Story: every pull request is merged
This page is for journalists who cover open source governance. Many projects reject most outside contributions; Exponential documents the opposite policy.
Contents
The story in one paragraph
Every pull request is merged. While it is open, 7x reviews it in many rounds, and its author squashes it and rebases
it onto main as the reviews ask; once it is merged, main's history is never rewritten, and later fixes come as new
pull requests (How the project grows,
CI). Contributions are released under the same GPL license (CONTRIBUTING.md). Since December 2023
pull requests have come from 7x, from individual developers, and from companies such as Netgen and Mugo
Web; 1,042 merged pull requests appear in the whole history (19 October 2026) (Exponential by the numbers).
Facts you can print
| Fact | Source |
|---|---|
| Every pull request is merged | How the project grows |
While a pull request is open, its author squashes and rebases it onto main as the reviews ask; after the merge, main is never rewritten and later fixes come as new pull requests | same; Code reviews |
| The test suite runs on every pull request | CI |
| Contributions under GPL v2 or later | CONTRIBUTING.md |
| Code contributions to the kernel need a signed Contributor Licensing Agreement (CLA) before they are merged; by signing and submitting, contributors assign the copyright to the Exponential Foundation and 7x and give up control: the Exponential Foundation and 7x may use, change, relicense and distribute a contribution in any way, without asking or paying them, and they cannot withdraw it; users' own extensions are not affected | Copyright assignment (CLA) |
| 1,042 merged pull requests in the history (19 October 2026) | Exponential by the numbers |
What not to claim
| Do not say | Say instead |
|---|---|
| "No code review" | 7x reviews each pull request in many rounds, and its author revises, squashes and rebases it before the merge; the CI tests run on every pull request |
| "Anything goes into the release" | Problems are fixed in the pull request before the merge, or in new pull requests after it |
| "Thousands of contributors" | Count from the history with a date |
| "Contributors keep the copyright of their code" | They do not: kernel contributors assign the copyright to the Exponential Foundation and 7x under the CLA; the Exponential Foundation and 7x may relicense and distribute it without asking them, and they cannot withdraw it |
Angles and headline ideas
- "A project that says yes to every contribution, and how it stays stable."
- "Your first pull request will be merged: an open door for newcomers."
Related pages
- Story: the community
- Mentoring a first contribution
- Develop with Git
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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