-include::header.txt[]
+Welcome to the LEDE project
+===========================
-== About LEDE
+include::menu.inc[]
-The LEDE project was founded in April 2016 as an OpenWrt based spin off with a
-strong focus on transparency, user collaboration and decentralised structures.
+== Introducing the LEDE project - A reboot of the OpenWrt community
-=== Goals
+The LEDE project is founded as a spin-off of the OpenWrt project and shares many of the same goals.
+We are building an embedded Linux distribution that makes it easy for developers, system administrators or other Linux enthusiasts to build and customize software for embedded devices, especially wireless routers.
+The name 'LEDE' stands for 'Linux Embedded Development Environment'.
-LEDE's stated goals are:
+Members of the project already include a significant share of the most active members of the OpenWrt community.
+We intend to bring new life to Embedded Linux development by creating a community with a strong focus on transparency, collaboration and decentralisation.
-. Building a great embedded distribution with focus on stability and
- functionality.
-. Having regular, predictable release cycles coupled with better testing
- procedures.
-. Establishing transparent decision processes with broad community
- participation and public meetings.
+LEDE’s stated goals are:
+
+* Building a great embedded Linux distribution with focus on stability and functionality.
+* Having regular, predictable release cycles coupled with community provided device testing feedback.
+* Establishing transparent decision processes with broad community participation and public meetings.
-=== Name
+We decided to create this new project because of long standing issues that we were unable to fix from within the OpenWrt project/community:
-The name _LEDE_ is an abbreviation for Linux Embedded Development Environment,
-a reference to its flexibility and embedded buildroot origins, making it a
-solid choice for embedded Linux applications far beyond the wireless router
-and network appliance realm.
+. Number of active core developers at an all time low, no process for getting more new people involved.
+. Unreliable infrastructure, fixes prevented by internal disagreements and single points of failure.
+. Lack of communication, transparency and coordination in the OpenWrt project, both inside the core team and between the core team and the rest of the community.
+. Not enough people with commit access to handle the incoming flow of patches, too little attention to testing and regular builds.
+. Lack of focus on stability and documentation.
-The word _LEDE_ is also an alternation of the phrase _to lead_, describing
-an introductory section of a news story that is intended to entice the reader
-to read the full story.
+To address these issues we set up the LEDE project in a different way compared to OpenWrt:
-=== Origin
+. All our communication channels are public, some read-only to non-members to maintain a good signal-to-noise ratio.
+. Our decision making process is more open, with an approximate 50/50 mix of developers and power users with voting rights.
+. Our infrastructure is simplified a lot, to ensure that it creates less maintenance work for us.
+. We have made our merge policy more liberal, based on our experience with the OpenWrt package github feed.
+. We have a strong focus on automated testing combined with a simplified release process.
-For a long time the OpenWrt parent project experienced infrastructure issues
-and declining developer participation on the base system while the community
-driven package ecosystem around it continued to thrive.
+=== Goals
+
+LEDE's stated goals are:
-When the number of frequently active committers reached a new low in the
-beginning of 2016, the three OpenWrt developers John Crispin, Felix Fietkau
-and Jo-Philipp Wich decided to start a new spin-off project in an attempt to
-radically change the development processes and reboot the project in better,
-community-driven manner.
+. Building a great embedded distribution with focus on stability and
+ functionality.
+. Having regular, predictable release cycles coupled with community provided
+ device testing feedback.
+. Establishing transparent decision processes with broad community
+ participation and public meetings.
=== Endorsement
The *Wrt community is made up of many great communities all tinkering on their
-own mission in improving something on this planet. the Following communities have
-kindly decided to endorse our project. Thanks !
+own mission in improving something on this planet. The Following communities have
+kindly decided to endorse this project. Thanks !
. none so far :-)