Distro Transparency Index (DTI)

Detailed Evaluation

1. Governance Transparency: 3/3

• Availability of governance documents: Yes (1 point)
• Source: AlmaLinux Governance
• Detail of governance documents: Detailed (2 points)
• AlmaLinux provides detailed information on its governance structure, including roles and responsibilities.

2. Decision Making Transparency: 3/3

• Documented decision-making process: Yes (1 point)
• Source: AlmaLinux Foundation
• Accessibility of meeting minutes: Public (2 points)
• Source: AlmaLinux Community

3. Economic Transparency: 3/4

• Publication of financial statements: Annual (2 points)
• Source: AlmaLinux Financial Reports
• Detail of financial statements: Partial (1 point)
• The reports provide an overview but could be more detailed.

4. Economic Accessibility: 4/4

• Access to financial reports: Free (2 points)
• Financial reports are freely accessible on the AlmaLinux website.
• Ease of access: Easy (2 points)
• Financial information is easily found on the official website.

5. Source Code Accessibility: 4/4

• Availability of source code: Public (2 points)
• Source: AlmaLinux GitHub
• Ease of access to source code: Easy (2 points)
• Source code is easily accessible through GitHub and AlmaLinux repositories.

6. Public Roadmap Availability (for periodic releases): 3/3

• Public roadmap: Yes (1 point)
• Source: AlmaLinux Roadmap
• Detail of roadmap: Detailed (2 points)
• AlmaLinux provides detailed information on future releases and development goals.

7. Transparency in Code Review Processes: 3/3

• Documentation of review processes: Yes (1 point)
• Source: AlmaLinux Development
• Transparency of review processes: High (2 points)
• Review processes are publicly documented and discussed in community channels.

8. Community Participation in Development: 3/4

• Number of active contributors: Medium (1 point)
• Source: AlmaLinux Community
• Accessibility to development processes: Easy (2 points)
• AlmaLinux offers extensive resources for new contributors and encourages participation.

9. Impact of Governance Structure on Transparency: 4/6

• Centralization of decision-making power: Partially centralized (1 point)
• AlmaLinux has a board of directors but encourages community input.
• Control and balance mechanisms: Strong (2 points)
• The AlmaLinux Foundation structure provides strong control mechanisms.
• Influence of commercial entities on governance: Moderate (1 point)
• CloudLinux had a significant role in creating AlmaLinux, but governance is now independent.

Concluding Analysis

AlmaLinux demonstrates a very high level of transparency and accessibility in almost all evaluated areas:

• Strong transparency in governance and decision-making processes.
• Good economic transparency and easy accessibility to financial information.
• Excellent source code accessibility and transparency in the development process.
• Detailed public roadmap and transparent code review processes.

Areas for improvement include:

• Further increasing community involvement in development.
• Further reducing the perceived influence of commercial entities on governance.

The score of 88.24/100 reflects AlmaLinux's commitment to transparency and openness. This high score is particularly impressive for a relatively new distribution, demonstrating a strong commitment to open source principles and transparent governance from the beginning.

It's important to note that AlmaLinux, being born as an alternative to CentOS, has likely benefited from lessons learned from other enterprise and community-driven distributions, allowing it to implement transparent practices and open governance from the start.