Why not contribute? (to GCC)

[Jonathan Corbet]

On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 08:51:17 -0400
"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org> wrote:

> Not much can be done to either of those, the copyright assignments are
> necessary to keep GCC legally safe.

Given that there are plenty of high-profile projects out there which
seem to be entirely safe in the absence of copyright assignment
policies, why, exactly, does GCC need one to be "legally safe"?

Note that "copyright assignment" and "being sure that the developer
has the right to contribute the code" are two very different things.

Thanks,

jon