2nd Rank

One can differentiate without splitting apart at the 2nd Rank.

In the 2nd Rank of Open Source Dharma a project will have met all of the requirements of the 1st Rank plus have opened up all of their public teaching material as free cultural works. In addition, a 2nd Rank project will have clearly detailed expectations about what’s expected of someone to become a core contributor. Core contributors are those people who are able to make/suggest/edit changes to the core teaching corpus, and whose opinion carries extra weight within their respective communities.

All 2nd Rank projects must also have a documented and workable means for forking the entire teaching corpus of their lineage. Anyone must be able to fork your material, which creates a technical means by which formal splits can occur. Interestingly, an open source dharma project could split, and still be hosting each other’s teaching material on their site, or still actively collaborating.