OpenWrt joins the Software Freedom Conservancy

OpenWrt has joined the Software Freedom Conservancy as a member project. Conservancy now serves as OpenWrt’s fiscal sponsor, handling donations, trademark holding, and other organisational responsibilities.

The relationship has long historical roots. OpenWrt itself exists because of GPL enforcement: when Linksys was compelled to release the firmware sources for the WRT54G in 2003–2004, those sources became the basis for what eventually grew into OpenWrt. Conservancy’s Bradley M. Kuhn led the coalition that drove that enforcement work.

The initial OpenWrt representation committee at Conservancy is John Crispin, Hauke Mehrtens, and Jo-Philipp Wich.

Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to supporting community-driven free software projects, with particular attention to small embedded devices used by home users — a natural fit for OpenWrt’s mission.