Version 1, 7 October 2026.
commitwork is to be published under AGPL-3.0-or-later and also offered under PolyForm Internal Use
1.0.0, by written agreement, to those who cannot take it under the AGPL. The files
manifests/wire-layer.json lists are carved out under Apache-2.0 whichever of the two applies (the
repository's LICENSING.md). Offering both requires that one party hold the rights to license the
whole work under either. Today Portll wrote all of commitwork's own code, so it does. The first
outside contribution accepted without an agreement permanently removes that ability, because a
contribution's copyright stays with its author unless they grant otherwise.
This agreement is that grant. It is a licence, not an assignment: you keep the copyright in everything you write, and you keep every right to use your own work however you wish.
Section 8 is the part that protects you. Portll commits that every accepted contribution stays available under AGPL-3.0-or-later permanently, so this agreement cannot be used to take the open version away.
"You" means the individual or legal entity agreeing to these terms. For a legal entity, an entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that entity is treated as a single contributor.
"Portll" means John Hancock, trading as Portll, an unincorporated business, and, from the date of its incorporation, any company incorporated to carry on that business under the name Portll or a name substantially similar. Section 9 governs how this agreement passes to that company.
"Contribution" means any work of authorship, including any modification of or addition to an existing work, that is intentionally submitted by You to Portll for inclusion in commitwork. "Submitted" means any form of electronic or written communication sent to Portll or its representatives, including a pull request, patch, issue attachment or mailing-list message, but excluding communication conspicuously marked "Not a Contribution".
You grant Portll a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free and irrevocable copyright licence to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense and distribute Your Contribution and such derivative works.
You further grant Portll the right to license Your Contribution, and derivative works of it, under any licensing terms Portll chooses, including terms that are proprietary and not open source, and to sublicense those rights through multiple tiers.
This is the clause that permits the PolyForm Internal Use licence and any other commercial licence. It does not permit Portll to withdraw the open licence — see section 8.
You grant Portll and every recipient of commitwork a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free and irrevocable licence under Your patent claims that are necessarily infringed by Your Contribution alone or by combination of Your Contribution with commitwork, to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import and otherwise transfer the work.
If any entity institutes patent litigation alleging that commitwork, or a Contribution incorporated in it, constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, any patent licence granted under this section to that entity terminates as of the date the litigation is filed.
You represent that:
a. Each Contribution is Your original creation, or You have the right to submit it under these terms. b. You are legally entitled to grant the licences above. c. If Your employer has rights to intellectual property You create, You have received permission to make the Contribution on behalf of that employer, Your employer has waived those rights, or Your employer has executed a separate agreement with Portll. d. Each Contribution complies with any third-party licence terms applicable to material it incorporates.
If You submit work that is not Your original creation, You may submit it separately from any Contribution, identifying its source and any licence or other restriction of which You are aware, and marking it conspicuously as "Submitted on behalf of a third party: [NAME]".
Unless required by applicable law or agreed in writing, You provide Your Contribution on an "AS IS" basis, without warranties or conditions of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of title, non-infringement, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Nothing in this agreement excludes, restricts or modifies any guarantee, right or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified under the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)) or any other applicable law. Where a liability may be limited rather than excluded, it is limited to the maximum extent that law permits.
Portll is under no obligation to accept, use, or continue to distribute any Contribution, and is under no obligation to provide support for it.
You agree to notify Portll if any representation in section 4 becomes inaccurate in any respect.
In consideration of the grants above, Portll agrees that:
a. Every Contribution accepted into commitwork will be distributed under AGPL-3.0-or-later, or a
later version of that licence, permanently and without charge. A Contribution to a file that
manifests/wire-layer.json lists will also be distributed under Apache-2.0 on the same terms.
b. Portll will not remove the AGPL-licensed distribution of commitwork, nor place a Contribution
exclusively under proprietary terms.
c. You retain all right, title and interest in Your Contribution, and nothing here limits Your own
use of Your own work.
d. Your authorship will be recorded in the project's version history.
These commitments bind any person or company to whom this agreement passes under section 9.
Portll is presently an unincorporated business carried on by John Hancock. You agree that Portll may assign or novate this agreement, together with the rights granted under sections 1, 2 and 3, to a company incorporated to carry on the Portll business, without needing Your further consent at that time. This consent is given now so that incorporating does not require every contributor to be found and asked again.
An assignment under this section takes effect only if the company assumes Portll's obligations under section 8 in full. Portll may not otherwise assign this agreement without Your consent, which You will not unreasonably withhold.
You retain Your moral rights. To the extent permitted by Part IX of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), You consent to Portll, and to anyone authorised by Portll, doing any of the following in relation to Your Contribution, whether before or after its inclusion in commitwork, and whether or not You are identified:
a. reproducing, adapting, modifying, combining and distributing it as part of commitwork; b. distributing it without attributing You in the work itself, on the understanding that Your authorship is recorded in the project's version history under section 8(d); c. making changes to it, including changes to correct defects, to follow the project's conventions or to adapt it to later versions of commitwork.
This consent is given genuinely and without duress or false pretence. It does not extend to treatment of Your Contribution that would falsely attribute its authorship to another person.
This agreement is governed by the laws of South Australia, Australia. The parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of South Australia and the federal courts of Australia, and the courts that hear appeals from them.
It is the entire agreement between You and Portll concerning Contributions, and supersedes any prior understanding on that subject. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remainder stays in force.
Sign by whichever route the project's CONTRIBUTING.md describes, currently:
Individuals — on Your first pull request, CLA assistant posts a link. Follow it, sign in with GitHub, give Your name and email address, and agree.
Entities — an authorised signatory should email john@portll.net stating that the entity agrees to this agreement, and naming the individuals authorised to contribute on its behalf.
Agreement is recorded against this version of the text and covers all of Your later Contributions. If the text changes, You will be asked to agree to the new version before Your next Contribution is merged.
Adapted from the Apache Individual Contributor License Agreement v2.0, with the addition of sections 2, 8, 9 and 10 and the consumer-law savings in section 6.