The Linux Foundation has announced the FAIR Package Manager Project aimed at enhancing the stability of open-source content management systems

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, announced the launch of the FAIR Package Manager project, a federated and independent repository of trusted plugins and themes for web hosts, commercial plugin and tool developers in the WordPress ecosystem and end users. The FAIR Package Manager project, through its contributors, creates net new interoperability, making the web publishing ecosystem more innovative and accessible for all.

Vendor-neutral package management for content management systems like WordPress provides critical universal infrastructure that addresses the new realities of content, e-commerce and AI. The FAIR Package Manager project helps make plugins and tools more discoverable and lets developers choose where to source those plugins depending on the needs of their supply chain. By giving commercial plugin developers, hosts, and application developers more options to control the tools they rely on, the FAIR Package Manager project promotes innovation and protects business continuity.

"The FAIR Package Manager project paves the way for the stability and growth of open source content management, giving contributors and businesses additional options governed by a neutral community," said Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of the Linux Foundation. "We look forward to the growth in community and contributions this important project attracts."

Features of the FAIR Package Manager project include:

• Eliminates reliance on any single source for core updates, plugins, themes and translations, enabling federation across the ecosystem from trusted sources.
• Advances WordPress's alignment towards GDPR to improve privacy and security by dramatically reducing automatic browser data transmission and telemetry sent to commercial entities.
• Brings together a fragmented ecosystem by bringing together plugins from any source, not just a central source, while creating a foundation for modern security practices.
• Builds security into the supply chain, including improved cryptographic security measures, enhanced browser compatibility checking, and enabling reliance on trusted source security salts.

The project's Technical Steering Committee is led by co-chairs Carrie Dils, Mika Epstein and Ryan McCue, all recognized experts in content management. Dils is an educator and prominent figure in the WordPress community, known for her advocacy and support of independent developers. Epstein, a longtime WordPress contributor and former manager of the plugin repository, is respected for her thoughtful approach to policy and community engagement. McCue, the developer behind the WordPress REST API and a contributor for more than 20 years, has played a key role in extending the platform's integration capabilities beyond its core ecosystem.

"The FAIR Package Manager project represents the future, breaking away from the traditional centralized top-down approach to a decentralized, community-first solution – one which steps up to match the scale of the problem," said McCue. "The WordPress community has grown immensely over the past 20 years I've been involved with the project, but it has also fractured over that time. With the FAIR Package Manager project, we're working to stitch the ecosystem back together, providing a platform to power the next decades of WordPress."

"The FAIR Package Manager project gives the WordPress ecosystem a stronger, more independent foundation for delivering software. By decentralizing distribution, we're ensuring the long-term sustainability of this open source content management platform," said Dils. "For anyone building on WordPress – whether as a product, a service or critical infrastructure – the FAIR Package Manager project offers a trustworthy, stable path forward."

"As a long-time advocate for open source and cooperative development, I'm very excited to be a part of the FAIR Package Manager project. The work we're doing will improve not only the experience for users, but the sustainability and growth that the FAIR Package Manager project will make available to development companies, hosts, and agencies," said Epstein. "The project removes technological bottlenecks and takes WordPress to the next level. With the help of some of the greatest minds in our community, we're not just distributing development load, we're distributing everything."

The shared package repository is open and ready to accept contributions. To learn more about the project visit https://github.com/fairpm. Announcements about the governance and funding of this project are forthcoming. 

To learn more about the Linux Foundation, visit www.linuxfoundation.org. To learn more about the FAIR Package Manager project, visit www.fair.pm.

SOURCE The Linux Foundation