OpenSolaris

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Welcome to OpenSolaris User Groups!


Introduction

OpenSolaris User Groups (OSUGs) are sponsored by the Advocacy Community Group on opensolaris.org, and all the information you need to get involved is right here. Please subscribe to advocacy-discuss (subscribe, archives, forum) and osug-leaders (subscribe, archives) if you have any questions or want to get involved. We encourage everyone to participate on advocacy-discuss and osug-leaders so we can communicate across all the OSUGs around the world. This is particularly important because we'll have website infrastructure issues to discuss and governance-related conversations that affect all the user groups. The steps below will walk you through getting involved.

Join the Advocacy Community Group


Join an OSUG or Start a new OSUG

The OpenSolaris Community is a community of communities -- just as the Internet is a network of networks. Within the OpenSolaris Community, there are Community Groups centered around issues and technologies. One of those Community Groups is this group, the OpenSolaris Advocacy Community, which sponsors user groups and other related projects. If you are new to OpenSolaris and are interested in participating in a user group, this is where you begin.
   

    The Role of Sun, Transparency, and the OpenSolaris User Groups

OpenSolaris user groups are independently run, but many of them are hosted on opensolaris.org with projects spaces and/or discussion lists. Sun participates in the OSUGs by contributing website infrastructure and other materials. But Sun doesn't run the user groups or the Advocacy Community. Instead, it's always been a community effort. Decisions about the Advocacy and the user groups are made openly on advocacy-discuss and based on the consensus of those doing the work. If something didn't happen on list, it didn't happen. Everyone is encouraged to participate and share ideas, connections, and resources.

OpenSolaris "User Groups" are actually "Projects" on opensolaris.org. Projects offer user groups substantial website infrastructure -- including a dedicated space on the site with project editing privileges, a blog aggregator, source code management (Mercurial and Subversion), a Mailman list with administrator access, an RSS-enabled announcement section, and spaces for news, file hosting, discussions, observers, and leaders. Because user group leaders are simultaneously project leaders who have earned the right to manage their own project, they stand a very good chance of gaining Contributor and/or Core Contributor status within the Advocacy Community under the OpenSolaris Constitution. Core Contributors are also considered Members of the OpenSolaris Community, and Members can participate in community-wide governance issues.
   

    Joining OpenSolaris User Groups

Look for user groups in your area. If you find one, simply join that group's mail list, introduce yourself, get to know the members, and participate. This is the best situation because you will have a pre-existing group of people to get involved with. Also, since user groups are usually based on geography, it's always best to join an established group if possible rather than creating infrastructure for overlapping groups. You should also join the advocacy-discuss and osug-leaders mail lists, so you can talk to other OSUGs around the world.
   

    Start a New OpenSolaris User Group: Three Easy Steps

If there is no established user group in your area, you can propose that a new group be created and hosted on opensolaris.org. To get user group infrastructure (a project space and mailing list) on opensolaris.org, send a short proposal to advocacy-discuss (sign up, archives, forum). You need one +1 vote and no -1 votes. Only Core Contributors can vote, and voting is open on advocacy-discuss for three days. Write your proposal in the following format:
    1. Name of your OpenSolaris User Group and the abbreviation for the project URL. For example: Japan OpenSolaris User Group. JPOSUG. Please check the list of OSUGs for names and abbreviations that are already taken.
    2. Two or more initial participants listed with their opensolaris.org user IDs
    3. A short paragraph description of the group -- including location (City, State, Country), activities planned, related organizations, etc.  Keep it simple.
If your user group proposal is approved, the Advocacy Community Facilitator will work with you to set up a project space and mail list.

    OSUG Leader Responsibilities on opensolaris.org

As a leader of your new user group, it is expected that you will maintain your project space and mail list (filter spam, add/remove names, communicate with the OpenSolaris webmaster and other community members on advocacy-discuss and osug-leaders, etc) -- just as all the other project leads in the OpenSolaris Community. Please review the documents below so you are clear about website issues -- especially the policy around mail list management. For instance, if lists are not used and properly managed, they can be deleted after a period of time.

    Subscribe to the following lists:
    Follow the appropriate website, trademark, project, and community policies:
    Use the OpenSolaris slide templates for presentations (right click on the links to download the OpenOffice files):
    • opensolaris-org-slide-template.odp
    • IMPORTANT: Sun employees may not use Sun's internal corporate presentation templates for public presentations. Please use the OpenSolaris presentation templates instead. Also, please do not post to opensolaris.org any documents marked with "confidential" or "proprietary" or similar notices. If the information is not confidential and is appropriate for the community, please remove the confidential notice before posting. This is not optional. Documents marked "confidential" in any way can be deleted by the site administrator without notice.

Page Updated: Jim Grisanzio, 3/13/09