ForgeRock Open Source Community Frequently Asked Questions

Projects

Each project has its own FAQ for project-specific questions

• OpenAM FAQ
• OpenIDM FAQ
• OpenESB FAQ

Project Hosting

Will you fork all the projects you work on?

No, ForgeRock is committed to being a good community citizen. Where it is essential to offer hosting for a community (as has been necessary for OpenAM) we will do so, but generally a fork should be the last resort; it has not been necessary for OpenESB, for example. Where we become unable to make timely upstream contributions we will, however, create a downstream repository and in time such things do become forks.

What about mailing lists?

We would rather use the existing mailing lists for each project where they are good places to work. In the event that they are no longer appropriate for open conversation, we will host mailing lists or forums for the community.

Participation Agreement

Will you be using a contributor agreement

Yes, although it's very different in philosophy to any you've seen before. The original OpenSSO community on java.net whilst being open was very insular, tightly controlled and focussed on gathering copyright for use in a "dual licensing" strategy. We will implement a new more inclusive simple and open layered governance structure for all the projects we work on using the idea of concentric circles of involvement around the central code commons (Listeners/Fans/Roadies/Rockstars!). In addition, the community will use the new ForgeRock Community Participation Agreement (FCPA), a much improved community agreement that ensures the community does not end up dominated by a single contributor.

What is the intention of the FCPA?

The FCPA ensures that all community participants make the same commitments to originality of their work and to not abusing patents. It leaves every contributor as the copyright holder of their own code, either licensed to the community under the same license as the rest of the project (CDDL in most cases) or shared with ForgeRock so we can license it out under CDDL while we hold it in trust for the community. In this latter case, the original copyright holder and ForgeRock both get (shared) copyright for the code. Both parties can use their copy independently of each other for any purpose (as if each copy was completely separate and unique).

What if I don't want to submit code to you under the FCPA?

If you don't like either of the options in the FCPA for code that you want to contribute to any ForgeRock I³ Open Platform project, the other option is to submit your code under the Apache license. Please contact ombudsman@forgerock.com to discuss this option if required.

What will ForgeRock do with the code I contribute?

ForgeRock will simply hold it in trust for the community. We do not intend to attempt a "dual licensing" strategy.

Where did the FCPA come from?

The FCPA is based on Monty Program Ab Contributor Agreement (MCA).

What's the difference between Monty Program Ab MCA and the FCPA?

To strengthen the idea that we are a community working together, we have added the idea that participants in the community may choose between licensing their contributions under an open source license or sharing the copyright with ForgeRock. We have also changed the names, corrected some typos and adjusted the grammar a little.