We, the group and community that together form OpenMandriva, wish to create a superlative Linux distribution to be of the highest quality. To us the term distribution is inadequate to describe what we wish to achieve. To us a distribution consists not only of the operating system that is produced, but also the group of people that create it and the community that supports it. In order to achieve this goal, we need to have a higher aim than just assembling thousands of packages into an ISO and making it available on the Internet.
At OpenMandriva, we feel that the continuation of the Free Software movement is the most important ideal not only from the point of view of providing free software, but also to ensure that the power of information technology is freely available to all; these are the principles on which the forerunners of the OpenMandriva distribution were founded.
The free software movement has matured to the point where those joining it now were not yet born at it’s inception; these contributors need a place where they can expand their abilities and acquire new ones; a place where they can learn the ways of free software creation and development.
OpenMandriva aspires as a community to be able to continue the traditions of Free Software and Open Source movements by providing a place where these aims can be realised:
In doing so we are creating a professional environment which pursues standards as its primary aim. These professional goals are set and agreed by the OpenMandriva community, and adjusted whenever we all feel need for it. The core philosophy of these standards is driven by the need to encourage and nurture new contributors in all parts of the OpenMandriva community and ultimately to create an operating system of which all contributors may be duly proud.
It is our hope that this environment will be highly conducive to those who wish to found a career in software development, and to anyone who wishes to acquire or improve their social and technical skills within a friendly atmosphere of collaborators who are working toward a common goal. We welcome all – developers, designers, translators, infrastructure and QA experts: there is open and free team space for all to grow and – most of all, to have fun together!