Discouraging contributors (Was: g++.old-deja/g++.other/anon7.C)

[Richard Kenner]

    Not loosing or upsetting lots of contributors is much more
    important than being able to eventually sue someone in the unlikely
    event that it becomes necessary in a distant future.

It's not just that: if people don't assign copyright, there is no assurance
that they *own* the copyright in the first place.  This way, they are
asserting that they have the right to assign the code.  In the absence of
that, somebody might contribute code copyrighted to a third party without
that party's permission.  Then could then sue to stop the distribution
of GCC and then the work of *all* the contributors will be in vain.