Signing disclaimers

One very effective way to deter people from using your software is to request them to sign different disclaimers, a few examples being listed below:

• Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO)
• Contributor License Agreement (CLA)

While it is a very good idea to document the conditions under which you are accepting contributions, preventing people from creating a pull request or from testing it before they sign such a document is a very bad idea.

As far as I know, there is no single legal case where the presence of such a document had any effect on the outcome of a lawsuit. You would be adding a wall that does not add any protection, but it does for sure add more friction.

Authors: Sorin Sbarnea