Open Stack

Mark McLoughlin <markmc at redhat.com> writes:

> Hey
>
> I'm almost done drafting - with Richard Fontan's help - a wiki page
> describing what the CLA is and why we have it, the issues we see with it
> and why we should consider changing to the DCO:
>
>   https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/OpenStackAndItsCLA
>
> This clearly isn't just a matter for the TC and I plan to circulate this
> more widely after next week. However, I do think the leadership and
> consensus of the TC is required to even begin making a case for change.
> Unless we - as a group - perceive an issue with contributor friction in
> particular, then it's likely quite pointless pursuing this further.
>
> Anyway, I hope some of you will get a chance to read through this and
> come along to the session on Tuesday at 14.50:
>
>   http://junodesignsummit.sched.org/event/bf582e043302263432fb50d34c96d98c
>
> Also, please do send me questions for the FAQ.

An excellent piece, thank you so much.

In my experience at FOSDEM and at PyCon, I noted serious skepticism from
people I spoke with about the "legitimacy" of OpenStack as an actual
Open Source project.  In essence, there is a perception that it is a
corporate project and contributions from individual or unaffiliated
developers are not welcome.  I think we strive very hard to make sure
that everyone is welcome, but the bureaucracy of the individual
membership requirement and the CLA in particular are actions that say
otherwise to many developers.  If I were not so employed, I would count
myself among them.

The CLA is an "image problem" for our project, and in addition to all of
the intangibles associated with that, it may adversely impact the
recruiting of new developers.

I do think that this aspect is important; I leave it to you to consider
whether you would like to add it to the document.  And once again, a
thousand thanks for writing that.

-Jim