Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/master' into dev/2.3

# Conflicts:
#	README.md
#	build.gradle

Author: makbn

CLA.md

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Contributor License Agreement (CLA)
+
+**JThumbnail Project**
+
+Thank you for your interest in contributing to **JThumbnail** (“the Project”).  
+To clarify the intellectual property rights granted with contributions, you agree to the following terms by submitting a contribution (including code, documentation, or other material) to the Project.
+
+
+## 1. Copyright License
+You grant the Project Maintainers a **perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free license** to use, reproduce, modify, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute your contributions and derivative works.
+
+
+## 2. Relicensing Rights
+You expressly allow the Project Maintainers to **relicense your contributions under any license of their choosing** in the future, including permissive, copyleft, dual, or commercial licenses.
+
+
+## 3. Patent License
+You grant the Project Maintainers and recipients of the Project a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free patent license to make, use, sell, offer for sale, import, and otherwise transfer your contributions.
+
+
+## 4. Representations and Warranties
+By submitting a contribution, you represent that:
+- The contribution is your original work, or you have the right to submit it.
+- You are legally entitled to grant the above licenses.
+- The contribution does not violate any third-party rights.
+
+
+## 5. Definitions
+- **“Contribution”** means any source code, object code, patch, documentation, or other material submitted to the Project.
+- **“Project Maintainers”** currently means the copyright holders of JThumbnail and any successors they designate.
+
+## 6. Acceptance
+By submitting a contribution to the Project (e.g., via pull request, patch, or other means), you **agree to the terms of this Contributor License Agreement.**

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ While this is a small and focused library, and I'm not actively contributing, yo
 
 ## Guidelines
 
-If you do want to contribute, here are a few quick guidelines to follow to keep things clean and consistent:
+If you do want to contribute, please read the CLA first, an then here are a few quick guidelines to follow to keep things clean and consistent:
 
 ### 1. Keep It Aligned with the Project Scope