The Linux Foundation is also announcing a new incentive programme to reward open source projects that place a focus on improving diversity in their communities through mentoring.
The Linux Foundation has created a new platform, called CommunityBridge, to empower open source developers – and the individuals and organizations who support them – to advance sustainability, security and diversity in open source technology.
Throughout 2019 and 2020, the Linux Foundation said it will launch a full suite of CommunityBridge tools to serve open source developers and ecosystems.
The initial launch of CommunityBridge will offer open source communities early access to three critical tools: CommunityBridge Funding which will enable developers to transparently raise and spend funding; CommunityBridge Security that will provide transparency into potential vulnerabilities and fixes; and CommunityBridge People to enable easy connections of mentors and prospective mentees interested in getting involved in projects and advancing diversity.
“While large open source projects are often well-resourced, many smaller projects require more funds, talent, security, diversity, and resources to thrive,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation.
“CommunityBridge is the platform to solve critical challenges and fuel open source innovation and sustainability by empowering people — all in one place,” he added.
Improving Security
Good news is that there is no cost for maintainers and developers to access and use the CommunityBridge platform.
As an incentive for projects to get involved in the CommunityBridge early access program, the Linux Foundation will absorb the cost of any platform and payment processor fees for the first $10 million USD raised through the platform.
CommunityBridge provides rich security features such as a scanning service to provide maintainers with relevant information about upstream dependencies, security vulnerabilities, usage reports, and licensing details. It also includes a bug bounty service to provide replicable defects as well as a backlog of actionable data that maintainers can easily use to improve the security and robustness of their projects.
Diversity Stipends Matching programme
The Linux Foundation is also announcing a new incentive programme to reward open source projects that place a focus on improving diversity in their communities through mentoring. The new Diversity Stipends Matching program will offer $3,000 matching stipends for the first 100 diverse mentees engaged by projects through the CommunityBridge platform.
