Element informed the Foundation that it will be forking Synapse and Dendrite: https://matrix.org/blog/2023/11/06/future-of-synapse-dendrite/
We'll do our best to answer your questions, address concerns, and find a path forward together.
@matrix Dear, @element, please be honest:
You write that you want a CLA
> giving Element the right to distribute the contribution commercially
.
When you write "commercially” you mean “proprietary”. Because FLOSS can always be utilised for _all_ cause, including commercial ones and selling it. This is what e.g sets it apart from pretending licenses like the BSL which want to claim all commercial activities just for a single stakeholder.
@schmittlauch @matrix Have edited the blog post to try to clarify: "giving Element the right to license the contribution commercially to third party proprietary forks so we can use it to help fund Matrix core development in future".
@element Thank you. While I am still wary about the incentives this brings for encouraging FLOSS back-contributions vs. selling proprietary licenses (see the OwnCloud-NextCloud story), I guess the biggest concern of most CLA critics is the ability of element pulling a HashiCorp and going proprietary again.
You now mention this concern as well in the blog post; have any countermeasures for the CLA been discussed? Like e.g. https://github.com/slint-ui/slint/discussions/244
@schmittlauch honestly, we only found about the slint/signal trick via the discussion here today. it looks really interesting, as there is zero desire to pull a hashicorp - we're literally trying to do the opposite.
@element why don't you have a similar CLA to that of Qt then? In which contributors only grant you a license not copyright...