Local community domains

This page is a draft only
It is still under construction and content may change. Do not rely on the information on this page.

This page gives some informal guidance on how Fedora communities in different locales can establish Internet domains with the word "Fedora" in them. The Fedora trademark guidelines have specific requirements that must be met for setting up these domains, in order to preserve the value of the Fedora trademarks.

Buying a separate domain

Not every local community requires a local domain. Many local communities can function perfectly well in the existing Fedora Project domain(s). Fedora already offers the ability for communities to provide complete translations for our main web site and other pages. We are also working on the capability to have a translated MediaWiki that will not require as much manual work on the part of translators.

In addition, splitting off a domain has the tendency to keep local community members from getting up to date information that flows on the official Fedora channels. It multiplies the number of areas a community member needs to monitor and thus takes away from the time they could otherwise spend on contribution directly to Fedora.

However, there are some good reasons for local domains to exist, and the Fedora Project realizes the importance of enabling the community to grow Fedora in localities around the world. Therefore we have a few options available to people who want to set up a domain to support this effort.

Options

There are essentially two options open to local communiteis who want to purchase a domain with the word "Fedora" in the name for purposes of Fedora community work.

Pre-purchased domain

Preferred option
This option is preferable in most instances, because of the benefits listed below.

The Fedora Project or Red Hat can buy a domain and arrange for it to be pointed to the fedoraproject.org domain name servers. Since we control those name servers, it is very easy for the Infrastructure team to then point to the appropriate community server(s).

Benefits:	Drawbacks:
No need for community to pay for this domain -- Red Hat will underwrite the cost. Domains bought within 24 business hours, usually much faster. Encourages a standard for domain names where practical. Easiest way to preserve Fedora trademark coherence around the world since Red Hat technically owns the domain.	Community does not own the domain name itself, although it controls the domain content.

Self-purchased domain

Communities may purchase their own domains, but only after receiving a trademark license from Red Hat, pursuant to the trademark guidelines.

Benefits:	Drawbacks:
Community owns the domain name as well as the content.	Individual community leader must go through required paperwork for a trademark license agreement, and be legally responsible for the domain. Delay of a few days to a few weeks, depending on locale. Community leader(s) must deal with local Internet domain regulating agency. Local community must pay all fees and costs for the domain registration.