Open to contributions from the industry: you don't need to be a 5G-MAG member to contribute code.
At a glance:
- The main 5G-MAG repositories are covered by the 5G-MAG Public License v1.0: free for non-commercial study, testing and research; a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) patent licence applies for commercial use.
- Third-party forks keep their own licences; check each repository before contributing to it.
- A signed Contributor License Agreement (CLA) is required to contribute code.
The Reference Tools software makes use of various licences to distribute and accept contributions from the community. This allows developers and organisations to choose the framework that works for them, given our main purpose is to build and put technology into action. The more the contributors, testers and developers, the better.
The Reference Tools may be used in validation, verification, demonstrations, trials and possibly even in commercial services. The details of each licence are described in the sections below.
Repositories covered by the 5G-MAG Public License v1.0
The main 5G-MAG repositories are covered by the 5G-MAG Public License v1.0. The 5G-MAG Public License v1.0, which is a modified version of the Apache 2.0 licence, includes a patent clause which allows contributors to make patent licence available to third parties under FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms for commercial exploitation. The Reference Tools code is free for non-commercial, study, testing and research purposes. This scheme is aligned with ETSI and 3GPP FRAND policy with respect to licensing. This aspect is key in particular to encourage companies which own significant portfolio of patents to be able to contribute code while keeping their essential IPR.
- Download the 5G-MAG Public License v1.0
Third-party dependencies
The 5G-MAG GitHub includes various third-party repositories that are either useful or strictly necessary for building the core components of the Reference Tools. Rather than starting from scratch, these repositories serve as forks of external projects, inheriting their own licence without modifications.
Each repository typically tracks the original upstream project to ensure a baseline of compatibility, and carries the specific modifications and patches 5G-MAG contributors maintain. These custom versions are designed to optimise the third-party code for the 5G-MAG architecture, ensuring seamless integration across the entire reference suite, and are just hosted there.
Please check each repository and learn about the licences and potential dependencies when contributing code to repositories hosting third-party dependencies.
How to contribute
Anybody can contribute code, and membership is not needed. A signed Contributor License Agreement (CLA) must be on file first.
Contributor License Agreement
In order to clarify the intellectual property licence granted with contributions from any person or entity willing to contribute under the 5G-MAG Public License, a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) is required to be on file signed by each Contributor, indicating agreement to the licence terms. We do this for your protection as a contributor as well as the protection of 5G-MAG and its users; and it does not change your rights to use your own contributions for any other purpose.
If you wish to contribute code to the projects please download the CLA or CCLA and send it signed to Eva Markvoort markvoort@5g-mag.com.
- Download the 5G-MAG Individual Contributor License Agreement (CLA)
- Download the 5G-MAG Corporate Contributor License Agreement (CCLA)
The other steps of joining as a contributor, and what membership adds, are in Becoming a Contributor.
