Community Charter

Preamble

Enterprise organizations are becoming concerned with using open source software due to recent events where projects have changed licensing or pivoted to limit usage due to competition, business models, conflicts of interest, or other motivation.

We do not assume the open source mindset lightly. It is not a marketing tool, or a business endeavor. Open source is a development model designed to engage and foster collaboration and usage. It is a decision which should be carefully considered, as it should be expected that others, including competitors, will make use of the technologies that are created by it.

The Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF) has been created to organize a community around enterprise, research, academia, individuals, and other institutions to collaborate on building and maintaining the open source tools that these organizations need.

Our mission is to provide the confidence and stability necessary to build on open source projects. Together, we can create a stable foundation of open source software that companies can use internally, or as the basis for their commercial needs.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to define the vision, mission, principles, and values of the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation. We stand together, voluntarily accountable to this charter by our peers and the enterprise community at large.

Vision

A community of individuals and organizations, committed to working together to provide a stable foundation of open source software within the enterprise.

Mission

  • Build a community of individuals and organizations to develop and foster enterprise-grade, open source solutions.
  • Work together to provide for the needs of the enterprise community.
  • The security, stability, and integrity of our projects are paramount.
  • Enable knowledge sharing, inclusiveness, collaboration, and open communication.
  • Coordinate with the commercial, research, academic, and public sectors to help bring their products, technologies, and support into enterprise environments.
  • Always make decisions in the best interest of the enterprise community while being beholden to no specific organization(s)

Principles

Principles are fundamental truths, immutable, and they guide the decisions we make and the goals that we set. No action can be made by us that is contrary to the following principles:

  • Community responsibility. The Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation is responsible and accountable only to the community that consumes its projects. RESF shall be structured and governed in a way that ensures that no single entity, organization, corporation, association, etc. will be permitted to have a controlling influence over the RESF or its projects.
  • Our projects are free and open source. With few exceptions (branding, legal, etc.), the work generated by the RESF and its community will be released under an existing OSI permissive open source license (non-copyleft).
  • Trust is paramount. While decisions may sometimes need to be made that balance opposing perspectives, at all times we strive toward building and maintaining the overall trust such that the community feels confident in leveraging and standardizing on the resulting work of this organization for both commercial and internal usage.
  • Remain transparent. To the degree that we are reasonably able, the RESF will remain transparent to the community as defined by our data security policy.
  • Equality of Opportunity: The RESF will strive to build and maintain a collaborative and respectful environment that provides equal access to opportunities and resources for everyone within the community.

Values

We derive our values from our principles. It is with these values in mind that we make decisions, always striving to make the best decision possible with the data we have at hand.

  • Be practical. As open source advocates, our inclination toward solving problems is to use tools that are themselves permissible open source, but the best practical solution to a problem may preclude that. We use the right tool for the right job.
  • Be reasonable. Respect is given and trust is earned. Input from all contributors are valued, and all perspectives are sought after and considered. Knowledge and righteousness does not follow seniority.
  • Team ahead of self. Sycophants are not valuable to an organization, but neither are contrarians. We respectfully vocalize our concerns but pull together to drive forward once a decision has been reached.
  • Enable the enterprise community. While we are starting with creating a stable downstream enterprise distribution of Linux, our goals are much broader, including attention to the needs of special interests, project hosting, education, collaboration, workshops, meetups, and individuals.
  • Consider the human. Rocky Linux is developed and supported by a wide group of diverse individuals from all walks of life. We are strictly apolitical and will always assume the best intentions of others.

Get Involved

We welcome feedback for this charter, and we encourage participation and engagement from the community. As always, you can get in touch with us for this or other matters on our website, forums, or through chat.