Stage 1 · Lesson 6 of 7
CLAs and DCO sign-offs
Some projects need a record that you have the right to submit your code. There are two common ways to give one. A (CLA) is a document you sign once.
It grants the project rights to your contribution. You usually sign it through a bot that comments on your first , and many company-run projects use one. The Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) is lighter, and the kernel and many projects use it.
You add a Signed-off-by line to each with git commit -s. That line certifies that you wrote the code or are allowed to submit it. A failing DCO check is one of the most common blocks on a first pull request. You fix it by adding sign-offs to the commits and pushing again.
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Resources for this stage
Start with
- GuideFreeHow to Contribute to Open Source
GitHub · Beginner
How projects are run, how to find one, and what to do before you open an issue
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Ten foundational projects worth studying, plus how a beginner starts contributing