announcing freenginx.org

[Maxim Dounin]

Hello!

On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 03:24:59AM +0800, Jeffrey 'jf' Lim wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 1:59 AM Maxim Dounin <mdounin at mdounin.ru> wrote:
> 
> > Hello!
> >
> > As you probably know, F5 closed Moscow office in 2022, and I no
> > longer work for F5 since then.  Still, we’ve reached an agreement
> > that I will maintain my role in nginx development as a volunteer.
> > And for almost two years I was working on improving nginx and
> > making it better for everyone, for free.
> 
> wow, I did not know that. Thank you for your work and contribution over
> these 2 years!
> 
> > Unfortunately, some new non-technical management at F5 recently
> > decided that they know better how to run open source projects.  In
> > particular, they decided to interfere with security policy nginx
> > uses for years, ignoring both the policy and developers’ position.
> >
> > That’s quite understandable: they own the project, and can do
> > anything with it, including doing marketing-motivated actions,
> > ignoring developers position and community.
> 
> would you be able to (within reason) give any examples of these?

The most recent "security advisory" was released despite the fact 
that the particular bug in the experimental HTTP/3 code is 
expected to be fixed as a normal bug as per the existing security 
policy, and all the developers, including me, agree on this.

And, while the particular action isn't exactly very bad, the 
approach in general is quite problematic.

> > Still, this
> > contradicts our agreement.  And, more importantly, I no longer able
> > to control which changes are made in nginx within F5, and no longer
> > see nginx as a free and open source project developed and
> > maintained for the public good.
> >
> > As such, starting from today, I will no longer participate in nginx
> > development as run by F5.  Instead, I’m starting an alternative
> > project, which is going to be run by developers, and not corporate
> > entities:
> >
> > http://freenginx.org/
> >
> > The goal is to keep nginx development free from arbitrary corporate
> > actions.  Help and contributions are welcome.  Hope it will be
> > beneficial for everyone.
> >
> >
> thank you for continuing on with your efforts, and for this new effort!

Thanks, appreciated.

-- 
Maxim Dounin
http://mdounin.ru/