Gentoo Archives: gentoo-project

From: Roy Bamford <neddyseagoon@g.o>
To: gentoo-project@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-project] Council discuss: overlapping council terms of two years
Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:21:35
Message-Id: 1312323669.2901.4@NeddySeagoon
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-project] Council discuss: overlapping council terms of two years by Markos Chandras
1 On 2011.08.02 22:50, Markos Chandras wrote:
2 > On 08/02/2011 07:24 PM, Roy Bamford wrote:
3 > > Team,
4 > >
5 > > The trustees are legally accountable and responsible for the
6 > > operation of the Gentoo Foundation Inc. Some things in the bylaws
7 > > are there to comply with statutes.
8 > >
9 > > The Gentoo council has no legal standing whatsoever, which I have
10 > > already said (at FOSEDEM) makes me a little nervous as a trustee,
11 > > since the council makes decisions on behalf of Gentoo that the
12 > > Foundation would be held both accountable and responsible for.
13 > There
14 > > have been no issues with that, yet.
15 >
16 > The council is supposed to discuss and decides on technical or
17 > project
18 > wise issues. How can a technical decision violate laws etc? I can't
19 > think on top of my head an issue that would expose Foundation. Can
20 > you
21 > please provide an example?
22 Any decision that has copyright, licence, or patent implications could
23 expose the Foundation. Although, I do agree with Rich0 that the two
24 bodies have worked well together, so it has not been an issue.
25
26 >
27 > >
28 > > Maybe its time to reorganise Gentoo along standard corporate lines
29 > > again, as it was before drobbins left. If we go in that direction,
30 > > the council becomes a technical committee that is part of the
31 > > Foundation. GLEP39 is no longer needed and the Foundation bylaws
32 > are
33 > > amended to reflect the new structure.
34 >
35 > If we go in that direction, I see no point in having the Foundation
36 > and
37 > the Council as two separate entities. In this case it would make much
38 > more sense to merge them.
39
40 Division of responsibilities is important, in the business world, its
41 essential, and the Foundation is first and foremost a business, even
42 if its directors and officers are not paid. The Foundation does not
43 get any special treatment from the state of New Mexico, nor the IRS and
44 friends.
45
46 It would be unethical if the council could vote funds for a council
47 devised project. Likewise, trustees need business administration skills
48 rather than technical skills and should not determine the technical
49 direction of Gentoo.
50
51 To enforce the division of responsibilities, the Foundation has a bylaw
52 that prevents a trustee from concurrently serving on the council.
53
54 I'm suggesting that the informal interdependencies that are present
55 between the council and the foundation be formalised along the lines of
56 a standard corporation.
57
58 > I don't quite like the idea though.
59 Would you care to expand on that?
60
61 > --
62 > Regards,
63 > Markos Chandras / Gentoo Linux Developer / Key ID: B4AFF2C2
64 >
65
66 --
67 Regards,
68
69 Roy Bamford
70 (Neddyseagoon) a member of
71 gentoo-ops
72 forum-mods
73 trustees

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