Contributing
NOTE: The easiest and fastest way to sign a Contributor Agreement with thePython Software Foundation is to do it while you are submitting your firstchange to aPython-owned repository on GitHub.That's the recommended way as it is fully automated. The ContributorAgreement page you're looking at now is mainly intended for signingContributor Agreements on behalf of organizations.The Contributor Agreement form hosted here is manually reviewedwhich takes time to process.
Contributor Agreements
Procedures
The PSF is now asking all past and future contributorsto sign aContributor Agreement.
With these forms, contributors formally license their contributionto the PSF, under an open source license (the "Initial License").Currently, we accept contributions under the following initiallicenses:
This agreement solves, for the PSF, the major issue of relicensingin open source software: Formally, most licenses at most allow forrelicensing the software on the same terms as the original license.With the license form, PSF receives the permission to relicense thesoftware under a different (open source) license than the initiallicense - and indeed we distribute Python under the Python license,not under one of the initial licenses.
At the same time, contributors remain copyright holders of their contributions - they are not asked to assign the copyright to thePSF. They only formally confirm the terms under which they madetheir contribution available to the PSF.
The choice of initial license originates from the advice of ourlawyer: the initial licenses should be open source, they shouldbe clear and explicit in what they permit, and they should notonly include a copyright grant (in particular to reproduce andprepare derivative works), but also a license grant to all relevantpatents that the contributor holds. As most contributors do nothold any patents (at least none relevant for the contribution),the patent grant is likely irrelevant for most contributors.
For more information on licensing and the PSF contribution process,please see thePSF Licensing FAQ.
Submission instructions
We accept contributor agreements throughan online form.
You can also submit the agreement by postal mail, fax,or by email. Please print a copy of the form, fill out yourname, address, and initial license, sign it, and either send via postalmail to
Python Software Foundation
c/o Secretary
9450 SW Gemini Dr.
ECM# 90772
Beaverton, OR 97008
USA
or send it by fax to +1 858 712 8966
or scan or take a photo of the signed form and email it tocontributors@python.org.
As the form is designed for future contributions, we askpast contributors to state that their past contributions arealso covered under the form; we have one such form for pastcontributions toPythonand one form forJython.
TheTitle field needs to be filled out only if you areacting for a legal entity (e.g. president of some company),i.e. you are filling out the form for the entity, not for yourself.If you do, fill in the position that you are holding withinthat organization.
In order to give Python developers ready access to the listof forms received, we will publish the names (but not theaddresses) of all contributors in the Python source code repository.
If you have any questions, please mail uscontributors@python.org.
January 16, 2025