Do you have an example of where this has been a problem? Most open source projects lack a CLA and do not have problems with bureaucracy. For example the Postgre

Do you have an example of where this has been a problem? Most open source projects lack a CLA and do not have problems with bureaucracy. For example the PostgreSQL and Linux projects lack any CLA and have never had any problems with this as far as I know. Lacking a CLA means one less hurdle for new developers. The advantage of a CLA is that you can change license, but if you are MIT licensed you can already change to almost any license without requiring any approval from the community. CLA:s only make sense for very strict licenses.