Gentoo Archives: gentoo-project

From: Roy Bamford <neddyseagoon@g.o>
To: gentoo-project@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-project] [GLEP 39 overhaul] Do we want to make changes to the role of the council?
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:02:39
Message-Id: 1272039142.3390.0@NeddySeagoon
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-project] [GLEP 39 overhaul] Do we want to make changes to the role of the council? by "Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto"
1 On 2010.04.22 12:41, Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto wrote:
2 > On 22-04-2010 01:23, Richard Freeman wrote:
3 [snip]
4 > >
5 > > If you look at any other serious organization the purpose of
6 > committees
7 > > and bureaucracy is to serve the organization, and the organization
8 > is
9 > > represented overall by the board of directors, who are elected by
10 > the
11 > > members/shareholders/etc. This system works well - ultimately the
12 > > members have absolute authority in elections, but the directors
13 > oversee
14 > > things from time to time, and the committees and bureaucracy deal
15 > with
16 > > the day-to-day.
17 >
18 > Gentoo (the distribution) is not a Corporation, so that comparison
19 > isn't
20 > adequate as well.
21 >
22 >
23 [snip]
24 > > Rich
25 > >
26 >
27 > --
28 > Regards,
29 >
30 > Jorge Vicetto (jmbsvicetto) - jmbsvicetto at gentoo dot org
31 > Gentoo- forums / Userrel / Devrel / KDE / Elections
32 >
33
34 Team,
35
36 Gentoo the (distro) has no legal standing at all - thats wrapped up in
37 the Foundation. Hence the two headed structure we have today.
38 That means that Gentoo (the distro) cannot bring a legal action, nor
39 can it be the target of one. (There is no legal entity)
40
41 We are very close to a standard corporate structure. I suspect if
42 there was ever any external (legal) pressure on Gentoo the distro, we
43 would adopt a standard corporate structure, with the trustees
44 (directors) looking after the business issues and the council looking
45 after technical issues as a committee of the Gentoo Foundation Inc.
46
47 I won't speculate on the detail of any such change as what we have
48 works for us at the moment. The missing strand is someone with a
49 position in both groups, serving as a technical director.
50
51 --
52 Regards,
53
54 Roy Bamford
55 (Neddyseagoon) a member of
56 gentoo-ops
57 forum-mods
58 trustees