# DARK HORSE LINUX

A General Purpose Linux Operating System

## FOCUSED ON PURPOSE

Contributions evaluated on merit alone

## On Meritocracy

Meritocracy has turned into something else in recent years.

Too many projects accept or reject contributions based entirely off who is making the contribution, or what company they work for, or mix up contribution merit with appeal to group politics, or a contributor's social status, or, the relationship between those projects and the developer's employer.

This creates many problems that distract from the goal of the F/OSS movement -- from elitism, exclusive cliques and subcultures, cronyism, vulnerability to project hijacking by sponsor interest, and more, ultimately resulting in the stifling of innovation, and, often, the derailment of project development to create dependencies on external projects.

Meritocracy is well intended, and was a step in the right direction, but it's not enough.

## An Egalitocracy

DHLP accepts contributions from almost anyone, however, the inclusion of contributions is a decision based entirely on the contributions' merit, purpose, and utility.

Contributors and decision-makers on DHLP projects are expected to operate with this imperative.

A utilitarian, egalitocratic paradigm in the context of a Linux distribution places emphasis on selecting contributions based on their utility, merit, and purpose, while consciously disregarding the identity of the contributor.

This approach diverges from traditional meritocratic systems, which, although valuing the merit and effectiveness of contributions, still acknowledges the contributor's identity as a secondary factor of the inclusion decision.

By solely focusing on the utility and merit of contributions, the utilitarian philosophy aims to create an environment free from personal biases, cronyism, and toxic politics, ultimately promoting a more equitable and inclusive software ecosystem. This paradigm shift within the open source community fosters the development of a robust, efficient, and fair Linux distribution that maximizes the overall benefit for all users and developers, transcending the limitations of conventional merit-based systems.

## Inclusion

This allows for maximal inclusion.

## Exceptions

The primary exceptions to this philosophy are those that abuse its intent. This is an exception provided by its utility.

For issues that fall outside the definitions above, the project uses an approach called "Fix All Fundamental Obstacles" (F.A.F.O.). This means that Chris Punches, as owner of SILO GROUP and Dark Horse Linux with full executive control, may choose to add or remove any contribution or contributor in any capacity he desires or can imagine, without need for explanation or cause.

While avoided, this provision exists.

### Philosophy

Guiding principles of the project.

### Focused on Purpose

Contributions are evaluated entirely on their merit and purpose.

### Parent Leaf Status

Not based on another distribution. No upstream politics.

### Vanilla Flavored

Minimal patching. Publicly auditable build process.