Proposed change to Debian constitution

[Edward Brocklesby <ejb@klamath.dhis.org>]

Hi,

The attached document details a modification written by Zephaniah E. Hull
and I, which I am proposing as an amendment to the Debian Constitution.
This hopefully solves one or two problems we have identified in Debian,
namely closed teams (new-maintainer, ftp maint etc.), stagnation of these
teams, and the current issue of new maintainer being closed.

Please offer sensible, well considered, useful comments.  Replies from
rude, abrasive people (you know who you are) will be ignored.

Diolch, Edward.

[...]

    3. The Project Leader's Delegate(s) may decide not to admit any new
       Developers (close the New Maintainer process), until the next
       release of debian, provided Developers are in favour of this 
       by a 3:1 majority.  New Maintainer may be reopened either when the
       Developers agree to do so by a 3:1 majority, or the next version
       of Debian has been released. New maintainer may be closed for longer
       than this time only if a General Resolution is passed.

[...]

  8.4 Composition

   1. Any critical package or system team (e.g, the New Maintainer team,
      the FTP Admin team, any Essential package's maintainers) must have
      a reasonable number of active members at all times.
   2. If, for any reason, it is not possible for a reasonable number of 
      members of any team to be active, the Project Leader, one of
      the Leader's Delegates, or a member of the team must appoint
      enough members to ensure there are at least two active.
   3. All mailing lists for a particular team must be open, unless
      the Developers agree that it may be closed, by a vote with a
      majority of at least 3:1, or the Project Leader gives permission
      for the list to be closed, and no Developers object to this.
   4. An "Active" member shall mean a member who, in any given day, would
      be able to take suitable action on any situation relating to that
      particular team.
   5. "Reasonable number" shall mean either the amount of people required
      to handle all issues relating to that team, or two, whichever is
      greater.
   6. An "open" mailing list shall mean a mailing list to which anyone
      can subscribe to and read.  The list may restrict who is allowed
      to post to it (a "moderated" list). The list must be archived
      in a publically accessible place, for a period of at least two
      years.