 | |
| Formation | February 8, 1998 (27 years ago) (1998-02-08) |
|---|---|
| Type | Standards organization[1] |
| Location |
|
Area served | Worldwide |
Interim Executive Director | Deborah Bryant (September 2025 – present) |
| Anne-Marie Scott, Carlo Piana, Catharina Maracke, Chris Aniszczyk, Gaël Blondelle, Josh Berkus, Ruth Suehle, McCoy Smith[2] | |
| Budget | US$209,500 (2019)[3] |
| Revenue | US$209,500 (2019)[3] |
| Website | opensource |
TheOpen Source Initiative (OSI) is a California public benefit corporation "actively involved in Open Source community-building, education, and public advocacy to promote awareness and the importance of non-proprietary software".[4]
The OSI is aCaliforniapublic-benefit nonprofit corporation, with501(c)(3)tax-exempt status.[5] The organization is professionally overseen by an Executive Director and staff, and supported by itsBoard of Directors responsible for overseeing duty of care, fiduciary duty, and strategic alignment to mission.
The Open Source Definition is a derivative document based on theDebian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG), released in 1997 byBruce Perens. As Debian Project Leader, Perens released the scribed DFSG on July 4, 1997. In an announce post, Perens states he hopes other distributions use the DFSG as a model and states "We hope that other software projects,including other Linux distributions, will use this document as a model.We will gladly grant permission for any such use.""Debian's "Social Contract" with the Free Software Community" (Mailing list). 2025-04-24.
Any organization can use the Debian Free Software guidelines by citing the Social Contract. No open source definition required.
Perens modified the Debian Free Software Guidelines into the Open Source Definition by removing Debian references and replacing these with "Open Source". The original announcement ofThe Open Source Definition happened on February 9, 1998, onSlashdot[6] and elsewhere; the definition was given inLinux Gazette on February 10, 1998.[7]
Perens and Raymond established the Open Source Initiative, an organization intended to promote open source software. Neither Perens nor Raymond are involved in the OSI currently.
The Open Source Definition seems to be a widely accepted standard foropen-source software, although open source developers choosing to use GPL, BSD, MIT, Apache licenses for projects do not require any such standard. Additionally, the DFSG could be forked and other derivatives created based on the intent of the original release of the document the Open Source Definition is based upon.[8][9]Providing access to the source code is not enough for software to be considered "open-source": it must also allow modification and redistribution under the same terms and all uses, including commercial use.[10] The Open Source Definition requires that ten criteria be met for a license to be approved.[11][1] It allows bothcopyleft—where redistribution and derivative works must be released under a free license—andpermissive licenses—where derivative works can be released under any license.[1][12][13]Software licenses covered by the Open Source Definition also meet theFree Software Definition and vice versa. Both theFree Software Foundation and the OSI share the goal of supportingfree and open-source software.[1]
The OSI approves certain licenses as compatible with the definition, and maintains a list of compliant licenses. New licenses have to submit a formal proposal explaining the rationale for the license, comparison with existing approved licenses, and any legal analysis. The proposal is discussed on the OSI mailing list for at least 30 days before being brought to a vote and approved or rejected by the OSI board. Although the OSI has made an effort to have a transparent process, the approval process has been a source of controversy.[14]
Seven approved licenses are particularly recommended by the OSI as "popular, widely used, or having strong communities":[14]
In 2022, OSI began work on an Open Source AI Definition (OSAID), inviting researchers, developers, and industry representatives to collaborate on a draft in a co-design process.
The release of theOpen Source Artificial Intelligence Definition (OSAID), first working drafts in up to September 2024, and then the final first version 1.0 was launched in October 2024.[15] But "It doesn’t end with the Stable Version: We’ll need to define rules for maintenance and review of the Definition. ..."[16]
As a campaign of sorts, "open source" was launched in 1998 byChristine Peterson,Jon "maddog" Hall,Larry Augustin,Eric S. Raymond,Bruce Perens, and others.[17][18]
The group adopted theOpen Source Definition for open-source software, based on theDebian Free Software Guidelines. They also established the Open Source Initiative (OSI) as a steward organization for the movement. However, they were unsuccessful in their attempt to secure atrademark for 'open source' to control the use of the term.[19] In 2008, in an apparent effort to reform governance of the organization, the OSI Board invited 50 individuals to join a "Charter Members" group; by 26 July 2008, 42 of the original invitees had accepted the invitations. The full membership of the Charter Members has never been publicly revealed, and the Charter Members group communicated by way of a closed-subscription mailing list, "osi-discuss", with non-public archives.[20]
In 2012, under the leadership of OSI director and then-presidentSimon Phipps, the OSI began transitioning towards a membership-based governance structure. The OSI initiated an Affiliate Membership program for "government-recognized non-profit charitable and not-for-profit industry associations and academic institutions anywhere in the world".[21] Subsequently, the OSI announced an Individual Membership program[22] and listed a number of Corporate Sponsors.[23]
On November 8, 2013, OSI appointedPatrick Masson as its general manager.[24] From August 2020 to September 2021, Deb Nicholson was the interim general manager.[25] Under the direction ofDeborah Nicholson, the interim manager, the voting and election was held with results and then halted and set for re-election due to vulnerabilities in the election process. "This week we found a vulnerability in our voting processes that was exploited and had an impact on the outcome of the recent Board Election."[26] No election results or further updates are posted as of June 2021[update].[citation needed]
In November 2020 the board of directors announced a search for an executive director,[27] which was concluded in September 2021 with the appointment ofStefano Maffulli. At the same time, the role of president of the board was abandoned in favor of chair of the board.
Maffulli stepped down in September 2025. Deborah Bryant is serving as interim executive director.
In October 2009, the OSI lost its corporate status, having been suspended by the state of California for failing to submit paperwork on time.[28]
In January 2020, founder Bruce Perens left OSI over controversy regarding a new license (the Cryptographic Autonomy License), which had been proposed for the OSI's approval.[29] Later, in August 2020, Perens elaborated on his concerns: "We created a tower of babel of licenses. We did not design-in license compliance, and we have a tremendous noncompliance problem that isn't getting better. We can't afford to sue our copyright infringers."[30][31]
Eric S. Raymond, another co-founder of the OSI, was later banned from the OSI mailing list in March 2020.[31] He had claimed "OSI has been suborned and is betraying its founding commitment to freedom" the month prior, taking exception to proposed licensing changes that "would be a direct and egregious violation of OSI's charter and [his] intentions in founding OSI".[32]
The October 2024 release of the Open Source AI Definition (OSAID) was controversial, opening up new disagreements and considerable ill-feeling.[33]
In 2025, a petition has been made "to release the complete, unaltered results of its 2025 Board of Directors elections". One of the argument of the petition's authors is that by "removing candidates and votes after voting concluded, OSI has damaged its credibility".[34]
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