1 |
On 01/11/2017 01:40 PM, Michał Górny wrote: |
2 |
> On Wed, 11 Jan 2017 13:08:17 -0600 |
3 |
> Matthew Thode <prometheanfire@g.o> wrote: |
4 |
> |
5 |
>> This proposal sets out a plan to revert to the normal corporate |
6 |
>> structure that Gentoo enjoyed before the Foundation and Council were |
7 |
>> created. |
8 |
> |
9 |
> Err, before the Foundation? |
10 |
> |
11 |
|
12 |
Before the split head was codified. |
13 |
|
14 |
>> Right now this is a general plan for discussion, if we wish to go this |
15 |
>> way details need to be hammered out. |
16 |
>> |
17 |
>> Issues with the status quo: |
18 |
>> |
19 |
>> Foundation/Trustees exist to take away the burden of running Gentoo |
20 |
>> financially, infrastructure and legally. There is some crossover with |
21 |
>> projects run under the Council though. PR, Recruitment, Comrel and |
22 |
>> Infrastructure exist under the Council, not Foundation. |
23 |
> |
24 |
> And why is that a problem? I don't see a specific reason for Foundation |
25 |
> to get directly involved where Council's doing a good job. |
26 |
> |
27 |
|
28 |
This is about accountability in the legal sense. |
29 |
|
30 |
>> Each of those have implications for Legal reasons (mainly due to how |
31 |
>> their actions may expose Gentoo to legal conflict) and monetary reasons |
32 |
>> (Infrastructure particularly). |
33 |
> |
34 |
> As can an action of every individual developer. |
35 |
> |
36 |
|
37 |
Yep, which is why devs should exist under the foundation (in some form) |
38 |
|
39 |
>> Possible Solution: |
40 |
>> |
41 |
>> Voting body: |
42 |
>> |
43 |
>> In order to solve this Gentoo needs to have a combined electorate, |
44 |
>> meaning those that would vote for Council would also vote for Trustees |
45 |
>> and visa-versa. This would ensure that everyone’s needs are represented. |
46 |
>> |
47 |
>> The combined voting body would be able to opt out of voting, however, |
48 |
>> opting out of voting means opting out of voting globally. The reasoning |
49 |
>> behind this is so that you can’t opt out of voting for one body but not |
50 |
>> the other, as doing so would cause a split in the voting pool. |
51 |
> |
52 |
> This doesn't answer the most important question of all: who the voting |
53 |
> body will be? I doubt people care about being able to opt-out of |
54 |
> voting. They do care, however, for being unable to vote for some |
55 |
> legal or otherwise external reasons. |
56 |
> |
57 |
|
58 |
The voting body would be active developers, meaning those that passed |
59 |
what used to be the staff quiz. Commit access or not. |
60 |
|
61 |
I don't have a solution to being able to vote for the council but not |
62 |
the board while still retaining opt out. The only solution I can think |
63 |
of (and I just thought of it a second ago) is for it to be a graduated |
64 |
opt-out. opt out of voting for the board because you have to, then opt |
65 |
out of voting for the council (or other project like comrel possibly) |
66 |
because you want to. If you opt out of voting for council or comrel |
67 |
then you have to opt out of voting for the board as well though. |
68 |
|
69 |
>> Bodies being voted for: |
70 |
>> |
71 |
>> We should have a single overarching governing body, let’s call it ‘The |
72 |
>> Board’. This is so that conflicts between Council and Trustees (as they |
73 |
>> exist now) would have a straightforward resolution. |
74 |
>> |
75 |
>> This new ‘Board’ would be able to use the existing project metastructure |
76 |
>> to delegate roles to various groups (Comrel, Infra, etc would still |
77 |
>> exist, but under this new Board). Technical leadership would continue |
78 |
>> as a sub-project of this board. |
79 |
>> |
80 |
>> Sub-projects of the board can be voted for by the same electorate that |
81 |
>> votes for the board. This does not need to be the case for all |
82 |
>> sub-projects. |
83 |
>> |
84 |
>> It may look something like this: |
85 |
>> |
86 |
>> Some of the subprojects are for example and may not reflect reality or |
87 |
>> be complete, however, the top-level sub-projects should be as is: |
88 |
>> |
89 |
>> |
90 |
>> |
91 |
>> |--Council--(various projects) |
92 |
>> | |
93 |
>> | |--Recruiting |
94 |
>> Board --+--Comrel--| |
95 |
>> | |--Something else |
96 |
>> | |
97 |
>> |--PR |
98 |
>> | |--Releng (if recognized) |
99 |
>> |--Infra--| |
100 |
>> |--Portage (possibly) |
101 |
>> |
102 |
>> Other: |
103 |
>> |
104 |
>> The Board’s responsibilities should be limited to running to Gentoo as a |
105 |
>> global project. This means they’d effectively be trustees. Technical |
106 |
>> matters should be limited to the council and its associated |
107 |
>> sub-projects. HR type issues should change from appealing up through |
108 |
>> the Council (as it is a technical body) to appealing through to the |
109 |
>> Board. PR and Infra would be directly managed under the Board. |
110 |
>> |
111 |
>> This draft of the proposal has nothing to say about the detail of the |
112 |
>> formation of the ‘Board’, how many members it would have, nor how they |
113 |
>> will be selected. |
114 |
> |
115 |
> So, this whole thing looks really bad to me. It looks to be based on |
116 |
> some (accidental or intentional) misunderstanding what Council is, |
117 |
> combined with some degree of conflict of roles in Board (Trustees). |
118 |
> |
119 |
|
120 |
I see council as it is now as an overreach of what it was intended to |
121 |
be, or even should be. |
122 |
|
123 |
> As I said previously, the defining attributes of Trustees would be |
124 |
> knowledge of the law and related affairs. Why does that suddenly imply |
125 |
> that Trustees are required to be capable of handling project |
126 |
> leadership? |
127 |
> |
128 |
|
129 |
I believe I did state that the trustees would still be limited to |
130 |
Legal/proj running, but this gives them the 'official' ability to reach |
131 |
down and change things if needed. As it is now, officially, we'd have |
132 |
to ask council for a change dealing with a legal issue if it started |
133 |
because of something technical. |
134 |
|
135 |
> Why do you insist on giving additional power to people who have |
136 |
> already have a well-defined purpose? Why are you forcing us to be lead |
137 |
> by people who offer to do legal stuff, instead of the people we trust |
138 |
> to lead Gentoo? |
139 |
> |
140 |
|
141 |
I don't like the false dichotomy you offer. I personally don't see this |
142 |
as an overreach of power, or even a granting of power that was not |
143 |
already there. All this does is document things as they already are, |
144 |
from a more legal sense. |
145 |
|
146 |
> Furthermore, you seem (as many other Foundation power proponents |
147 |
> before) to completely miss QA in the picture. For some reason, you all |
148 |
> believe Council to be some dumb technical body (which QA is, actually). |
149 |
> Post the change, Council and QA would probably be redundant. |
150 |
> |
151 |
> |
152 |
|
153 |
That's a good point, they likely would be redundant. QA would expand to |
154 |
be more cross project though I think. |
155 |
|
156 |
> Therefore, I'd like to propose an another model, which is pretty much |
157 |
> what we have now, possibly with some clarifications. |
158 |
> |
159 |
> For fans of fancy diagrams: |
160 |
> |
161 |
> Board/Trustees (Foundation) |
162 |
> | |
163 |
> Council |
164 |
> | |
165 |
> all other projects in Gentoo |
166 |
> |
167 |
> |
168 |
> As I see it, it's a pretty straightforward and clean structure. We have |
169 |
> two organizational bodies: Council and Board/Trustees (I don't really |
170 |
> see a reason to rename it). |
171 |
> |
172 |
> The duty of the Board/Trustees is to handle legal affairs. It is also |
173 |
> on the top of organizational structure with the power to override any |
174 |
> decision *if it goes against the law / CoC / etc.* In other words, it |
175 |
> has the highest power but must use it responsibly, and does not need to |
176 |
> be normally engaged in Gentoo affairs. |
177 |
> |
178 |
> The duty of the Council is to handle all affairs within Gentoo. All |
179 |
> projects are below Council, and Council is the final 'normal' appeal |
180 |
> for all decisions. Unlike some beliefs, its role is not limited to |
181 |
> technical matters. |
182 |
> |
183 |
> This provides a good split of responsibilities for a non-profit. On one |
184 |
> hand, we have a 'compliance board' (== Board/Trustees) that handles |
185 |
> the legal affairs but doesn't get in the way of the distribution unless |
186 |
> it is absolutely necessary, and we have an 'executive board' (== |
187 |
> Council) that handles the distribution. |
188 |
> |
189 |
> Obviously, this also meets the necessity of different qualities. Board |
190 |
> members/Trustees need to be fluent in the laws and/or finances. Council |
191 |
> members need social skills mostly, and possibly some technical skills |
192 |
> to be able to interact with the community. We no longer give extra |
193 |
> power to someone just because nobody else wants to do the legal work. |
194 |
> |
195 |
> I don't see why would anybody claim this not to be a normal or |
196 |
> beneficial structure. It is definitely more clear than what you're |
197 |
> proposing, and definitely less likely for conflicts of interest. It |
198 |
> provides a consistent decision appeal possibility, with a dedicated |
199 |
> body to handle appeals regarding CoC/law. |
200 |
> |
201 |
|
202 |
I see this as workable, not my preferred solution, but acceptable. I |
203 |
would personally rather have non-technical things and infra things |
204 |
outside of Council, but like I said, this can work. |
205 |
|
206 |
-- |
207 |
Matthew Thode (prometheanfire) |