Since the earliest days of the OpenStack project, contributors have been required to sign either an Individual or Corporate Contributor License Agreement (ICLA or CCLA) in order to contribute to the project.
There has been one recent, high-profile case where this requirement has prevented a contributor from joining the project. There is also a wider debate gathering momentum in the open-source world about the need for such agreements.
Any change to this policy would require the support of the Foundation board, the legal affairs committee advising the board on IP matters and, ultimately, the Foundation membership in order to approve a change to the Foundation bylaws. However, the project and its current contributors have a role here - we need to build consensus amongst ourselves whether we're happy with the status quo or would like to see some work done around exploring a change to our policy.
Let's take some time to educate ourselves on the purpose of our CLA, talk through the arguments for and against it, share any anecdotes of friction it may have caused, discuss our current implementation of the CLA and whether there is appetite for change amongst within the project.
