A quick start guide about how to start a SIG( Special interest group) in CentOS community. Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrbhEsTydyI

1. Running a SIG in CentOS
Information to start with CentOS SIG
Speaker : Lalatendu Mohanty

2. About Me
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Working in Red Hat Storage(GlusterFS) Team.
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Coordinating CentOS Storage SIG.
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GlusterFS package maintainer in CentOS Storage SIG.
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Co-maintainer of GlusterFS RPMs in Fedora.
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Find me in Twitter or Freenode as {@ #}lalatenduM
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Email: lala@redhat.com

3. Introduction
● CentOS stands for Community Enterprise Operating System.
● Since March 2004, CentOS Linux has been a community-supported
distribution.
● It is derived from sources freely provided to the public by Red Hat.
● The first CentOS Linux release in May 2004.

4. About CentOS
● CentOS is almost identical to RHEL except that it modifies packages to
remove Red Hat branding and artwork *
Note*: Many RPMs still contain the name redhat, rhel, or rh.
● Though RHEL have many channels, CentOS only builds from RHEL
base channel.
** but merges all variants into one distro ( no Workstation, Server etc)
● Uses Yum repos only.
For details refer : http://wiki.centos.org/FAQ/General

5. Popular with:
● Sysadmins who prefer the Red Hat way of doing things
● Hosting industry ( facebook, twitter, tumblr -> big web users of
CentOS )
● Voice Over IP Industry
● HPC and Super-computing
● Large Embedded (ie. machines with > 4G of ram and > 2 cores )
● Developers for open source infra and systems management code
( puppet, chef, ansible etc were all bootstrapped on CentOS )
● On Premise Cloud providers ( Eucalyptus, CloudStack, OpenStack* all
default to CentOS - OpenStack is a bit more complicated )

6. Past:
RHEL CentOS
Fedora
open source
projects
SIG stands for Special Interest Group

7. CentOS Core VS SIG
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Stability Vs Cutting edge technology.
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Distribution vs Specialized distribution.

8. The SIG Mindset
● A better upstream user experience.
● Solving a bigger technology issue without worrying about platform.
● Each CentOS (i.e. 6 and 7) has 10 years of life cycle.

9. The SIG Mindset (Continued..)
● Freedom to change RPM spec file to make packages work with each
other better.
● Freedom to rebuild package from core CentOS. e.g. latest Docker,
GlusterFS
● SIGs should address user stories.

10. Current SIGs
● Stable : Xen4CentOS
● Planning and Getting Started: Atomic, Storage, Virtualization, Cloud,
Cloud Instance, Software Collections
● Proposed: VOIP, Public CI, PaaS
Refer: http://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup

11. Starting a SIG
● Anyone can propose to set up a SIG
● To start with, send a proposal to CentOS-Devel mailing list.
● SIG must be approved by the Board.
For Details Refer: http://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup

12. Requirements
● Should be an user story.
● All code produced within the SIG should have a distributable license.*
● At least one CentOS board member should part of SIG (as mentor).

13. Infrastructure for SIG
● Koji build system
● git.centos.org
● Wiki space on wiki.centos.org
● Bug tracker (if required)
● Separate email List (if required)
● Yum repos, mirrors

14. Packaging For SIG
● Where is the Package?
● Bug fixes or security fixes?
● Spec file ?

15. Bootstrap and running
● Send your proposal to centos-devel ML.
● Get a CentOS core team member on board.
● Wiki page for the SIG.
● Get a CentOS build system account.
● Buildsys repo -> Testing repo -> Stable repo.

16. SIG Responsibility
● Creating and maintaining the SIG.
● Make the functional area open for participation.
● Foster a community around the functional aspect, to share the
responsibility, workload, and innovation.

17. SIG Governance
● Gradually gets autonomy after the early stage.

18. Upstream VS SIG
● SIG should be able to deliver Upstream user story.
● Communication between upstream community and SIG.

19. Future
● Grow organically.
● A definite life cycle for the SIG?
● Evolve as a distribution?
● ISOs, cloud images, containers, live CDs?

20. Questions?
Feedback: http://devconf.cz/f/115