[GRASSLIST:10801] Re: [GRASS5] FWD: [OSGeo-Discuss] Incubation Committee / Contributor Agreements]

[Glynn Clements]

Richard Greenwood wrote:

> > Personally, I don't intend to sign the proposed CLA.
> 
> I have lurked on this list for long enough to know the contributions
> that you make to GRASS. I am curious as to why you do not intend to
> sign the CLA. I am not asking this as a 'leading' question. I am quite
> ignorant of IP license issues and I would like to understand your
> position.

I believe that, in most cases, releasing code under the GPL provides
the maximum benefit, as anyone wishing to create derivative works also
has to licence their version under the GPL. The more GPL'd code that
exists, the greater the incentive for developers to make new code
available under the GPL.

The CLA grants the foundation the right to redistribute contributed
code under almost any licence, including those which permit
proprietary derivatives (e.g. BSD and MIT licences). Such licences
provide significantly less incentive for developers to share their
additions or enhancements.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>