Established working groups in the OpenSSF are given broad latitude to accomplish their goals. The TAC aims to only require formal approval in limited cases. This document outlines some of the explicitly permitted activities and resources made available to working groups.
As per the OpenSSF charter/FAQ, the TAC is not directly in charge of sub initiatives. These are intended to run themselves, and are expected to make most decisions without needing to ask the TAC for permission. With this in mind, this document is not exhaustive and will grow over time - it is intended to outline the processes for some common requests and resources.
When in doubt, reach out to the TAC with any questions!
We expect that working groups will need to create repositories for code, tools, and other projects. These should be created in the ossf organization where possible to simplify management.
Working groups can also request new organizations where necessary - reach out to the TAC for logistics.
If any of these projects grow large enough, they can be "spun-off" into separate working groups by the TAC. As a general rule-of-thumb, if a sub-project requires its own standing meeting, it might be time to spin-it-off.
As the working groups are intended to be the subject matter experts in their domains, they should author papers for release through the OpenSSF without review or approval from the TAC. However, the TAC does ask that drafts be shared as early as possible (hopefully >7 days) for feedback and awareness. Drafts can be shared by sending email to openssf-tac@lists.openssf.org.
Once completed, working groups should work with the Governing Board to communicate, promote, and market the published papers in accordance with the general OpenSSF communication strategy.
All papers should still follow open source best practices including transparency in development and avoiding vendor bias.
Working groups are free to use whatever resources they can find, or to solicit help from member organizations, or to request funding from the OpenSSF Governing Board, through the TAC.
The TAC asks that working groups keep them informed of what infrastructure they are using for awareness as we begin the process of collecting formal resources.