This document defines the governance structure and decision-making process for the Open Integration Engine project, an open source initiative stewarded by a non-profit organization and guided by principles of openness, transparency, and community empowerment.
The Open Integration Engine project exists to provide a high-quality, community-driven open source integration engine that benefits the public and healthcare technology ecosystem through open collaboration.
We adhere to the following principles:
- Transparency: All decisions and discussions will be publicly documented.
- Inclusivity: Everyone is welcome to participate and contribute.
- Meritocracy and Consent: Contributions and voices are valued based on merit, with a preference for consensus-based decision-making.
- Sustainability: We prioritize the long-term health of the project and its community.
Contributors are individuals who have made sustained and meaningful contributions to the project, including code, documentation, issue triage, community engagement, or design. Recognition is granted by the Maintainers and recorded publicly.
Contributors may:
- Participate in discussions and working groups.
- Vote in certain community-wide decisions, such as electing Steering Committee members.
- Nominate themselves or others for governance roles.
Maintainers are responsible for the health and direction of the codebase and community. They are expected to:
- Review and merge contributions.
- Set release schedules and coordinate with stakeholders.
- Enforce the Code of Conduct.
- Participate in regular Maintainer meetings.
Selection and Removal:
- New Maintainers are nominated by existing Maintainers and must be approved by consensus.
- A Maintainer may be removed for inactivity, misconduct, or loss of trust by a two-thirds Maintainer vote.
The current and historical list of Maintainers can be found in the maintainers.md file.
The Steering Committee oversees project governance, handles escalated decisions, and maintains legal and organizational alignment.
Responsibilities:
- Approve new Maintainers.
- Mediate disputes between contributors or Maintainers.
- Oversee budgets, donations, and financial transparency.
- Ensure alignment with mission and long-term strategy.
Composition and Terms:
- Composed of 5–9 individuals including Maintainers and active Contributors.
- Members serve 1-year renewable terms.
- Elections are held annually via Contributor vote.
The current and historical list of Steering Committee members can be found in the steering_committee.md file.
The project favors rough consensus and community input. Decision types include:
- Routine Technical Decisions: Made by individual Maintainers or small teams.
- Significant Technical/Strategic Changes: Require discussion and agreement among all Maintainers.
- Escalated or Contested Issues: Referred to the Steering Committee.
Voting Mechanics:
- Quorum is two-thirds of eligible voters.
- Simple majority required unless specified otherwise.
- Abstentions do not count toward quorum.
- All changes must be submitted via pull requests (PRs).
- Each PR must include a clear description and follow the contribution guidelines.
- At least one Maintainer must review and approve before merge.
- Major features require a formal proposal using the RFC process.
- Proposals remain open for community comment for at least 7 days.
- Approval requires Maintainer consensus.
- Maintainers coordinate releases using a release lead.
- Releases follow semantic versioning.
- Each release must include notes and changelog entries.
- Deprecations must be announced at least one minor version before removal.
- Deprecated components must have documented alternatives.
The Open Integration Engine project follows the Contributor Covenant. Enforcement is managed by the Code of Conduct Committee (CoCC), a subgroup of the Steering Committee.
Reporting and Enforcement:
- Reports are submitted confidentially.
- CoCC investigates and proposes actions.
- Appeals may be brought to the full Steering Committee.
All code contributions must be licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0), the project's approved open source license.
Contributors agree to the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) implicitly by submitting signed PRs under their username.
This project uses the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) as its contribution mechanism. By submitting a contribution, contributors certify that they have the legal right to submit the work under the project's license and agree to the terms of the DCO.
To indicate agreement, contributors must include a Signed-off-by line in each commit, using the same name and email address as in the commit metadata, e.g.:
Signed-off-by: Jane Doe <jane@example.com>
By adding this line, the contributor agrees to the DCO. The line can be added automatically using:
git commit -s
License changes must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Steering Committee and be accompanied by a public comment period of at least 30 days.
The name "Open Integration Engine" and any associated logos or marks are trademarks of the non-profit stewarding the project.
Use of the name or marks in derivative works, commercial services, or promotional materials must be approved by the Steering Committee in writing.
The Steering Committee is responsible for protecting the integrity of the project's brand.
The project may accept donations, sponsorships, and grants to support its operations.
All funding is managed by the non-profit and is subject to transparent accounting and public reporting.
The Steering Committee approves budgets and major expenditures.
Donors and sponsors may be recognized publicly, but may not influence project direction or decision-making.
Working Groups may be formed by Contributors or Maintainers to focus on specific areas such as documentation, localization, security, or outreach.
Each Working Group must:
- Have a published scope and goals.
- Include at least one Maintainer or Steering Committee liaison.
- Publish regular updates to the community.
Working Groups operate transparently and must follow the Code of Conduct.
Amendments to this document require:
- A proposal posted publicly.
- A 14-day comment period.
- Approval by two-thirds of the Steering Committee.
Governance History can be seen in the governance repository.
Corrections and amendments merged to the main branch will have been appropriately approved and adopted by the Steering Commitee and are in effect as soon as they are merged.