HOST A PROJECT

Fostering neutral collaboration, one line of code at a time

We support open collaboration communities, small to large

The Linux Foundation enables technical project communities to build open technologies, open standards, open hardware, open data, and open specifications. Linux Foundation projects are open for anyone in the world to participate – no membership required. Use the code, contribute, and participate freely.

Contributing Developers

Contributing Companies

Lines of Code Added Weekly

Lines of Code Deleted Weekly

The flexibility to set up your project your way

Community Project

These projects take advantage of the governance structure and back-end resources that the Linux Foundation provides to all hosted projects. Examples of these projects include: SPDX, FOSSology, CHAOSS, Linuxboot and OpenBMC.

Community Project + Funding

These projects benefit from community-raised funding to provide resources and infrastructure like enhanced code repositories, continuous integration systems, testing resources, conformance programs, and developer events. Membership or funding support for these projects is never required to contribute. Examples include: Let’s Encrypt, Node.js, OpenAPI Initiative, and Open Mainframe.

Umbrella Community + Funding

These projects support several technical projects under the same funding structure and are focused on a technology area. This allows the community to pursue a strategic vision across a spectrum of opportunities while balancing demands on resources. Examples include: Automotive Grade Linux, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Hyperledger, LF AI & Data and LF Networking.

Let’s talk requirements

Governance
Project decision-making moves to a model of open, transparent governance. This doesn’t mean the LF takes over and resets your technical direction and vision back to day zero. Instead, we mean working with the project founders to document an open model of collaborative community operation – almost always without disrupting the next release or existing contributor base. The key is to create transparency about who makes decisions and how.
Trademarks
Any trademark, git repo accounts, or community assets should be owned neutrally by the foundation entity.
Open Source
The intellectual property model should follow open source best practices and be documented – that keeps lawyers happy and enables new contributors to easily engage under clear terms.
Community Support
At least one Linux Foundation member is sponsoring the project

Benefits available to all hosted projects, at no cost

We focus on hosting projects with sustainable ecosystems, but all hosted projects can take advantage of our core benefits at no cost to your community.

Neutral Asset Ownership

The LF serves as the neutral owner of the core assets and accounts for projects including domains, online service accounts (e.g. GitHub, Twitter, etc), and trademarks; contributors retain individual ownership of contributed code and license it to the project for redistribution under open source licenses or the terms of a project Contributor License Agreement.

Open Governance

The LF works with each project community to establish a transparent, open governance model for the technical community

Clear IP Terms

The LF engages with the key stakeholders to understand and document the intellectual property terms that will underpin the collaboration.

Base Policies

The LF provides the base policies for organizations to collaborate including an antitrust policy, trademark policy, selecting a code of conduct, and more.

Entity Management

The LF maintains the core entity structures that enable our communities to operate and transact

LFX Tools

Monitor the health of your projects and communities, maintain operations, and grow your ecosystem with tools built for contributors.

Community Event Engagement

LF projects receive complementary space at our OSS NA & OSS EU events to host workshops, meetups and discussions. LF Projects receive a 50% discount on LF event sponsorship opportunities, and project member employees receive 20% off of registration fees for many LF events. Project-related meetups or event activities are highlighted in the LF event newsletter. Project members and governance are invited to attend our by-invitation annual Member Summit. Projects receive high priority for acceptance in our Project Highlights tracks at all Open Source Summit events and our annual Member Summit event.

Support programs to help scale open technology ecosystems

Our dedicated business support programs let you scale awareness and project adoption, so your developers can focus on what matters: code.

Learn More

Before you contact us…

Think about the mission and scope of your project, including any context around the community you have or want to attract.
How will you build your community? Who is already engaged? Are any of the 1600+ Linux Foundation member companies potentially interested in participating?
We can help with governance documents. Our templates help put the basics in place and let the community define how they operate – and they’ve been approved by lawyers at 1400+ organizations.
Think about when you want to announce the project. Is there an industry event or meeting where it would interest attendees?