Conclusion

The open source community is built on collaboration, but compliance with sanctions programs is not optional for developers who could unknowingly violate the law. If you encounter situations that seem unclear, seek legal advice early to avoid compliance issues. The Linux Foundation’s goal is to help developers navigate these complexities, so you can focus on building great software without legal headaches.

The Linux Foundation has already built compliance or verification checks into many of its processes and tools. If you are a maintainer of an LF project, please reach out to your LF contact point (or legal@linuxfoundation.org) for any questions you may have on our approach or for any support we can provide for your project. By staying aware and proactive, you can contribute to open source confidently while respecting global regulations.

As stated earlier, the Linux Foundation’s position is that open source and open standards are the most inclusive collaborative innovation model in the world. We hope that developers will begin to understand sanctions programs and regulations on the one hand, and at the same time, understand when to reach out to experts for help. It’s important to not overreact and to ensure open source communities take informed action when presented with a possible issue. For the vast majority of developers around the world, regardless of their nationality, country of residence, political system, cultural beliefs, or ideology, the open source community is still the most open collaboration ecosystem, just as it has always been before. In open source, communities are not used to having to exclude or curtail anyone’s ability to participate. It is understandable that trade and sanctions regulations may cast a different light on many people’s interpretations of the neutrality and equality of open source. We also hope that enactors of sanctions programs in the US and around the world will provide clear exemptions for open source cooperation in the future.