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A comment on Rug pulls, forks, and open-source feudalism. Parent comment

Re:Rug pulls, forks, and open-source feudalism by palata on Saturday September 06, 2025 @05:46PM (#45153165)
> This means that they promise to release your contribution under the original license as well.

To me it sounds like they reserve the right to use my contribution in their proprietary code as they see fit... My point was that by using a copyleft licence and not signing a CLA, I prevent them from using my contribution in a proprietary fork.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Rug pulls, forks, and open-source feudalism by socalgal2 on Saturday September 06, 2025 @07:00PM (#45153696)
> I prevent them from using my contribution in a proprietary fork.

You effectively prevent your contribution from being merged back into the original project. This generally means your contribution isn't likely to be used. It will sit in its own repo for others to find.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Rug pulls, forks, and open-source feudalism by palata on Sunday September 07, 2025 @12:59PM (#45159917)
Well, in practice if they require that I sign a CLA, I just don't bother contributing :-).

Of course they don't care because someone else will work for them for free, but that won't be me.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Rug pulls, forks, and open-source feudalism by goku12 on Sunday September 07, 2025 @05:36AM (#45156744)
You're right on both counts. My reply is supplemental to your comment and not its correction. I was just adding information about some pesky corner cases for anyone who's interested in it.
[ Parent | on HN ]