About two months ago we eagerly announced that we were able to then open memberships for the AlmaLinux OS Foundation https://almalinux.org/blog/what-almalinux-foundation-membership-means-for-yo.... I outlined why I thought it was important that we’d structured the governance of the project this way–in order to give community members true ownership and a direct voice in the direction of AlmaLinux OS. The reception was tremendous and we’ve had hundreds of applicants and we’ve so far approved, I believe over 100 community members and dozens of mirror members. It’s very encouraging and refreshing to see the community rise to the occasion. I salute each and every person who has been active in our wonderful community, has helped to make it such a welcoming, friendly and diverse place and has taken the step to make their voice heard. We also have a membership tier for corporations who would like to participate in governance. We know that thousands (and probably tens of thousands) of groups, organizations and companies relied on the old CentOS Linux for a wide array of reasons and we assumed that they would like more direct participation in whatever solution they chose to move forward with. We’ve spoken to several already and you’ll be hearing more about them shortly but today we are here to celebrate Codenotary https://codenotary.com/–our first platinum member! You can read more about their take on the Codenotary Blog https://codenotary.com/blog/codenotary-joins-almalinux-foundation. Codenotary is a pioneer in DevSecOps and immutability ( https://github.com/codenotary/immudb) and offer developer friendly tools (check out the Community Attestation Service https://cas.codenotary.com/ amongst others) that make truly verifiable software supply chain security a reality–today. They have a far reaching vision and care deeply about ensuring that the software you run, build and use is software that you (and your users) can trust. Behind Codenotary also stands Moshe Bar, who is an open source visionary and brought Xen and KVM to the world. He’s been a lifelong staunch supporter of the Open Source community and his vote of confidence means the world to us. Codenotary’s support will help us to continue delivering for the community day in and day out, and we’ll be working together to continue to grow the CentOS ecosystem and make sure AlmaLinux is the secure base you can build your future on. This moment is also a further step towards independence for the AlmaLinux OS Foundation. As many people know, CloudLinux https://cloudlinux.org/ were the ones that kicked off the AlmaLinux OS project and foundation. The intention always was to get it up on it’s feet so that it could be a truly independent body governed and serving the community. Igor Seletskiy’s bold move stepping down from the board https://blog.cloudlinux.com/why-i-have-decided-to-step-down-from-the-almalin... was the first step towards ensuring that no single entity has an overwhelming amount of control on the project. For the next step towards independence, I will be transitioning out of CloudLinux and into a role at Codenotary and they will be sponsoring my work. I will retain my position on the board too–don’t worry you can’t get shake me that easily. This leaves CloudLinux with just one board seat until elections are held. As for me nothing changes, I’ll continue to make sure that we deliver everything we promise, and more, for the community. That’s why we are here. It’s our reason for doing it every day. It is an honor to serve the community. So it’s not New Year’s yet but don’t mind if we break out the champagne a little early. On behalf of the whole AlmaLinux OS Foundation community and the board, benny, Simon, Jesse, Eugene and myself we would like to thank and toast Moshe Bar and the whole Codenotary team. We are immeasurably thankful for your support.