Last month we were privileged to be invited by GitLab to participate in the introduction of GitLab’s DEI Badging integration. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) badging is an initiative that the Community Health Analytics in Open Source Software (CHAOSS) project created to acknowledge and encourage open source projects’ efforts.

Since we first heard of this initiative we have been very excited for the launch. Inclusion in the open source space has always been important and the cornerstone of what makes open source work. This sort of formalization of what inclusion means and how we execute on it is an important step forward in the maturation of open source projects in general. Kali Linux is an open-source, multi-platform, distribution for all users, and with this effort we have the opportunity to make that explicit. We are also proud to say that we have already received our badge, as the first GitLab project to do so, aside from GitLab themselves of course!

For our part in this initiative, we have published our DEI.md statement file and promise to continue working on this. We will be putting effort into increasing visibility of our operations in our GitLab group, availability of resources, documentation, and improving and increasing opportunities available for our community and partners to contribute. We are committed to working on this for years to come, and plan to continue to improve upon our work through feedback and thorough review.