Was Ubuntu the first software project to adopt a code of conduct?

Many software projects adopt a code of conduct, like the Ubuntu Code of Conduct or the Contributor Covenant. My memory is that there was a time when the only adoptable (freely licensed) code of conduct was Ubuntu's - was it the first?

(Note, I don't include the Debian Social Contract as a candidate since it's about the project, not contributors to the project.)

1 Answer

I wrote the first draft of the Ubuntu Code of Conduct on my first full day of work at the company that would later become Canonical while sitting on a couch on Mark Shuttleworth's flat in London.

I can't say for certain that no other free software/open source project had a Code of Conduct before but I can tell you that I didn't know of any other free software projects that did at the time and haven't learned of any since.

I don't remember looking carefully at any other similar documents from other communities (software or not) when we drafted Ubuntu's. In drafting the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, we relied heavily on our experience in Debian (and other free software projects) to identify types of behavior that we loved and wanted to encourage as well as behavior that we wanted to clearly state wouldn't be welcome in the community we were planning to build.

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