> Don't contribute to any software where there's a risk the stewards will licence switch on you If you contribute, you own copyright to your contribution and t

> Don't contribute to any software where there's a risk the stewards will licence switch on you If you contribute, you own copyright to your contribution and the software can't be relicensed without your approval (or removal/reimplementation of the parts you added). The trick is to not grant the copyright assignment (ie. gift the maintainers your copyright). As an example, here's what MongoDBs contributor agreement[0] says: > By submitting a contribution, you assign to MongoDB all right, title and interest in any copright you have in the Contribution, and you wave any rifghts, including any moral rights, database rights, etc. that may affect our ownership of the copyright in the Contribution. Other projects have similar language. If you contribute a project and sign something like that, you're not contributing to an open source project[1] - you're working for that corporation for free. [0] https://www.mongodb.com/legal/contributor-agreement https://www.mongodb.com/legal/contributor-agreement [1] With one exception: FSF also requires you to sign over the ownership and there's zero chance they'll turn corporate.