Why not contribute? (to GCC)

[Steven Bosscher]

On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 6:48 PM, Michael Witten <mfwitten@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 11:33, Richard Kenner
> If I submit a patch to the GCC project---necessitating an assignment
> of the copyright to the FSF---then can the people of the FSF decide
> that they don't want me to distribute my own work in another project
> (proprietary or otherwise)?

No. This is very explicitly mentioned in the copyright assignment
papers. For example, from my own copy (2002):

"1.(d) FSF agrees to grant back to Developer, and does hereby grant,
non-exclusive, royalty-free and non-cancellable rights to use the
Works (i.e., Developer's changes and/or enhancements, not The Program
that they enhance), as Developer sees fit."

In other words, you can distribute your own work in another project in
any way you want.

Ciao!
Steven