Contribution Policy

(Modified: July 2013, FURTHER CHANGES PENDING)

Before you contribute code to Lustre® or obtain write access to the Git repository, you must sign a Contributor Agreement] and return it to [mailto:lustre@xyratex.com lustre@xyratex.com]. We require this step for several reasons:


 * We need to make sure that you only contribute code that you own. By certifying that you wrote the code (and that you control the rights), you take legal responsibility for your contribution.


 * By agreeing to joint ownership of the copyright, you make it easier for us to protect the project and company from license violations, as only the copyright holder is empowered to act against violations (see the Free Software Foundations's comments about this topic).


 * By signing the agreement, you also make it possible for us to continue to sell and distribute Lustre under other licenses, including non-free licenses. This business model is what pays the bills, allowing us to maintain and improve Lustre, release the code under an open source license, and participate in open development.

Because you remain a copyright holder of the code you contribute, you can use the code in almost any fashion. Of course, this only applies to the software that you contribute, not software written by others.

We will gladly acknowledge your authorship in the source code. If you make a substantial contribution, please update the boilerplate at the top of the source file as part of your patch.

Finally, if you write software for a living (or attend a university), your organization may own all of the software that you create. In this case, you have three options:


 * Have an officer or authorized representative of the organization contribute the software.
 * Get an officer or authorized representative of the organization to waive its rights to your software so that you can contribute it yourself. In this case, please enclose a short waiver signed by the officer.
 * Do not contribute the software.

You are responsible for making sure that you control the rights to the software before you contribute it. If in doubt, please consult your organization or an attorney. If you ever find that you have contributed software that you shouldn't have for any reason, please notify us right away.