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Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto wrote: |
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> |
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> The problem with this concept is that the Council and the Trustees |
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> represent different teams and the plan is to have a greater division |
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> between them in the future. It can also promote tensions that could |
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> escalate into a "war" between them with one trying to dismantle the other. |
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> The current policies already state that the council can be "voted out", |
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> although there are no rules on how to do it, and the proposed bylaws, |
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> including their current revision, already allow for a vote of the |
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> foundation members to remove the existing trustees. |
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> If we have clear policies that either body fails to follow, I think |
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> Richard's proposal for the referendum is a better solution to enforce |
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> those policies. |
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> |
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|
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Well this policy is in practice within many countries around the world. |
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And within a Constitutional monarchy I know of only one example of |
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something like that ever happening. It is called the Australian |
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Constitutional Crisis. It is also one of the reasons I added the |
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minimum period rule, so that in any situation one body could not remove |
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another continuously. If there is a situation where a "war" breaks out |
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it will be the development community who decides which group is right. |
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We might be a bunch of idiots, but I think we have the intelligence to |
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not get into a cyclical situation where every month we alternate between |
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having a council or foundation election. |
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|
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|
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On the whole I don't really have a problem with Richards proposal in |
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general, but I disagree with somethings in particular. |
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|
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Firstly I always get the impression that people think the Foundation is |
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just a holding company for the assets of gentoo. I think it owns Gentoo |
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and _everything_ that Gentoo does (or is) is of interest to, and the |
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responsibility of, the Foundation. I note that there have been ppl |
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complaining about the "closed" decision making of the present Council, |
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well the Foundation Charter states "Every aspect of Gentoo is and |
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remains open. Gentoo does not benefit from hiding any of its development |
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processes (whether it is source code or documentation, decisions or |
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discussions, coordination or management).". The Foundation has a vested |
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interest in how the Council performs its function. Why? Because the |
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council influences whether the foundation meets its Charter. If the |
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Council is closed, gentoo is closed and the foundation fails to meet one |
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of its 4 pillars. |
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|
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Secondly, I despise situations when groups get to decide there own fate. |
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If you have to submit a petition you really shouldn't be submitting it |
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to the organisation/group your submitting it against. Who says the |
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council doesn't need to just ignore it? What would you do if they did |
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ignore it? it's their responsibility to submit it too mailing lists and |
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call a vote. if anyone else does it, then it couldn't be considered |
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official. |
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|
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Thirdly, I believe my suggestion can be written more consistently with |
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less room for interpretation, etc, etc. |
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|
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When it comes down to it we really are discussing what will hopefully be |
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the least used rules of the entire distro. |
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|
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I will attempt to merge Richards idea's with my own. |
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|
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1) The Foundation call's for Council elections, Council call's for |
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Foundation elections. |
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2) At any time during a Councils term the Council can ask the |
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Foundation to call elections for Council, at which time the Foundation |
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_must_ do so. (and vice versa for Foundation) |
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3) Foundation can dismiss Council and call elections. (majority or |
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absolute vote?) |
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4) Council can dismiss "Foundation" (or more correctly all its members) |
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and call elections. ( absolute vote only? ) |
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5) A Council or Foundation can't be dismissed within the first 2 Months |
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of being elected. |
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6) The Foundation automatically delegates Development responsibility to |
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the Council. |
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7) The Council may appoint Positions and delegate responsibilities. [1] |
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8) The Council is the arm of Gentoo that defines the direction of Gentoo |
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from a development perspective as long as it meets the goals of the |
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Foundation ( Otherwise the Foundation will dismiss them, or possibly |
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overturn there decisions? ).. |
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9) The Council must meet monthly ( with current attendance rules ). |
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Rules surrounding extra meetings are at the Councils discretion. |
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10) Any developer may follow the following procedure to hold a |
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referendum on any issue that will be binding on Gentoo (but not the |
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Foundation): |
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a) Create a petition containing a clear resolution with voting options |
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(which must include an option to abstain and an option to decline the |
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resolution). |
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b) Collect gpg signatures from developers/staff. The requisite number |
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of signatures is xx% of the number devs who made commits in the last 30 |
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days. Note that the count of devs making commits is used ONLY to |
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determine the number of sigs needed - any devs/staff can provide sigs |
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regardless of their role or level of activity as long as they haven't |
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been retired/booted. |
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c) Submit petition to Foundation. The council will post the petition |
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on -dev-announce (or -core if the petition so indicates) and allow two |
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weeks for debate and two weeks for voting. |
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|
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|
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[1] This means that the Council could appoint a leader and delegate all |
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responsibility to them, it could also be used to imply that the Council |
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appoints the leaders of each Project by accepting automatically the vote |
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of that projects members. Therefore a leader of a project would have |
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been delegated responsibility for the project from the Council. |
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|
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Hopefully this will give ppl something to think about at least. |
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|
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Alistair |
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-- |
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gentoo-project@l.g.o mailing list |