As a part of the OpenSSF’s mission to sustainably secure the development, maintenance and consumption of open source software, the OpenSSF earlier this year started to sponsor the operation of a critical piece of the community’s infrastructure for communication. The oss-security and (linux)-distros mailing lists, which are operated by Openwall, have been a key part of the community’s ability to collaborate on and communicate security issues which affect the open source community.
“The oss-security and distro mailing lists are a core part of how the community securely communicates sensitive security information about open source software,” said Omkhar Arasaratnam, General Manager of the OpenSSF. “The OpenSSF is proud to sponsor the operation of these lists,” added Arasaratnam.
What’s changing?
After more than 15 years of being a one hundred percent volunteer effort, OpenSSF is happy to bring the stability and predictability needed to support such an important part of the ecosystem.
“I am grateful for the support, which will help ensure continued operation of these resources on a new level while retaining independence,” said Alexander Peslyak, the founder of Openwall.
Our sponsorship will be supporting a number of improvements to the service, including newer and more robust hosting infrastructure, but also in the continued operation of the lists, which also has led to the ability to better handle the day-to-day support. As such, we are happy to announce that with this sponsorship, Openwall has been able to improve its service level to provide improved reporting and handling of issues.
What’s not changing?
As always, the Openwall community will continue to have the ability to set policies for community resources managed by Openwall. The OpenSSF’s sponsorship does not imply any change to the governance or policies. Independent governance and operation of the lists will continue as it has in the past with Openwall.
If you’d like to get involved with making open source software secure for everyone, check out our current Working Groups and find out the many ways to Get Involved in the community.
For any questions related to the lists or their operations, please reach out to Openwall at <listadmin at openwall.com>.