So after looking at the IEEE site about applying for an OUI, it seems to me there needs to be some actual entity to do that appplication. Since I am not a principle developer nor is my company more than an interested user, I can't really just go ahead and do it myself under either my own name or my companies.
So I think this group called the Software Freedom Conservanc seems to be offering to be exactly this sort of agent for open source software projects. They do things like own domains and hold donation funds for hosting and provide legal support and essentially do all the stuff developers don't want to have to do, but which a project sometimes needs _somebody_ to do. I have a few questions and statements for the list at large: * Any objection to me sending them an initial feeler about applying for use of their service? See proposed email below. * I am willing to help pay for things like the OUI ($1750) and outright pay for things like a normal/affordable domain. lxc-tools.org is available and only 12/year from joker.com (pick any registrar, some are cheaper, I just don't like Network Solutions or Go-Daddy because they are big and careless, and I happen to have been using joker for a few other domains.), and at least help pay for hosting if/when we actually need something other than sourceforge, say for the wiki. * But I don't want to be in the position of collecting contributions nor do I think anyone else wants to either, so an independent outsider sounds good to me. * The whole point, as stated right on their web site is so that mostly everyone can keep on not thinking about stuff like this except the little bit needed to deal with them in the first place. I know it seems overkill but I would like an OUI and I don't want it to be mine or my company's. I want my company to merely contribute towards it. The website/wiki stuff is just a little bonus since sourceforge is fine. I would actually just get a domain and point it right at the sourceforge page anyways at least for now. References: http://sfconservancy.org/ http://sfconservancy.org/members/apply/ http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui/ https://standards.ieee.org/regauth-bin/application?rt=OUI Here is the email I have tentatively written, NOT SENT: -------------------- Hello, I am writing on behalf of the relatively small group of people working on a project called LXC which is both a set of linux kernel features and a set of userspace tools to make use of those kernel features, which together implement "Linux Containers" which are essentially BSD Jails or Solaris Zones for Linux. The LXC project has recently run into an unusual need that I was wondering if the Software Freedom Conservancy was possibly the ideal people to help deal with. LXC or lxc-tools or Linux Containers is a virtual server technology. Part of virtualizing a server is creating virtual network interfaces. Ideally, all network interfaces should use MAC addresses that have valid IEEE-assigned OUI prefixes. For example, see XEN, and VMware. http://standards.ieee.org/cgi-bin/ouisearch?Xensource http://standards.ieee.org/cgi-bin/ouisearch?VMware The process of applying for and obtaining an OUI appears to require a bit more of a defined organizational entity than the LXC project really has, or even wants to have at least so far. XEN's OUI was applied for by, and granted to, Xensource Inc. There is no "LXC Inc." nor any clear corporate sponsor that could just use their own name like RedHat or one of the other Linux distributions. Also it would be nice to have someone to own a domain (yet to be purchased), which can point to a distribution-agnostic web site (yet to be created, yet to be hosted). Currently there is just a sourceforge project to host the userspace code and mail list. I and a few others are willing to pay for things like the OUI, a domain, web site hosting. But currently there is no organization to collect and spend money and officially speak for the project to people such as the IEEE. My relation to LXC is, I am not a principle developer of either the kernel or userspace lxc code myself although I have written and continue to help maintain some distribution-specific packaging, integration, scripts, and documentation. As commercial user I am willing to pay for or at least help pay for several things, and do at least some administration such as this very message contacting you. I have posted a copy of this message to the lxc mail list and received a go-ahead to proceed from some of the principle developers before sending to you. References: LXC home, such as it is: http://lxc.sourceforge.net/ IEEE site regarding OUI's http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui/ https://standards.ieee.org/regauth-bin/application?rt=OUI Thank you for your consideration. Brian K. White Aljex Software Inc. -------------------- -- bkw ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ All the data continuously generated in your IT infrastructure contains a definitive record of customers, application performance, security threats, fraudulent activity and more. Splunk takes this data and makes sense of it. Business sense. IT sense. Common sense. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-d2d-oct _______________________________________________ Lxc-users mailing list Lxc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/lxc-users
