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We accept (quality) patches and contributions from people who have completed the necessary paperwork to put their patches/contributions in the public domain. T
by SQLite 5y ago
We accept (quality) patches and contributions from people who have completed the necessary paperwork to put their patches/contributions in the public domain. This restriction is in place so that that SQLite itself can remain in the public domain.
If we accept drive-by patches from anonymous users, then SQLite would have to be relicensed as GPL or similar, which would undermine many of its use cases.
- athms 5y ago>people who have completed the necessary paperwork to put their patches/contributions in the public domain. In the US, authors cannot put their works in the public domain. This ability doesn't exist in statute, nor have the courts accepted the concept. Past attempts to allow this have failed in Congress. One can refuse to enforce their rights on creative works, but copyright still exists from the moment of creation and works won't enter public domain until the expiration of the copyright. Furthermore, the US allows authors (except work-for-hire) and their heirs the right of termination for copyright transfers and licenses. This is an inalienable statutory right which cannot be restricted by contracts.