[admin] Add criteria for distributions

README.md

@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ This repository assembles OpenTelemetry Collector distributions, such as the "co
 
 Each distribution contains:
 
-- Binaries for a multitude of platforms and architectures
-- Multi-arch container images (x86_64, 386, arm, arm64 and ppc64le)
-- Packages to be used with Linux distributions (apk, RPM, deb), Mac OS (brew)
+- Binaries for a multitude of platforms and architectures (at least linux_amd64, linux_arm64, windows_amd64 and darwin_arm64)
+- Multi-arch container images (at least amd64 and arm64)
+- Packages to be used with Linux distributions (apk, RPM, deb), Mac OS (brew) for the above-mentioned architectures
 
 More details about each individual distribution can be seen in its own readme files.
 

distributions/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Criteria for Supported Distributions
+
+Support for a distribution implies all the duties covered by the Approver and Maintainer role requirements. In addition, support means that the Collector SIG is the owner and maintainer of the binaries/images of the different Collector distributions and is responsible for the pipeline that produces those artifacts.
+
+The Collector SIG will support at least one distribution that is recommended for production which includes support for Prometheus, Jaeger, Zipkin, and OpenCensus.
+
+Distributions supported by the Collector SIG should fulfill the following criteria:
+
+1. Serve a specific purpose that has minimal overlap with the purpose of any other distribution.
+2. Meet general needs and not be too niche.
+3. Only target the needs of the OpenTelemetry project.
+4. May be focused on development or proof of concept use cases.  The distribution should clearly indicate whether the Collector SIG recommends the distribution be used in production environments.
+5. Must only include components from the `opentelemetry-collector` and `opentelemetry-collector-contrib` repositories.
+6. Have a clearly defined list of criteria for which components are included.
+7. Must include the following assets except where the specific purpose of the distribution is naturally associated with a subset of these assets. In such cases, it should be clearly stated which assets are skipped and why.  Additional assets may be included if the maintainers agree:
+    - Binaries for linux_amd64, linux_arm64, windows_amd64 and darwin_arm64
+    - linux_amd64 and linux_arm64 container images
+    - Packages to be used with Linux distributions (apk, RPM, deb), Mac OS (brew) for each distributed binary.
+
+