Re: AlmaLinux Distros List Application

[Jonathan Wright <jonathan () almalinux org>]

On Sun, Dec 17, 2023 at 2:56 PM Solar Designer <solar () openwall com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Tue, Dec 12, 2023 at 02:35:35PM -0600, Jonathan Wright wrote:
> > I'm submitting this application on behalf of the AlmaLinux OS Foundation.
> >
> > Myself (Jonathan Wright) and Andrew Lukoshko, our lead architect, would
> be
> > joining if approved.
>
> This looks reasonable to me.
>
> >       Historically we have been following Red Hat releases within 1-2
> days,
> >       and since our shift in June away from following Red Hat we have
> been able
> >       to release some security updates ahead of Red Hat (Iperf3 patch
> and AMD
> >       microcode/kernel patches specifically). We would not be beholden
> to CentOS
> >       Stream updates for our patch releases.
>
> This isn't a lot yet.  I suppose linux-distros membership would enable
> you to do ahead of Red Hat updates more often?

It's not so much about competing with or doing things before RedHat as it
is about taking care of our users.  Since June of this year we are no
longer beholden to RedHat for patches.  Being on the distro list could mean
getting patches out sooner but that's more or less a side effect, not
necessarily the goal - though the goal IS getting patches to users as
quickly as possible, especially those shared on the private list, for
obvious reasons.

We didn't apply for the distros list before June as there was really no
point since we were tied to being a clone of RH, but that has now changed
since we are no longer just a clone, but a compatible downstream OS where
we can (and have been) make our own changes.


> >       Immediately we can begin to help reporters ensure their reports are
> >       following the requirements and are confirmed/replied to. As we
> > advance our
> >       understanding of how things operate, and the need arises, we can
> > expand our
> >       work into contributing more deeply.
>
> These tasks are already accepted by some distros.  We can indeed
> re-assign, so that those older members handle more complex tasks
> instead, or maybe you'd volunteer for some of the tasks from the
> "Administrative tasks mostly unrelated to (linux-)distros lists (but
> relevant to the wider community)" category?  This category is
> essentially about expanding and improving the public oss-security
> content and its visibility.

We very likely would be happy to help in this regard, especially if much of
it can be done without necessarily being on the private side of the list.
The folks on our side that would be great at this type of work are not the
same as those of us (myself and Andrew) that would be on the embargoed list.


> >       Darya Malyavkina from CloudLinux will vouch for us.
>
> For others reading this - Darya has been on linux-distros for CloudLinux
> for a long while, so this satisfies the requirement as written.
>
> Alexander


-- 
Jonathan Wright
AlmaLinux Foundation
Mattermost: chat <https://chat.almalinux.org/almalinux/messages/@jonathan>