As we described in a blog post, we will soon require almost every contributor to have a signed Contributor License Agreement (CLA) on file. We are following the practice of the Apache Sofware Foundation. You can see their CLA policy here. Or, you can just read the following paragraphs :)

OpenSSL desires that all contributors of ideas, code, or documentation complete, sign, and submit (via postal mail, fax or email) an Individual CLA [PDF]. The purpose of this agreement is to clearly define the terms under which intellectual property has been contributed to OpenSSL and thereby allow us to defend the project should there be a legal dispute regarding the software at some future time.

The ICLA is not tied to any employer you may have, so we recommend you use a personal email address in the contact details, rather than a work address.

For a corporation that has assigned employees to work on OpenSSL, a Corporate CLA [PDF] is available for contributing intellectual property via the corporation, that may have been assigned as part of an employment agreement. Note that a Corporate CLA does not cover any individual contributions which are not owned by the corporation signing the CCLA.

Your Full name will be published unless you provide an alternative Public name. For example if your full name is Andrew Bernard Charles Dickens, but you wish to be known as Andrew Dickens, please enter the latter as your Public name. If you do not wish to have your name listed as a contributor, use Anonymous. We reserve the right to reject rude or obscene nick-names. The email address and other contact details are not published.