[SeasonOfDocs] TheGoodDocsProject: Contributor Agreements

[Jared Morgan]

With these agreements, does anyone have to actually sign and return the
agreement? Or do they take the form of "submitting your change is like
signing the agreement"?

I'm just following along with this thread for now because (as you can
probably tell) I have never heard of this before in open source projects.

On Mon., 29 Jul. 2019, 07:21 Jennifer Rondeau, <jennifer.rondeau at gmail.com>
wrote:

> It's been my experience working with the Kubernetes community that a CLA
> can pose a non-insignificant barrier to entry for new contributors,
> especially if they aren't already familiar with FOSS. And it's my
> observation from working with a range of Write the Docs communities that
> technical writers tend to be less familiar with FOSS norms and practices
> than coders -- this includes writers from large companies.
>
> If we want to maintain a project that's an open and welcoming for all as
> possible, I'd support a DCO, but I also wonder whether we need or want even
> that much. My guess is that it would be enough to drive away at least some
> otherwise valuable contributors. I don't have data about how many potential
> contributors lack of a DCO would keep away -- anyone else?
>
> Related but not quite on topic: how do we want to solicit and encourage
> contributions? Are we assuming only contributors who are already familiar
> with a Git workflow? That would definitely keep some good work away, based
> on my experience with writing day sessions for the Write the Docs guide at
> WtD conferences.
>
> On Sun, Jul 28, 2019 at 2:25 PM Jo Cook <jo.k.cook at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Personally I'm fine with the light tough DCO but happy to go with
>> whatever works for people contributing from large companies.
>>
>> All the best
>>
>> Jo
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 28, 2019 at 1:15 PM Cameron Shorter <
>> cameron.shorter at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> It has been ~ 10 years since I last looked into open source contributor
>>> agreements, so I've been doing some research. I feel this is an
>>> important consideration for a project which is hopefully to be as
>>> central as ours will become.
>>>
>>> It is about having contributors confirm they are allowed to give to our
>>> project and to agree we can distribute contributions under our open
>>> licenses.
>>> We have a few options: do nothing, old heavy weight Contributor License
>>> Agreement (CLA), or lightweight Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO)
>>> Pros and cons are explained in Producing Open Source Software:
>>>
>>> https://producingoss.com/en/contributor-agreements.html#developer-certificate-of-origin
>>> I propose we adopt the light DCO: https://developercertificate.org/
>>>
>>> I'd like to hear if anyone has any opinions or experience in this area
>>> (especially from those of you in big companies which have legal
>>> departments which may be opinionated.)
>>>
>>> After we've discussed for a few days (weeks if being debated), I'll put
>>> together a motion to vote on.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> --
>>> Cameron Shorter
>>> Technology Demystifier
>>> Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant
>>>
>>> M +61 (0) 419 142 254
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> SeasonOfDocs mailing list
>>> SeasonOfDocs at lists.osgeo.org
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/seasonofdocs
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ------------------------
>> http://about.me/jocook
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