The conversation around LWN’s coverage of Michael Meeks’ talk at the Linux Plumbers Conference (sadly paywalled until now but available today and worth reading all the way through) provoked interesting comments. The subject of the discussion is LibreOffice and the code ownership issues which provoked the fork. But what caught my eye was a comment from Josh Berkus describing his consulting experiences.
Read on over at ComputerWorldUK.
Filed under: Governance | Tagged: ComputerWorldUK |
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I really have to disagree with that. Contributor agreements are a necessary evil in a world filled with legal land mines.
They also ensure that no one contributor to a project can hold it hostage in the light of needed changes in licensing or when their employer or themselves come against commercial users of the project with patents or other methods.
Some might consider that a feature, but I think it’s very telling that many of the most successful projects often require one.
Yes, it has downsides. But I think the tradeoff is well worth it.