On Fri, Jan 04, 2019 at 03:43:33PM -0500, Miles Fidelman wrote:
It sure seems that, in some sectors, disagreement is offensive, and offense
trumps substance. (One might point to our current President in that regard,
as well.)
I kind of wonder if Debian is headed that way - given the way the discussion
on systemd went, not that long ago.
I don't know where you've gotten the impression that the systemd discussion
implies Debian does not tolerate disagreement.
*Respectful* disagreement has always been tolerated regarding Debian's
choice of default init system. What should not be tolerated (and all of
these have actually occurred on Debian mailing lists, which is why this is a
sore subject) is:
- accusations that members of the TC have sold out to a particular
commercial entity
- refusal to accept the decision that was made in accordance with the
Debian constitution
- attempts to readjudicate the decision on Debian mailing lists (as opposed
to via a GR, which Debian developers do have a right to use to override a
TC decision if they believe it was wrong).
- using a disagreement about init systems to justify attacks on developers'
character, integrity, or technical competence
There is no expectation that everyone agree with every technical decision in
Debian. The only expectation is that they engage constructively in spite of
any disagreements.