The Mandriva Community brings together many very different actors:

  • distribution users, who promote open source and in particular Mandriva Linux, possibly grouped together in associations;
  • testers for development versions whose main role is to help unearth bugs and submit suggestions to improve the general quality;
  • packagers and developers;
  • translators for all Mandriva Linux tools;
  • and the Mandriva team of developers, webmasters and engineers.

The force of Mandriva is derived from this network of talents and in order to exploit our skills we felt it appropriate to unite all participants in a working structure.

Note: As some of you may already know, Mandriva Linux development is carried out by contributors and paid staff in a group called Cooker. And we have decided to extend the cooking analogy to describe the working group’s roles and functions.

Mandriva Linux Assembly

Mandriva Linux Assembly groups all stakeholders in an environment conducive to communication and permits an exchange of views across a broad band of subjects to enable a more comprehensive understanding of the logic underlying the choice of distribution and to promote a more collective approach to decision-making. The Assembly’s principal task is to sustain communication between users, developers and the society inside Community.

Keep in mind one basic rule: even if Mandriva Linux Assembly is a group of elected members who are the only ones permitted to speak, all discussions are public. Everybody is able to follow the debates, whatever technical solution is employed (mailing-list archives, forums, RSS feeds...).

Mandriva (company) proposes to communicate news and developments on a set monthly basis through a dedicated mailing-list (assembly-announce@mandrivalinux.org, archives) and the blog. The content depends on current activity: products roadmap, research programs, global strategy, OEM and enterprise activity.. This mailing-list can be read by all. It runs alongside assembly-discuss@mandrivalinux.org (archives) which allows Mandriva Linux Assembly members to submit their opinions and ask for further information on points raised during the discussions.

Assembly members

  • Mandriva User Groups (MUGs) : 1 representative per country or group of countries. We believe existing user associations can supply highly suitable candidates. The conditions for membership are to be decided by users themselves in each country.
  • five Mandriva Cooker Chefs are be elected by the Cooker community. Once again we leave the choice of Chefs to community members but we believe it is useful for the different types of activity within the community to be represented (testers, packagers, translators)
  • Mandriva company: Mandriva is represented by 5 members: 2 from the French team (Anne Nicolas, Frédéric Crozat), 2 from the Brazilian team (Gustavo Pichorim Boiko, Claudio Matsuoka) and Romain d'Alverny for all web infrastructure.

Working groups

MUGs

Made up of:

  • members from all MUGs,
  • 2 representatives from Mandriva.

Main goals are:

  • develop communication between associations world-wide on Mandriva Linux events and Open Source
  • provide chats on subjects like user help, localization...
  • help and share local initiatives
  • provide a single access point to view all distributions ahead of the official release date
  • help users to explain their needs and proposals
  • These tasks are not exclusive and can be added to by the group.

MUGs have a dedicated forum.

New members may join by sending a request to assembly-attend@mandrivalinux.org .

Cooker Chefs

Made up of two groups :

  • 5 members from Mandriva Company
  • 5 members from Cooker contributers.

Main tasks:

  • daily management of Cooker
  • integration of new packagers
  • conflict management
  • Cooker social contract
  • setup and update of policies
  • developer events in open source field

Cooker Chefs has a dedicated mailing-list (cooker-chefs@mandrivalinux.org, archives) and we propose a monthly IRC meeting that may be more frequent if needed.

Cooker Menu

Made up of the three groups mentionned before:

  • MUGs (5 personnes)
  • Cooker (5 personnes)
  • Mandriva (5 personnes)

This group manages on a daily basis current and upcoming Mandriva Linux distributions.

Each group has one vote for every decision taken. In our mind’s eye Cooker Menu embodies a privileged meeting place for end users and distribution developers to exchange ideas and raise specific requests.

Main tasks:

  • specifications for upcoming distributions
  • conflict management
  • synchronize decisions and global roadmap
  • development planning
  • follow-up of flagship software for future integration

Cooker Menu has a dedicated mailing-list (cooker-menu@mandrivalinux.org, archives) and we propose a monthly IRC that may be more frequent if needed.