Re: [gentoo-project] [RFC] pre-GLEP: Gentoo General Resolution

[Rich Freeman]

On Thu, Jun 28, 2018 at 12:14 PM Michał Górny <mgorny@g.o> wrote:
>
>    a. the Council decision in question is final (i.e. a general
>       resolution can not be used to bypass the Council),

One question that this brings up in my mind is the duration of these
decisions, because Council decisions are never really final.  The
Council can override its own decisions, or the decision of a prior
Council.

Presumably you wouldn't want the current Council to be able to
override a GR, but how about a subsequent one?  A lot of decisions are
made on the basis of some context that could change.

To use your example, suppose there is a GR to make OpenRC the default
service manager.  Great.  What happens in 10 years when it makes sense
to make some new service manager the default?  Normally such a
decision wouldn't even require a Council vote, but if the previous GR
has no expiration, then does that mean that another GR is required to
make a decision that may not be as controversial in the future?

To use a different example, consider GLEP 39.  Many consider GLEP 39
to be special and one that the Council cannot modify, but on the flip
side there is currently no real defined process for changing it.
(Perhaps GRs will become such a mechanism.)  The result is that
sometimes changes that might make sense don't really get considered
because nobody feels empowered to make it happen.

In any case, my point is mainly that the GR GLEP ought to indicate one
way or another how a GR can be modified.  Presumably a GR can always
be used to modify a previous GR.  However, do we want to relax things
further, such as by allowing GRs to be overriden by Council if there
has been a Council election in the interim?

My last comment is more philosophical.  I do support the concept
behind this, but I do want to note that it is a lot easier to vote for
something to happen than to actually make it happen.  If devs
consistently vote for Council members who support position A, but then
vote via GR to impose position NOT A, it creates a bit of
organizational schizophrenia as there really is no executive process
to appeal council decisions and thus you end up tasking people to
execute a policy they don't actually agree with, as volunteers.  The
likely result will be half-hearted at best, even if no outright
defiance takes place.  So, this is a mechanism that will need to be
used carefully, but I think having it available as a recourse is
better than not having it available.

-- 
Rich