Hi everybody,

The “CPE” name is a commonly used identifier in the Fedora and CentOS communities. Inside Red Hat, it meant a specific set of individuals and roles reporting into common management. We recently had a reorg that brought it and other community roles together. There is a new name for the whole group: Community Linux Engineering.

To be clear, no one is changing roles as part of this; all the things Red Hatters did before the reorg and rename remain the same after.

This change does bring a question with it: In our docs and conversations, should we just search and replace the CPE name with “CLE”? My answer is a resounding no! The external CPE branding unintentionally contributed to some common misconceptions: 

• “Red Hat teams are separate from the community.” Red Hatters can, and indeed many do, play key roles in the community Linux space, regardless of team affiliation.

• “Community members can’t take part in the same Fedora activities that Red Hat employees can.” The reality is that most activities are or can be open to all.

• “There is a ‘Fedora team’ or a ‘CentOS team’ solely responsible for All the Things.” This would be impossible – it’s way too much. We all are part of making these distributions and communities succeed and grow.

As this name change takes effect, I hope we can embrace names which reflect what we are doing together, the myriad skills and interests and activities that come together to make something we can all use and enjoy.  So while I’m pleased to announce CLE, I hope you’ll promptly forget about the name and instead focus on why you’re here in this community, and find yourself able to pursue your interests as we build amazing things together.