HashiCorp's license change

Posted Aug 18, 2023 21:08 UTC (Fri) by wtarreau (subscriber, #51152)
In reply to: HashiCorp's license change by wtarreau
Parent article: HashiCorp's license change

In fact I even think we should develop a culture of making fun of those who accepted to sign a CLA. I know it's not fair, but it would spread the word easier and make some doubt when asked to do so.

HashiCorp's license change

Posted Aug 19, 2023 12:46 UTC (Sat) by e-rk (subscriber, #166547) [Link]

I don't think making fun will do any good, because you can't really differentiate between people who made the contribution for free, or were doing it as part of their employment. Also the people you make fun of may just double down as a defense mechanism and dismiss your stance as a conspiracy theory of some sort.

The way it should be approached I think is to make an educative website that explains what CLAs are, the risks they pose, and some practical examples of real CLAs that are evil (copyright transfer, re-licensing, etc.) and examples that are fair along with some more detailed analysis of the terms.

My wishful thinking is that if such website were high quality enough, you could have major repository hosts link to such website in some prominent place when a project you view requires you to sign a CLA to contribute. This would hopefully help educate people before signing.