Re: What do you expect from the DPL?
On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 4:57 AM, Ana Guerrero Lopez wrote:
> Lucas sent an email asking people to encourage their 'dream DPL' [1].
> I have already encouraged a few people in the last weeks, but when discussing
> with them, they all tell me very different things about the DPL role. When
> I asked: "What are you expecting the DPL to do?", I got a bunch of different
> replies:
The DPL role is defined in the constitution.
https://www.debian.org/devel/constitution#item-5
I wonder if the replies you got are coloured by what past DPLs have
ended up doing as a result of deficiencies in what Debian as a whole
was capable of doing at the time. "Someone" had to do it and no-one
else was doing it so the DPL got to do it.
> - Set technical goals for the project
That seems like the responsibility of Debian as a whole.
> - Mediation regarding social and technical problems
The former seems like the responsibility of Debian as a whole and the
latter is the responsibility of the CTTE.
> - Be aware of everything that goes on with Debian. E.g. I have the feeling some
> people expect the DPL to read all the Debian mailing lists.
That is simply not feasible, even though the amount of discussion that
goes on in Debian feels like it is going down over time.
> - As a continuation of the above point, take action in mailing list threads when
> they go bad/wrong.
That seems like the responsibility of listmasters, thread participants
and Debian contributors in general.
> - Debian representation: give talks on behalf of Debian in important conferences
> or congresses. Also give interviews.
> - Handle the relationship with the open source ecosystem
I would add here:
- Handle the relationship with the Free Software ecosystem
There isn't anything in the constitution about interacting with
external entities. As the "Leader", the DPL is probably better known
outside Debian than most Debian members due to external press coverage
etc so it makes sense that they would be contacted more often about
being a speaker. I think that Debian as a whole should be responsible
for interacting with external orgs, giving talks/interviews etc. We do
have a number of folks who have volunteered to be speakers at least:
https://www.debian.org/events/speakers
> - Handle complex issues: e.g. new licenses in the archive, trademark, etc.
New licenses seems like a role for ftpmaster. Trademarks come under
the "property held in trust" DPL work item in the constitution. Other
complex issues should be handled by the Debian contributors with the
most interest/experience in handling them. If that is the DPL, great!
> - Handle Debian money and oversee the Debian Trusted Organisations.
This is in the constitution.
> - Make sure delegations are updated and and teams keep functioning properly.
The first part is in the constitution, the latter seems like the
responsibility of the teams themselves and Debian as a whole.
> - Publicity and advertisement for Debian. E.g. mention *everything important*
> that's going on in the bits from DPL or equivalent.
That seems like the role of the publicity and press teams - who need
more folks to join them, hint hint :)
> This is, globally, people are expecting the DPL to do all of the above and maybe
> more. I think it's clear this is NOT humanly possible. What are the alternatives?
> Should we redefine the role of the DPL? Should we maybe split the role of the
> DPL in a few elected roles? Should we discuss (again) the possibility of
> replacing the DPL for a board? Sometimes I have felt like the DPL election was
> a popularity contest, and that's probably not what it should be.
I think the DPL role has expanded beyond what was it initially defined
as, due to various factors. Probably we just need to re-focus on the
initial definition and create new teams for the things that the DPL
has expanded to in the past.
--
bye,
pabs
https://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise
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