Hi all,
Those of you who follow the Java release as well will probably be aware
that, after a few years of struggling to do a release a year, we've
finally managed to get it back to a 3-4 month release cycle. The 50th
Java release will actually be coming out next week, after that we are
planning to concentrate our efforts on finally getting C# 1.8 out, and
ensuring that the recent hiatus is not repeated. Getting C# mirrored on
github was the first stage of this, and currently we're looking to
release 1.8 once we have finished merging a contributed port of the BC
Java TLS/DTLS APIs. In the light of all this activity I thought it would
be appropriate to fill everyone in on a few changes to the way we at
Bouncy Castle work, which have been helping make this build up in
momentum possible.
As a few of you are aware, the core developers and some friends of the
project set up a not-for-profit association a couple of months ago to
allow us to capture management of the libraries into a single legal
entity. I'm pleased to announce that the entity that was set up, Legion
of the Bouncy Castle Inc., has now been recognised and registered by the
Australian Government as a charity established for the public benefit,
and for the benefit of education.
From our users perspective, the biggest change is that we have
established certainty that the libraries will always be freely
available. The biggest change from the project's point of view, other
than the new structure providing us with a better framework to
co-ordinate our efforts in, is that we are now able to accept donations
in order to help progress development. As a few of you are also aware
last year some of us started a company, Crypto Workshop Pty Ltd, for the
purpose of providing consulting services and commercial support
contracts. While this has gone okay, and the Java releases are already
starting to benefit from time donated back from support contracts, it
has become clear that our consulting arm is not something that will
allow us to undertake major exercises such as FIPS certification,
without putting at risk the principles we wish this project to continue
to be built on, such as maintaining it as freely available. This is why
attaining recognition as a charity and the ability to accept donations,
with the appropriate oversight implied, is really important to us, and
to you, our user community.
Which brings me to my next announcement. We're marking these changes by
having our first fundraiser, and our first target is to meet the costs
of getting the C# libraries appropriately certified. We believe we can
raise this money, but we do know we cannot do it without your help, so
if you, like us, value the independence of this project, and wish to see
it continue to provide you with quality open source cryptography, please
follow the link below to find out how to donate.
https://www.bouncycastle.org/donate/index.cgi
As it is our first fundraiser, we have also been able to get our
resident cartoonist to provide us with t-shirt artwork allowing us to
provide donors with a PDF template which will enable you to create an
official fundraiser t-shirt of your own. Wear it with pride!
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me. On behalf
of the Legion, I would be grateful if you pass this message on to anyone
you know would be interested.
Regards,
David
