[IronPython] Status of Accepting External Contributions

[Jeff Hardy]

Hi all,
This horse doesn't seem to have been beaten recently, so I thought I'd
bring it up again :). What's the status, if any, on allowing people
outside Microsoft to contribute patches to IronPython?

I have a few things that I don't think are at the top of the team's
priority list that I'd be more than willing to work on (#17250,
#26044), but I don't have that option right now. I know that the team
has suggested other ways to help out in the past, such as providing
extensions and filing bugs, but building a real OSS community requires
being able to change the code directly.

I also worry about the bus factor of IronPython; if Dino decides that
growing potatoes on a commune in Vermont would be preferable to
staring at computers all day, what happens to IronPython without a
community to carry it?

I know it's all tied up with MS Legal and there's probably not much
the IronPython team can do about it, but I'm curious as to what state
things are in. Maybe the licence change is just the tip of the
iceberg?

- Jeff