Sourceware joins Software Freedom Conservancy

Sourceware joins Software Freedom Conservancy

[Mark Wielaard]

https://sfconservancy.org/news/2023/may/15/sourceware-joins-sfc/

After various discussions and lots of positive feedback [1] [2] [3] [4]
Software Freedom Conservancy and Sourceware proudly announce that
Sourceware today joins SFC as a member project!

As the fiscal host of Sourceware, Software Freedom Conservancy will
provide a home for fundraising, legal protection and governance that
will benefit all projects under Sourceware's care.  We share one mission:
developing, distributing and advocactingfor Software Freedom.  Together
we will offer a worry-free, friendly home for core toolchain and
developer tool projects.

We are happy to discuss this in #overseers on irc.libera.chat now
18:00-19:00 UTC. And we will also start regular Overseers Open Office
Hours every second Friday of the month on irc at the same time.

Of course you are welcome to drop into the #overseers channel at any
time and we can also be reached through email and bugzilla:
https://sourceware.org/mission.html#organization

To support the Software Freedom Conservancy, please become a Sustainer
https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer

You can also donate directly to Sourceware:
https://sfconservancy.org/members/current/#Sourceware
as a directed donation (mention Sourceware in the comment or memo line)

See https://sfconservancy.org/donate/ for other ways to donate.

[1] https://sourceware.org/pipermail/overseers/2022q3/018802.html
[2] https://sourceware.org/pipermail/overseers/2022q3/018804.html
[3] https://sourceware.org/pipermail/overseers/2022q3/018834.html
[4] https://www.fsf.org/events/sourceware-infrastructure-a-presentation-and-community-q-a

https://sfconservancy.org/news/2023/may/15/sourceware-joins-sfc/

Sourceware, one of the longest standing Free Software hosting platforms,
joins SFC

Important Free Software infrastructure project finds non-profit home

   May 15, 2023

   As a home for Free Software projects since 1998, Sourceware is a
   keystone in Free Software infrastructure. For almost 25 years
   Sourceware has been the long-time home of various core toolchain
   project communities. Projects like Cygwin, a UNIX API for Win32
   systems, the GNU Toolchain, including GCC, the GNU Compiler Colection,
   two C libraries, glibc and newlib, binary tools, binutils and elfutils,
   debuggers and profilers, GDB, systemtap and valgrind. Sourceware also
   hosts standard groups like gnu-gabi and the DWARF Debugging Standard.
   See the full list project hosted and services provided on the
   [1]Sourceware projects page.

   Becoming an SFC member project will improve future operations carried
   out by dedicated volunteers to and furthering the mission of Free
   Software hosting. This will accelerate the Sourceware [2]technical
   roadmap to improve and modernize the infrastructure.

   As the fiscal host of Sourceware, Software Freedom Conservancy will
   provide a home for fundraising, legal assistance and governance that
   will benefit all projects under Sourceware's care. We share one
   mission: developing, distributing and advocating for Software Freedom.
   And to offer a worry-free, friendly home for Free Software communities.
   We see a bright future working together. With Conservancy as fiscal
   sponsor, Sourceware will also be able to fundraise and have the
   community of volunteers work together with paid contractors and enter
   into contracts for managed infrastructure where appropriate.

   SFC looks to Sourceware's years of experience in providing outstanding
   infrastructure as an inspiration for improving the Free Software
   ecosystem both for other SFC projects, and also in furthering SFC's
   mission around campaigns to promote Software Freedom Infrastructure.
   For decades, Sourceware has shown that hosting Free Software projects
   with Free Software infrastructure is not only possible, but helps
   create and fosters the growth of relationships and networks within the
   Free Software communities. SFC is thrilled to join the powerful history
   of demonstrable experience to grow hosting options that are 100% free
   software, in the future to bring in new ideas, communities, and
   projects!

   Projects hosted by Sourceware are part of the core toolchain for
   GNU/Linux distros, embedded systems, the cloud and, through Cygwin,
   Windows. Back in 1984 Ken Thompson's Reflections on Trusting Trust
   already described how making the source code for these tools available
   is essential to create what today we call secure software supply
   chains. Sourceware provides robust infrastructure and services for
   projects to adopt secure collaboration and release policies. We forsee
   future cooperation with other Conservancy member projects, such as the
   [3]Reproducible Builds project which provides an
   independently-verifiable path to supply chain security. Additionally,
   Sourceware will leverage Conservancy advisory role in how community
   projects are impacted by and can comply with regulations like NIST,
   CISA, USA Cyber Security Directives and the EU Cyber Resilience act.

   Each SFC member project is led by a Project Leadership Committee (PLC).
   Each individual member of the PLC participates in their own capacity,
   but nevertheless the majority of the PLC never includes a majority of
   people affiliated with the same organization. Sourceware's PLC includes
   various volunteers, past and present, from the Sourceware community.
   The founding PLC is: Frank Ch. Eigler, Christopher Faylor, Ian Kelling,
   Ian Lance Taylor, Tom Tromey, Jon Turney, and Mark J. Wielaard.

   Recent discussions have inspired the Sourceware volunteers to think
   carefully about the future and succession of the leadership for this
   important hosting project. By joining SFC, Sourceware gains access to
   strategic advice and governance expertise to recruit new volunteers and
   raise funds to support work on Sourceware infrastructure. As part of
   this governance improvement, Sourceware also announces today regular
   irc office hours for guest project admins to advise and discuss any
   needs and issues in hosting. The [4]Sourceware mission page lists
   various other ways to contact and participate in the community.

   Sourceware will continue its long standing mission of providing free
   software infrastructure to the projects it supports, and this will not
   change moving forward. The affiliation with SFC will be transparent to
   the projects hosted on Sourceware. Project admins will keep being in
   charge of how they utilize the services Sourceware provides.

   To support the Software Freedom Conservancy, please become a
   [5]Sustainer.

   You can also [6]donate directly to Sourceware (mention Sourceware in
   the comment or memo line).

   See [7]the donation page for other ways to donate.

   Sourceware may be volunteer managed, but wouldn't be possible without
   the hardware, network resources and services provided by Red Hat and
   OSUOSL. Additionally [8]build/CI testing machines are provided by
   various individuals and the Brno University, Marist College, IBM, the
   Works on Arm initiative and the Gentoo Foundation.

References

   1. https://sourceware.org/projects.html
   2. https://inbox.sourceware.org/overseers/YrLdfDWzq1T4k5xg@wildebeest.org/
   3. https://reproducible-builds.org/
   4. https://sourceware.org/mission.html
   5. https://sfconservancy.org/sustainer/
   6. https://sfconservancy.org/donate/#wire
   7. https://sfconservancy.org/donate/
   8. https://builder.sourceware.org/

Re: Sourceware joins Software Freedom Conservancy

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Mon, 15 May 2023 20:18:12 +0200
> From: Mark Wielaard <mark@klomp.org>
> 
> https://sfconservancy.org/news/2023/may/15/sourceware-joins-sfc/
> 
> After various discussions and lots of positive feedback [1] [2] [3] [4]
> Software Freedom Conservancy and Sourceware proudly announce that
> Sourceware today joins SFC as a member project!

Any chance you (or someone else "in the know") could explain what does
this mean in practical terms?  E.g., do any of the addresses and URLs
we've been using for working on GDB will change in any way?  What
about access to the GDB Git repository?  What about development
procedures and practices?  Etc. etc.

It is a bit strange that such an announcement talks at length about
everything except what the GDB developers and contributors need to
know.

TIA

Re: Sourceware joins Software Freedom Conservancy

[Mark Wielaard]

Hi Eli,

On Mon, 2023-05-15 at 21:44 +0300, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Date: Mon, 15 May 2023 20:18:12 +0200
> > From: Mark Wielaard <mark@klomp.org>
> > 
> > https://sfconservancy.org/news/2023/may/15/sourceware-joins-sfc/
> > 
> > After various discussions and lots of positive feedback [1] [2] [3]
> > [4]
> > Software Freedom Conservancy and Sourceware proudly announce that
> > Sourceware today joins SFC as a member project!
> 
> Any chance you (or someone else "in the know") could explain what
> does this mean in practical terms?

In practical terms it just means that Sourceware is a bit more
organized/formalized.

>   E.g., do any of the addresses and URLs
> we've been using for working on GDB will change in any way?

They will not.

>   What about access to the GDB Git repository?

That will be the same as before.
We will just have more (redundant) backups, like those on sourcehut:
https://sr.ht/~sourceware/binutils-gdb/sources

>   What about development procedures and practices?  Etc. etc.

This is only about the actual infrastructure services. You as gdb
community of course still decide how to use those and what policies
your projects uses.

> It is a bit strange that such an announcement talks at length about
> everything except what the GDB developers and contributors need to
> know.

Sorry, we were just excited about all the future potential.
Hopefully the opportunity to protect the confidence in the long term
future of Sourceware is also of interest to the gdb community.

See also the newly announced Sourceware Overseers Open Office hours:
https://inbox.sourceware.org/overseers/20230515183216.GA11203@gnu.wildebeest.org/T/#u

Cheers,

Mark

Re: Sourceware joins Software Freedom Conservancy

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Mark Wielaard <mark@klomp.org>
> Cc: gdb@sourceware.org
> Date: Mon, 15 May 2023 21:00:00 +0200
> 
> > Any chance you (or someone else "in the know") could explain what
> > does this mean in practical terms?
> 
> In practical terms it just means that Sourceware is a bit more
> organized/formalized.
> 
> >   E.g., do any of the addresses and URLs
> > we've been using for working on GDB will change in any way?
> 
> They will not.
> 
> >   What about access to the GDB Git repository?
> 
> That will be the same as before.
> We will just have more (redundant) backups, like those on sourcehut:
> https://sr.ht/~sourceware/binutils-gdb/sources
> 
> >   What about development procedures and practices?  Etc. etc.
> 
> This is only about the actual infrastructure services. You as gdb
> community of course still decide how to use those and what policies
> your projects uses.
> 
> > It is a bit strange that such an announcement talks at length about
> > everything except what the GDB developers and contributors need to
> > know.
> 
> Sorry, we were just excited about all the future potential.
> Hopefully the opportunity to protect the confidence in the long term
> future of Sourceware is also of interest to the gdb community.
> 
> See also the newly announced Sourceware Overseers Open Office hours:
> https://inbox.sourceware.org/overseers/20230515183216.GA11203@gnu.wildebeest.org/T/#u

Thanks for the useful info.