This is mostly a question for the PMC, but I see no need to discuss it in private so here we go:
Other ASF projects have started to request CLAs [1] much "earlier" when people contribute to their projects. The reason, IIUC, is to really make sure that contributors understand what they're doing in terms of licensing, copyright etc.
We have accepted several sizeable contributions without requiring a CLA in the past, now the question is, do we want to follow the flow and ask for CLAs for all contributions? A rule that seems to emerge (still unofficial AFAIK) is that as soon as the contribution contains at least one entirely new "object" (class, module, block?) a CLA is required.
On the plus side: the CLA "clearly defines the terms under which intellectual property has been contributed to the ASF", quoting from http://apache.org/licenses/#clas
The minus side: asking for a CLA even for small things (what's small?) might cause people to refrain from contributing, as this would mean some (easy) paperwork.
WDYT? [1] http://apache.org/dev/new-committers-guide.html talks about CLAs
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