FAQ

After a careful exchange of terms and the donor contract, there is the usual cooling-off period to sign the contract.

However, as soon as the contract is signed, the donor is obligated to pay the donorship, and we will have to strictly enforce that. A donor can only lay off the obligation by having another donor replace him/her.
This strict debtor management is necessary because we must deliver on our promises and need the finances to do so.

Having presented the general rule, individual cases can be discussed with the chairman of the Foundation to see if there is a way out.

The KERI Foundation decided to maintain its own repositories to focus more on further maturing the KERISuite and to establish a governance structure that is clearer and more streamlined.

While the WoT community remains volunteer-driven, KF aims to manage directed funds and funded projects more efficiently. This setup allows KF to work on targeted developments while ensuring the code remains open and licensed under Apache 2.0. The decision was not made to split the community but to provide a more structured way to advance the KERISuite.

The primary concern is that newcomers may find it confusing to understand the relationship between the different repositories and their purposes.

Historically, there have been multiple overlapping initiatives like ToIP, IETF, WoT, and DIF, which already caused confusion. Adding KF repositories could further complicate things for those unfamiliar with the ecosystem. Newcomers might ask, “What lives where?” and feel that the community is fragmented. Ensuring clarity through proper documentation and syncing practices could help address this issue.

The main reason for having separate KF repositories is that the open-source code that belongs there will have an enhanced balanced legal framework and decision-making unit.

After a careful exchange of terms and the donor contract, there is the usual cooling-off period to sign the contract.

However, as soon as the contract is signed, the donor is obligated to pay the donorship, and we will have to strictly enforce that. A donor can only lay off the obligation by having another donor replace him/her.
This strict debtor management is necessary because we must deliver on our promises and need the finances to do so.

Having presented the general rule, individual cases can be discussed with the chairman of the Foundation to see if there is a way out.