[Python-Dev] Making it possible to accept contributions without CLA (was: My thinking about the development process)

[Barry Warsaw]

On Dec 09, 2014, at 09:31 AM, Ben Finney wrote:

>Rather, I'm asking what, specifically, necessitates this situation.
>
>What would need to change, for the PSF to accept contributions to the
>Python copyrighted works, without requiring the contributor to do
>anything but license the work under Apache 2.0 license?

My understanding is that the PSF needs the ability to relicense the
contribution under the standard PSF license, and it is the contributor
agreement that gives the PSF the legal right to do this.

Many organizations, both for- and non-profit have this legal requirement, and
there are many avenues for satisfying these needs, mostly based on different
legal and business interpretations.  In the scheme of such things, and IMHO,
the PSF CLA is quite reasonable and lightweight, both in what it requires a
contributor to provide, and in the value, rights, and guarantees it extends to
the contributor.

Cheers,
-Barry