Re: Constitutional, Parliamentary Issues (was Re: CFV: Non-freearchive removal)
Hi,
Well, since I have recieved only positive responses, how about
this draft rewording of section 4.1.5 of the constitution.
======================================================================
4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election
4.1. Powers
Together, the Developers may:
1. Appoint or recall the Project Leader.
2. Amend this constitution, provided they agree with a 3:1 majority.
3. Override any decision by the Project Leader or a Delegate.
4. Override any decision by the Technical Committee, provided they
agree with a 2:1 majority.
- 5. Issue nontechnical policy documents and statements.
- These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
- relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
- policies such as the free software licence terms that Debian
- software must meet.
- They may also include position statements about issues of the day.
+ 5. Issue and modify nontechnical policy documents and statements.
+ These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
+ relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
+ policies such as the free software licence terms that Debian
+ software must meet. A special clause applies to the documents
+ known as the Debian GNU/Linux Social Contract and the
+ Debian Free Software Guidelines: the developers may modify
+ these foundation documents provided they agree with a 3:1 majority.
+ They may also include position statements about issues of the day.
6. Together with the Project Leader and SPI, make decisions about
property held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See
s.9.1.)
======================================================================
Rationale: The clause being modified has been seen recently to be
quite ambiguous. Since the original wording appeared to be amenable
to two wildly different interpretations, this change adds clarifying
the language in the constitution about _changing_ non technical
documents. Additionally, this also provides for the core documents of
the project the same protection against hasty changes that the
constitution itself enjoys.
======================================================================
I do not think well in legalese; and I am sure the wording can
be improved upon.
Once we have polished this draft a bit, say, by this weekend,
I'll see what I can do about getting a GR going.
manoj
--
"Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions are all based upon that
large defect in your race -- the individual's distrust of his
neighbor, and his desire, for safety's or comfort's sake, to stand
well in his neighbor's eye. These institutions will always remain,
and always flourish, and always oppress you, affront you, and degrade
you, because you will always be and remain slaves of minorities.
There was never a country where the majority of people were in their
secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions." Mark Twain, _The
Mysterious Stranger_
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
1024R/C7261095 print CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C
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