# EasyCLA FAQs **Why does the Linux Foundation ask contributors of some projects to sign CLAs?** Some project communities have elected to use CLAs as a required step for code contributions. The Linux Foundation wants to ensure that contributions comply with the IP (intellectual property) policies of that project. **What is the difference between a Corporate CLA (CCLA) and an Individual CLA (ICLA)?** **Corporate CLA (CCLA)** * **Purpose:** A Corporate CLA is required when you are contributing code on behalf of your employer. * **Signer:** The individual signing the CCLA must have the authority to enter into legal agreements on behalf of the company. This is often not the contributor. * **Approval:** After signing a CCLA, the contributor must be covered by one or more approved-list criteria for the project or CLA group, such as an email domain, contributor email, GitHub organization, GitHub username, GitLab group URL, or GitLab username. * **Management:** The CCLA manager for your company is responsible for maintaining the approved list. **Individual CLA (ICLA)** * **Purpose:** An individual CLA is used for contributions made by individuals on their behalf rather than on behalf of their employer or another entity. * **Signer:** The signer of the ICLA owns the rights to the contribution and is directly responsible for it. **How can I contribute to GitHub/Gerrit/GitLab repositories?** If you are an individual contributor, see [Individual Contributor](/lfx/easycla/v2-current/contributors/individual-contributor.md). If you are a corporate contributor, see [Corporate Contributor](/lfx/easycla/v2-current/contributors/corporate-contributor.md) for details. #### **How can I view my ICLA document after I sign it?** Open the email that you provided while signing the ICLA to check the signed ICLA that was sent from The Linux Foundation. If you have not received the email, you can open a support ticket to have it resent. #### **Which CCLA approval criteria option has the lowest maintenance overhead?** Using the Domain **Approval Criteria** requires less overhead because CCLA signatories and CCLA managers do not need to add and manage numerous employee email addresses. ### **I contribute to an open source project on behalf of my employer. Do I need to sign anything?** If your company has already signed a Corporate Contributor License Agreement (CCLA) and you are listed as an approved contributor, you do not need to sign anything further. Just confirm your association with your company when submitting code. If you are the first contributor from your company, an authorized company representative (the CCLA signatory) must sign the CCLA as part of the EasyCLA onboarding process. Your company may designate you as the CCLA signatory—check with your legal counsel to confirm. If your company has a signed CCLA but you are not on the approved contributor list, your CCLA manager must add you via EasyCLA before you can contribute. **When I am trying to contribute code under a CCLA, what should I do if my company is not listed?** You must add your company as described [here](/lfx/easycla/v2-current/contributors/corporate-contributor.md#if-your-company-is-not-in-the-list) before you can contribute code under corporate CLA (CCLA). **If my project community has elected to use CLAs as a required step for contributions to their code, do I need to be authorized under a CLA for each project to which I contribute?** Yes, provided that the project (or the CLA group that covers it) has a CLA requirement. * If you are contributing as an individual—you must sign the Individual CLA required by that project or CLA group. A single CLA group can cover multiple projects. * If you are contributing as an employee of a company, your company's CCLA signatory must sign a Corporate CLA, and your CLA Manager must add an approved-list criterion that covers you. **Do I have to sign a CLA every time I contribute code to a project?** If you have already completed the required CLA workflow for a project or for the CLA group that covers that project, then you do not need to sign every time you contribute. That authorization covers future contributions to the same project or CLA group. You may still need an additional CLA workflow if you later contribute to a different project or CLA group that has its own CLA requirements. #### **Where do I view my individual CLA (ICLA) after I sign the ICLA?** Your ICLA will be emailed to the email address you provided when signing it, as soon as you sign it. If you did not receive the email, you can open a support ticket to have it resent. #### Why is my EasyCLA status not updated even after I complete the process. (Individual Contributors) Wait for the few seconds or refresh the page to get your EasyCLA status updated. (Corporate Contributors) After you complete the process, you must acknowledge [acknowledging company contribution](/lfx/easycla/v2-current/contributors/corporate-contributor.md#acknowledge-company-contribution). If you have already acknowledged company contributions, wait for few seconds or refresh the page to get your EasyCLA status updated. **Why does EasyCLA redirect and update a previously opened PR instead of the one I performed the signature on?** When there are two or more opened PRs in the same repository, during the signature process, EasyCLA will always redirect and update the earliest opened PR. Once the signature has been completed, you can add a `"/easycla"` comment on the other PRs to trigger the EasyCLA bot and update your authorization status for each open PR. **What is the acceptable email format?** A valid email address with an email prefix and an email domain, for example, ** The allowed characters for the email prefix are letters (a-z), numbers, underscores, periods, and dashes, and an underscore, period, or dash must be followed by one or more letters or numbers, for example:\ \&#xNAN;<_abc-d@mail.com>/abc./abc\@mail.com/abc\_def\@mail.com\_ The allowed characters for an email domain are letters, numbers, and dashes, and the last portion of the domain must be at least two characters, for example,.org,.cc. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. 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