Open source software benefits from the contributions of a broad range of developers, some hobbyists, others serious professionals. But the terms of those contribution agreements are complicated and often highly contentious.
Enter Project Harmony. Supported by a diverse cast of characters from the open source community, Project Harmony aims to bring consistency to the terms and conditions of software contribution agreements. Datamation takes a look.
BOSTON — Open source licenses help to define the terms and conditions of software use and redistribution. But what are the terms and conditions under which developers actually contribute code? That’s the realm of software contribution agreements.
A new effort spearheaded by Amanda Brock, general counsel at Canonical, the lead sponsor of Ubuntu Linux, is trying to help solve the problem of contribution agreements. The effort is called Project Harmony, and it’s a multi-stakeholder project that aims to help provide some clarity and uniformity to software contribution agreements.