LFN Tools & Services
- Casey Cain
Introduction
Each stage of the LFN project lifecycle comes with various benefits and access to resources. The availability of these benefits is dependent on the project's lifecycle stage, and the adoption of services is optional. LFX tooling is available for all projects, regardless of their current stage. New projects joining the LFN are not required to start at a lower lifecycle stage if they already meet the requirements for a higher stage.
Some tools and services that are available to all lifecycle states:
Staff assistance in the development of project governance, diversity, and community growth
LFX tools, including project management, code security, and community analytics
LFX is a suite of tools built by the Linux Foundation to facilitate every aspect of open source development. The toolkit operationalizes the organization’s proven methodology for transforming projects into category leaders, providing direct support to projects and empowering open source developers to write better, more secure code and grow sustainable ecosystems.
With 11 tools currently available and more on the roadmap for early next year, the LFX Platform is one of the most comprehensive platforms built specifically for the open technology ecosystem.
Please note that while LFX tooling is available to all projects, the specific features and capabilities of the LFX Tools may vary based on the project's lifecycle stage and requirements.
More details about LFX Tools
Networking opportunities with LFN projects and the broader open-source community
Guidance and mentorship from TAC and other LFN projects
Release Management Support Services (RMSS)
Inclusion in LFN marketing materials and events
Opportunities for cross-project collaboration and integration
General LF IT Support
General Tooling
Access to Zoom, 1Password, Slack
(Optional) LFN Projects may have initiative funds that can receive additional money from companies that are used for the sole benefit of that Project. i.e., Dedicated Funding from Special Interests.
Newly initiated projects within the LFN may retain pre-existing special interest funding.
Established projects are permitted to seek or accumulate independent funding from special interest sources.
Below is a more explicit list of tools and services available to the LFN Projects:
LFN Services | Sandbox | Incubation | TAC | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Committees |
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- LFN committee engagement |
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| ✔ | Technical Advisory Council (TAC |
Budget |
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Project Specific requests for the upcoming year |
| ✔ | ✔ | Incubation and TAC Projects will be able to submit requests in for Project Specific line items for the upcoming budget year. Requests should focus on Project Specific needs (typically IT tooling) versus cross-Project categories (e.g. Digital Marketing) |
Graduated Project Discretionary Budgets |
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| ✔ | TAC Projects each provided a line item of $10,000 for discretionary spending outside of the standard budget request process (and outside of items already approved for the current budget). This can include items such as a Community Awards program, Project specific digital marketing, Prizes for Hackathons, and Additional funding for TSC F2F meetings) |
LFX Services | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | LFX Tools are available for all projects |
Training |
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EdX Courses |
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| ✔ | As requested, TAC Projects provided a budget to develop EdX Courses (example https://www.edx.org/course/business-considerations-for-edge-computing). Projects will need to identify the member/s to develop the content and work alongside the LF Training Team |
Project Certifications |
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| ✔ | Project level knowledge and skills demonstration |
Release Management Support Service |
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Training | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | All projects may participate in Release Management training |
Assistance with developing a release process and initial release schedule | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Advise community release managers on developing a release process and creating the initial release schedule |
Assistance with release process trouble shooting of specific issues | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Advise community release managers on resolving specific release process issues |
Assistance with post-release retrospective and release process improvement | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Advise community release managers on conducting a post-release retrospective with their community and using that feedback to improve the release process |
Marketing |
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✔ | ✔ | ✔ | TAC Sandbox acceptance triggers addition to the LFN project list | |
Events (Hard Dollars spent) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Unfunded LF Projects will have lowest priority for trade show / event demo showcases in LFN booth space. Outreach Committee shall prioritize booth demos based on 1st) TAC Project Demos, 2nd) Incubation Project Demos, 3rd) Cross-Project Collaborative Demos, 4th (space/timeslot availability pending) Sandbox Project Demos. The Voting Members of the Outreach Committee have voting authority over the Event Schedule each year. Kiosks in any LFN/LF pavilions subject to Linux Foundation sponsorship parameters/requirements. |
Release Marketing & Communications | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Sandbox Projects: major release |
Webinars |
| ✔ | ✔ | Projects invited to participate in LFN Webinar Series (Incubation: max of 1 per year, TAC Projects: max of 2 per year) |
Design and Aesthetics |
| ✔ | ✔ | When new projects join LFN, they may choose to have a logo designed by the LF in house creative services team. This service is available to new projects, or established projects who wish to refresh/update their logo |
Project Website | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | When an established project joins LFN, the LF can provide website hosting, or can migrate the project's website to the LF project CMS that includes management, security updates, etc. For new projects, in addition to hosting and management, the LF can design an introductory brochure-style website or use Hugo + github + Netlify as a free alternative. |
Communications |
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| Policy: Incubation and TAC projects receive LFN staff support. Everyone else is encouraged to use self-managed channels. |
Press Releases |
| ✔ | ✔ | For Incubation and TAC Project Major Releases, LF PR will build/execute a PR Release Plan to include Analyst calls/distribution (working closely with Marketing representatives from the Project). Earlier stage Major Releases may be combined with other news items (e.g., new Members). |
Blog | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | LF PR teams will proactively reach out to Incubation and TAC Projects for Blog entries. |
Direct Email | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Quarterly LFN produced newsletter, member report |
| ✔ | ✔ | LF PR teams social tools flag Tweets across all Projects under the LFN umbrella. Individual projects have self-managed twitter accounts. MAC as coordination point and best practices. | |
| ✔ | ✔ | Individual projects have self-managed LinkedIn accounts. MAC as coordination point and best practices. | |
YouTube |
| ✔ | ✔ | LF YouTube for broad open source topics |
IT |
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GitHub | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Available to all projects |
Standalone Jenkins/Gerrit |
| ✔ | ✔ | Legacy system - gitlab target |
Docker Hub |
| ✔ | ✔ | Minimal cost to add additional Projects |
GitHub Wiki | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | github-based wiki or github MD for unfunded (freely available to all) |
Confluence Wiki subspace | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | A wiki space on an existing instance for sandbox and incubation under wiki.lfnetworking.org - optional instance for TAC |
Dedicated Wiki |
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| ✔ | Dedicated Confluence instance (optional) |
✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Standard LF IT support channel for all projects | |
LF Release Engineering |
| * | ✔ | LF Release Engineering support budgeted to support ( * Incubation on occasion) TAC projects actively |
Defect Tracking (Unfunded) |
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| github issues and gitlab equivalent |
Defect Tracking (Sandbox/Incubation/TAC) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Use a GitHub Issues or a project under https://jira.lfnetworking.org/ - use the "component" property for subprojects |
Defect Tracking: (Graduated) |
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| ✔ | Optional dedicated JIRA instance |
ReadTheDocs | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Give all LFN projects a uniform toolchain - $600/yr per project |
General Tooling | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Access to Zoom (shared bridges for young projects/dedicated for TAC), 1Password, Slack |
LFX support | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | All LFX services are currently available to all projects. Costing and allocations may follow in the future. |
Program Management |
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Onboarding assistance and ad hoc requests | ✔ | ✔ |
| PM assistance is limited to helping the project get on-boarded at the various level - NO ON-GOING PM support |
General Program Management Support |
| ✔ | ✔ | Limited basis for Incubation projects |
Executive/Leadership |
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Presentation(s) for the Community |
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| ✔ | TAC projects only |
1x1 strategy calls with project leadership |
| ✔ | ✔ | Once a quarter |
Project health reviews (TAC) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Up to once a quarter |
Legal |
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Project formation docs | ✔ |
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| On-boarding docs |
Ad Hoc legal issues | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | As determined by PM |
Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) system that integrates with GitHub. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | This applies to EasyCLA as well |
Project Trademark hosting | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
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License scans of the code base | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Scheduled with LF legal plus per release scanning |