What is the Contributors Agreement for?

The Contributor Agreement (CA) gives Sun and the contributor joint copyright interests in the code: the contributor retains copyrights while also granting those rights to Sun as the open source project sponsor. This enables Sun to represent the aggregated code base (and the community) as a whole in order to enforce licensing restrictions, and/or other legal concerns.

If I sign this once, does it apply to source code on all projects on the site?

Yes. This agreement covers not only all projects on this site, but also applies to any project sponsored by Sun that requires this agreement. Please retain a copy for your records, and to send to another project if you are asked.

Where do I send the Contributor Agreement to?

US copyright law requires that we retain a signed copy of the agreement. To execute the Contributor Agreement, please fax the signed, completed Sun Contributor Agreement to OpenSPARC Administrator: (408) 276-4168 or email a scanned, signed copy to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it You will receive a reference number confirming that the document has been received. Please provide this reference number when making contributions to the OpenSPARC project.

More FAQ on Contributor Agreement

Look here for more FAQ on the Contributor Agreement.
Mike Dillion, Sun General Counsel, has a blog enty on the Contributor Agreement.