Why do we need a CLA?

The GNU AGPL v3 license guarantees that the core of the Veneto ecosystem, and any contributions you make, will remain free and open-source forever. Moreover, you retain ownership of your contributions. The CLA only provides us a license to your contributions, such that we may relicense them if the need ever arises.

Veneto is a passion project and will be for the foreseeable future, but in the event that we are able to make a sustainable business out of it, contributors will be the first in line to join it. We believe that open source software is the way to go, but also that developers deserve to make a living. Again, there are no plans to monetize anything related to Veneto for the time being; the CLA just allows that to happen in the future.

Moreover, the CLA explicitly limits your liability over your contributions, and guarantees that we release your contribution under the public license in the event that it’s released under a relicense.

The CLA explained

Here is a brief, non-binding rundown of the agreement:

• The introduction briefly explains the nature of the CLA: that it is an agreement between you and me (Jacob Conley, acting on behalf of the Veneto organization until we form a legal entity), how to agree to it, and that it applies to all Veneto repositories.
• Section 1 defines the relevant terms, such as “contribution”.
• Section 2 is the most important part, the reason the CLA exists - it provides a license to me, while you retain ownership of your contributions.
• Section 3 is legal boilerplate, requiring confirmation that you own your contributions or otherwise have the authority to license them to me
• Sections 4 and 5 confirm that you are only providing the contributions and are not assuming any legal liability (this is just to be extra safe)
• Section 6 is more legal boilerplate, the kind of stuff you’d find on any contract, further elaborating on the nature of the agreement.