The Linux Foundation (LF) is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

established in 2000 to support

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

development and

open-source software Open-source software (OSS) is Software, computer software that is released under a Open-source license, license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and Software distribution, distribute the software an ...

projects.

Background

The Linux Foundation started as Open Source Development Labs in 2000 to standardize and promote the open-source operating system kernel

. It merged with Free Standards Group in 2007. The foundation has since evolved to promote open-source projects beyond the Linux OS as a "foundation of foundations" that hosts a variety of projects spanning topics such as

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

, networking,

blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...

, and hardware. The foundation also hosts annual educational events among the Linux community, including the Linux Kernel Developers Summit and the Open Source Summit.

Projects

, the total economic value of the development costs of Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects was estimated at $5 billion.

Community stewardship

For the Linux kernel community, the Linux Foundation hosts its IT infrastructure and organizes

conferences A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

such as the Linux Kernel Summit and the Linux Plumbers Conference. It also hosts a Technical Advisory Board made up of Linux kernel developers. One of these developers has been appointed to sit on the Linux Foundation board.

Conferences

The Linux Plumbers Conference has been held annually since 2008. It focuses on the Linux kernel and related tools and libraries, typically lasts 3 days, and was held in the USA primarily for USA-based developers in its early years, but now is regularly held elsewhere in the world.

Goodwill partnership

In January 2016, the Linux Foundation announced a partnership with Goodwill Central Texas to help hundreds of disadvantaged individuals from underserved communities and a variety of backgrounds get the training they need to start careers in Linux IT.

Community Specification

In July 2020, the Linux Foundation announced an initiative allowing open-source communities to create Open Standards using tools and methods inspired by open-source developers.

Core Infrastructure Initiative

The Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII), is a project managed by the Linux Foundation that enables technology companies, industry stakeholders, and esteemed developers to collaboratively identify and fund critical open-source projects in need of assistance. In June 2015, the organization announced financial support of nearly $500,000 for three new projects to better support critical security elements of the global information infrastructure. In May 2016, CII launched its Best Practice Badge program to raise awareness of development processes and project governance steps that will help projects have better security outcomes. In May 2017, CII issued its 100th badge to a passing project.

Community Data License Agreement (CDLA)

Introduced in October 2017, the Community Data License Agreement (CDLA) is a legal framework for sharing data. There are two initial CDLA licenses: * The CDLA-Sharing license was designed to embody the principles of

copyleft Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...

in a data license. It puts terms in place to ensure that downstream recipients can use and modify that data, and are also required to share their changes to the data. * The CDLA-Permissive agreement is similar to permissive open source licenses in that the publisher of data allows anyone to use, modify, and do what they want with the data with no obligations to share changes or modifications.

Linux.com

On March 3, 2009, the Linux Foundation announced that they would take over the management of Linux.com from its previous owners, SourceForge, Inc. The site was relaunched on May 13, 2009, shifting away from its previous incarnation as a news site to become a central source for Linux tutorials, information, software, documentation, and answers across the server, desktop/netbook, mobile, and embedded areas. It also includes a directory of Linux software and hardware. Much like Linux itself, Linux.com plans to rely on the community to create and drive content and conversation.

Linux Foundation Public Health (LFPH)

In 2020 amidst the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Linux Foundation announced the LFPH, a program dedicated to advancing and supporting the virus contact tracing work led by

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

and their Bluetooth notification systems. The LFPH is focusing its efforts on public health applications, including the effort's first initiative: a notification app intended for governments wanting to launch their privacy-focused exposure notification networks. As of today, LFPH hosts two contact-tracing apps.

LF Climate Finance Foundation

In September 2020, The Linux Foundation announced the LF Climate Finance Foundation (LFCF), a new initiative "to encourage investment in AI-enhanced open source analytics to address climate change." LFCF plans to build a platform that will utilize open-source open data to help the financial investment, NGO, and academia sectors to help better model companies’ exposure to climate change.

Allianz Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...

, Amazon, Microsoft, and

S&P Global S&P Global Inc. (prior to 2016, McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013, The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financia ...

will be the initiative's founding members.

LF Energy

LF Energy is an initiative launched by the Linux Foundation in 2018 to improve the

power grid ''Power Grid'' is the English-language version of the second edition of the multiplayer German-style board game ''Funkenschlag'', designed by Friedemann Friese and first released in 2004. ''Power Grid'' was released by Rio Grande Games. I ...

Training and certification

The Linux Foundation Training Program features instructors and content from the leaders of the Linux developer and open-source communities. Participants receive Linux training that is vendor-neutral and created with oversight from leaders of the Linux development community. The Linux Foundation's online and in-person training programs aim to deliver broad, foundational knowledge and networking opportunities. In March 2014, the Linux Foundation and

edX edX is an American For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit massive open online course provider. It was founded by MIT and Harvard. It is a subsidiary of 2U (company), 2U. History edX was founded in May 2012 by the admi ...

partnered to offer a free, massive open online class titled Introduction to Linux. This was the first in a series of ongoing free offerings from both organizations whose current catalogue of MOOCs include Intro to DevOps, Intro to Cloud Foundry and Cloud Native Software Architecture, Intro to Apache Hadoop, Intro to Cloud Infrastructure Technologies, and Intro to OpenStack. In December 2015, the Linux Foundation introduced a self-paced course designed to help prepare administrators for the OpenStack Foundation's Certified OpenStack Administrator exam. As part of a partnership with Microsoft, it was announced in December 2015 that the Linux on Azure certification would be awarded to individuals who pass both the Microsoft Exam 70-533 (Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions) and the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) exam. In early 2017, at the annual Open Source Leadership Summit, it was announced that the Linux Foundation would begin offering an Inclusive Speaker Orientation course in partnership with the National Center for Women & Information Technology. The course is designed to give participants "practical skills to promote inclusivity in their presentations." In September 2020, the Linux Foundation released a free

serverless computing Serverless computing is "a cloud service category in which the customer can use different cloud capability types without the customer having to provision, deploy and manage either hardware or software resources, other than providing customer appli ...

training course with CNCF. It is taught by Alex Ellis, founder of OpenFaaS. Among many other organizations with similar offerings, The Linux Foundation has reported a 40% increase in demand for their online courses in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting social-distancing measures.

Patent Commons Project

The ''patent commons'' consists of all

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

which has been made available to the

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

community. For software to be considered to be in the

commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

the patent owner must guarantee that developers will not be sued for infringement, though there may be some restrictions on the use of the patented code. The concept was first given substance by

Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. (formerly Red Hat Software, Inc.) is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises and is a subsidiary of IBM. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North ...

in 2001 when it published its Patent Promise. The Patent Commons Project was launched on November 15, 2005, by the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL). The core of the project is an

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

patent commons reference

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

aggregating and documenting information about patent-related pledges and other

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

solutions directed at the open-source software community. , the project listed 53 patents.

Open Compliance Program

The Linux Foundation's Open Compliance Program provides an array of programs for open-source software licensing compliance. The focus of this initiative is to educate and assist developers (and their companies) on licensing requirements, to make it easier to create new software. The program consists primarily of self-administered training modules, but it is also meant to include automated tools to help programmatically identify license compliance issues.

Funding

Funding for the Linux Foundation comes primarily from its Platinum Members, who pay US$500,000 per year according to Schedule A in LF's bylaws, adding up to US$7.5 million. The Gold Members contribute a combined total of US$1.2 million and Silver members contribute between US$5,000 and US$20,000 based on the amount of employees, summing up to at least US$6,240,000. In December 2023, the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), including its LF Broadband, Aether and P4 projects, merged with Linux Foundation. As part of the merger, ONF handed over $5 million in funding. As of June 2024, the foundation collected annual fees worth at least US$14,940,000.

Use of donations

By early 2018, the Linux Foundation's website stated that it "uses onationsin part to help fund the infrastructure and fellows (like

Linus Torvalds Linus Benedict Torvalds ( , ; born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish software engineer who is the creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel. He also created the distributed version control system Git. He was honored, along with Shinya Yam ...

) who help develop the Linux kernel."

Sub-organizations

Linux Foundation Europe

The Linux Foundation established the Linux Foundation Europe, with its headquarter located in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, on September 14, 2022, with the aim of promoting open source throughout Europe. Linux Foundation Europe will increase open collaborative activities for all European stakeholders, including citizens, the public sector, and the private sector. Among the first members of the Linux Foundation Europe are

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

Accenture Accenture plc is a global multinational professional services company originating in the United States and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, that specializes in information technology (IT) services and management consulting. It was founded in 1 ...

, Alliander,

Avast Avast Software s.r.o. is a Czech multinational cybersecurity software company headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, that researches and develops computer security software, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Avast had more th ...

, Bosch, BTP, esatus AG,

NXP Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a Dutch semiconductor manufacturing and design company with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is the third largest European semiconductor company by market capitalization as of 2024. The company employs approx ...

, RTE, SAP, SUSE S.A., TomTom,

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

, OpenForum Europe, OpenUK, and the Research Institutes of Sweden. The Linux Foundation Europe will make it possible for open collaborative projects to be housed on European soil. The first initiative is the

Open Wallet Foundation Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gerd Dudek, Buschi Niebergall, and Edward Vesala album), 1979 * ''Open'' (Got ...

(OWF), which aims to create an interoperable engine for digital wallets that supports payment processing, identity verification, and storing verified credentials including employment, education, financial status, and entitlements was launched on 23 February 2023. The inaugural members are Accenture,

Gen Digital Gen Digital Inc. (formerly Symantec Corporation and NortonLifeLock Inc.) is a multinational software company co-headquartered in both Prague, Czech Republic (European Union, EU) and Tempe, Arizona (United States, USA). The company provides comp ...

, Futurewei Technologies, Visa Inc.,

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...

T-Systems T-Systems International GmbH, trading as T-Systems, is an internationally operating service provider for information technologies and digital transformation. The company is part of Deutsche Telekom and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. As ...

, esatus AG, Fynbos, Hopae, IAMX, IDnow, IndyKite, Intesi Group, Ping Identity, Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC), Digital Dollar Project, Digital Identity New Zealand (DINZ), Digital Identity and Data Sovereignty Association (DIDAS), DizmeID Foundation (DIZME), Hyperledger Foundation, Information Technologies and Telematics Institute / Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH/ITI),

Johannes Kepler University Linz The Johannes Kepler University Linz (German: ''Johannes Kepler Universität Linz'', short: ''JKU'') is a public university in Austria. It is located in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria. It offers bachelor's, master's, diploma and doctoral degre ...

, ID2020, IDunion SCE, Mifos Initiative, MIT Connection Science, Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP),

OpenID Foundation OpenID is an open standard and decentralized authentication protocol promoted by the non-profit OpenID Foundation. It allows users to be authenticated by co-operating sites (known as relying parties, or RP) using a third-party identity provi ...

, Open Identity Exchange (OIX), Secure Identity Alliance (SIA), University of Rovira i Virgili, and the Trust Over IP Foundation (ToIP). The Linux Foundation Europe started the

RISC-V RISC-V (pronounced "risk-five") is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on established reduced instruction set computer (RISC) principles. The project commenced in 2010 at the University of California, Berkeley. It transfer ...

Software Ecosystem (RISE) initiative on May 31, 2023. The goal of RISE is to increase the availability of software for high-performance and power-efficient RISC-V processors running high-level operating systems for a range of market segments by bringing together a large number of hardware and software vendors. Red Hat,

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...

Nvidia Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

, MediaTek,

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

, and Google are among the initial members.

Linux Foundation India

During KubeCon + CloudNativeCon India in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, the Linux Foundation announced the opening of Linux Foundation India on 11 December 2024, which will work on subjects including blockchain, security, Edge/IoT, cloud native technologies, telecommunications, and domain-specific artificial intelligence. In India, the need for open-source technology has increased by 42% in 2023 as a result of the Linux Foundation's partnership with the International Startup Foundation (ISF). They are also collaborating with the open source networking company OpenNets. Through the LF Decentralized Trust, the

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

(RBI) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy) are utilizing Linux Foundation's projects to build the

National Blockchain Framework National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

and Digital Rupee. The Linux Foundation India will launch projects that will be introduced straight upstream into the Linux Foundation further facilitating ongoing technological collaborations between the

Federal Government of the United States The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

and the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

, in contrast to the Linux Foundation Europe and Linux Foundation Japan, which focus on region-specific open source projects because of governmental constraints. Linux Foundation India will provide open source contributors to the Linux Foundation's sub-organizations.

References

External links

* {{FLOSS