aren't the right place to do it.

Allison