Contributions to RStudio code

rjss · February 27, 2018, 2:07am

Recently I did a small contribution to a package by RStudio (leaflet) and I received a message that I needed to complete an RStudio Individual Contributor Agreement.

I read it but since I do not speak "legal" language I just wanted to get a feeling of the purpose of this form. I guess in general this form is a protection for RStudio (e.g., somebody suing because they may argue RStudio stole some intellectual property) and also protect the contributor (e.g., no warranty in the code being submitted). Am I reading this right? I don't have major concerns with this form but I guess hearing from the community may help me in case I am missing something important.

mara · February 27, 2018, 12:40pm

Hi @rjss,

I'm not sure that this belongs in #tidyverse, since I think it likely applies to other packages (and, I personally have never seen it before). Would you mind moving this to #uncategorized? That way non-tidyverse people (e.g. other RStudio staff) will see it as well.

Here's a little gist I made showing how to switch categories:

gist.github.com

https://gist.github.com/batpigandme/b814ef00b93dd0a2441fb3e8d06f83ce

community_changing_cats.md

When changing the category for a question, you will not lose anything.
The thread stays the same. All you need to do is click the pencil icon
next to the post title, and then use the dropdown to select a different
category.

![](https://i.imgur.com/kqEhXQD.png)

![](https://i.imgur.com/8CVAlPF.png)

Thanks

EDIT: now that general exists, I can go ahead and move it there.

tareef · February 27, 2018, 1:19pm

Hello @rjss,
Individual Contributor Agreements are pretty standard for open source projects to ensure that all of the intellectual property associated with the work can be licensed without any claims coming later from someone who says that they require some compensation for the intellectual property the contributed.

You can see Apache's version of it to see other examples.

Hope this helps.
Tareef

garrett · February 27, 2018, 4:11pm

And also... Thanks for contributing!