Linux Foundation Tries To Play Peacemaker In Ongoing WordPress Scuffle (theregister.com)
(Saturday June 07, 2025 @03:00AM (BeauHD)
from the no-more-power-plays dept.)
- Reference: 0177948164
- News link: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/06/06/2156203/linux-foundation-tries-to-play-peacemaker-in-ongoing-wordpress-scuffle
- Source link: https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/06/linux_foundation_wordpress_peacemaker/
The Register's Thomas Claburn reports:
> The Linux Foundation on Friday [1]introduced a new method to distribute WordPress updates and plugins that's [2]not controlled by any one party , in a bid to "stabilize the WordPress ecosystem" after months of infighting. The [3]FAIR Package Manager project is a response to the legal brawl that [4]erupted last year , pitting WordPress co-creator Matthew Mullenweg, his for-profit hosting firm Automattic, and the WordPress Foundation that he controls, against WP Engine, a rival commercial WordPress hosting firm. [...]
>
> The Linux Foundation says the FAIR Package Manager, a mechanism for distributing open-source WordPress plugins, "eliminates reliance on any single source for core updates, plugins, themes, and more, unites a fragmented ecosystem by bringing together plugins from any source, and builds security into the supply chain." In other words, it can't be weaponized against the WordPress community because it won't be controlled by any one entity. "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, in a canned press statement. "We look forward to the growth in community and contributions this important project attracts."
>
> The [5]FAIR Package Manager repo explains the software's purpose more succinctly. The software "is a decentralized alternative to the central WordPress.org plugin and theme ecosystem, designed to return control to WordPress hosts and developers. It operates as a drop-in WordPress plugin, seamlessly replacing existing centralized services with a federated, open-source infrastructure." In addition to providing some measure of stability, the Linux Foundation sees the FAIR Package Manager as advancing WordPress' alignment with Europe's General Data Protection Regulation by reducing automatic browser data transmission and telemetry sent to commercial entities, while also supporting modern security practices and strengthening the open source software supply chain.
[1] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/linux-foundation-announces-the-fair-package-manager-project-for-open-source-content-management-system-stability-302474814.html
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/06/linux_foundation_wordpress_peacemaker/
[3] https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-fair-package-manager-project-for-open-source-content-management-system-stability
[4] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/01/10/1757231/automattic-slashes-wordpressorg-support-in-battle-with-wp-engine
[5] https://github.com/fairpm
> The Linux Foundation on Friday [1]introduced a new method to distribute WordPress updates and plugins that's [2]not controlled by any one party , in a bid to "stabilize the WordPress ecosystem" after months of infighting. The [3]FAIR Package Manager project is a response to the legal brawl that [4]erupted last year , pitting WordPress co-creator Matthew Mullenweg, his for-profit hosting firm Automattic, and the WordPress Foundation that he controls, against WP Engine, a rival commercial WordPress hosting firm. [...]
>
> The Linux Foundation says the FAIR Package Manager, a mechanism for distributing open-source WordPress plugins, "eliminates reliance on any single source for core updates, plugins, themes, and more, unites a fragmented ecosystem by bringing together plugins from any source, and builds security into the supply chain." In other words, it can't be weaponized against the WordPress community because it won't be controlled by any one entity. "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, in a canned press statement. "We look forward to the growth in community and contributions this important project attracts."
>
> The [5]FAIR Package Manager repo explains the software's purpose more succinctly. The software "is a decentralized alternative to the central WordPress.org plugin and theme ecosystem, designed to return control to WordPress hosts and developers. It operates as a drop-in WordPress plugin, seamlessly replacing existing centralized services with a federated, open-source infrastructure." In addition to providing some measure of stability, the Linux Foundation sees the FAIR Package Manager as advancing WordPress' alignment with Europe's General Data Protection Regulation by reducing automatic browser data transmission and telemetry sent to commercial entities, while also supporting modern security practices and strengthening the open source software supply chain.
[1] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/linux-foundation-announces-the-fair-package-manager-project-for-open-source-content-management-system-stability-302474814.html
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/06/linux_foundation_wordpress_peacemaker/
[3] https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-fair-package-manager-project-for-open-source-content-management-system-stability
[4] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/01/10/1757231/automattic-slashes-wordpressorg-support-in-battle-with-wp-engine
[5] https://github.com/fairpm
Two dogs fight for a bone ... (Score:2)
And a third dog shows up.
I'm not sure it will help. The community will need to switch to the new repo for this to become a success.
The best option is to not use PHP based technology. There are so many other options with fewer issues. I understand there are some killer app but nobody in their right mind should start a new project in PHP. Yet Oracle and Azure still find new customers.
Re: (Score:2)
There's nothing wrong with PHP that fundamental competence can't fix. The primary issue is, it's too easy to learn to use without becoming fundamentally competent, so it attracts a lot of lazy, low-effort workers and low-quality projects. That's not really PHP's fault, and changing languages to something else is no sort of magic fix for that either. Also, keep in mind this is the same basic justification that's being used to promote Rust, which in the long run will more or less generate the same results.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem with PHP is that its had two eras of developers and both are kinda awful.
The first developer era (which I shamefully was a member of in the 1990s) where grossly incompetent, barely structured their code and filled their code with SQL injections , used magic globals and just made absolute horror shows. Thats the era that got PHP its bad rep. Mostly gone now. Wordpress however IS a relic of that era.
The second developer era overcompensated by basically going full java creating codebases with 20 le
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not sure it will help. The community will need to switch to the new repo for this to become a success.
My suspicion would be that a certain Wordpress CEO will be outraged by the concept and move in a direction towards actively obstructing any competing package manager from being used.
In short; I suspect this does not get far, unless that person is no longer in control of the direction of core WP development.