Add contributors agreement

[moWerk]

In light of the possible collaboration with commercial entities, we should have a contributors agreement.
This a draft for the wiki -> developer documentation

Loosely based on what the KDE guys have:
https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/QtContributionLicenseAgreement-1-1.pdf

Updated version in next comment!

[moWerk]

AsteroidOS Contributor Agreement (revised April 2026)

Raising this again in the context of a companion Contributing Guidelines document currently under discussion.
#493

The structure and intent of the original draft are unchanged; this revision tightens the language and adds a clause on LLM-assisted contributions.

Loosely based on the KDE Contributor License Agreement: https://kde.org/community/whatiskde/QtContributionLicenseAgreement-1-1.pdf

1. Purpose
This agreement defines how contributions — code, documentation, designs, translations, and other creative work — to the AsteroidOS project are licensed, and how the project remains independent and community-governed regardless of who contributes.

2. Licensing of Contributions
All contributions must be licensed under the same open-source license as the receiving component of AsteroidOS (GPLv2, GPLv3, or LGPLv3 as applicable). By contributing, you grant a perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive license for your contribution to be used, modified, and redistributed under that license. Contributors must ensure they have the legal right to contribute their work, meaning no proprietary, NDA-protected, or patent-encumbered code.

3. LLM (AI)-Assisted Contributions
Contributions that were wholly or substantially generated by an AI or LLM tool must be disclosed in the pull request or submission. Contributors are responsible for verifying that LLM-generated content does not introduce third-party license obligations or reproduce protected material. The contributor, not the tool, is the author of record and accepts full responsibility for the submission.

4. No Special Privileges for Companies
Contributions from companies or their employees do not grant special control, influence, or priority over the project. All contributors participate on equal terms regardless of affiliation. No contributor or organization may demand exclusivity, priority review, or roadmap influence in exchange for contributions or resources.

5. Independence and No Obligations
AsteroidOS remains a volunteer-driven effort with no commercial obligations. Contributors participate on their own time with no expectation of compensation. Contributions are accepted on technical merit and community consensus, not corporate or organizational influence.

6. Retention of Copyright
Contributors retain copyright over their own contributions. AsteroidOS and its maintainers cannot relicense contributions under a closed-source or commercially restrictive license.

7. Technical and Legal Independence
AsteroidOS will remain technically and legally independent from any company or organization. No contributor may introduce a dependency on proprietary services, infrastructure, or APIs without community consensus. Any collaboration requiring shared external resources must include a documented exit strategy to prevent lock-in.

8. Governance and Decision-Making
The project is community-governed. No single entity may unilaterally dictate project direction, feature inclusion, or release priorities. Major decisions are discussed openly in community channels before implementation.

9. Conflict Resolution
Disputes are resolved through open community discussion. If a contributor's actions demonstrably harm the project's open nature or community health, the maintainers may suspend acceptance of their future contributions pending resolution.

Next step: wiki edit to publish this under Developer Documentation once consensus is reached in this thread. Related: Contributing Guidelines issue #493.