Proposed ballot for the constitutional amendment
Hi folks,
Here is a draft ballot for the GR under discussion. There are
3 variants being proposed, and hence the ballot begins to look like
the draft below. This is a draft, the first call for votes goes out
on Tuesday.
Comments and feedback appreciated.
manoj
######################################################################
Votes must be received by [time to be filled in]
This vote is being conducted in accordance to the Debian Constitution,
Section A, Standard Resolution Procedure, to vote on an General
Resolution to Amend the constitution to disambiguate section 4.1.5.
The Full text of the amendment can be found at:
http://www.debian.org/vote/2003/vote_0003
HOW TO VOTE
Do not erase anything between the lines below and do not change the
choice names.
In the brackets next to your preferred choice, place a 1. Place a 2 in
the brackets next to your next choice. Do not enter a number smaller
than 1 or larger than 2. You may rank options equally (as long as all
choices X you make fall in the range 1<= X <= 2).
To vote "no, no matter what" rank "Further Discussion" as more
desirable than the unacceptable choices, or You may rank the "Further
Discussion" choice, and leave choices you consider unacceptable
blank. Unranked choices are considered equally the least desired
choices, and ranked below all ranked choices. (Note: if the "Further
Discussion" choice is unranked, then it is equal to all other unranked
choices, if any -- no special consideration is given to the "Further
Discussion" choice by the voting software).
Then mail the ballot to: [address to be filled in]
Don't worry about spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">")
that your reply inserts. NOTE: The vote must be GPG signed (or PGP
signed) with your key that is in the Debian keyring. Do _NOT_ encrypt
your ballot; the voting mechanism may not be able to decrypt your
message.
- - -=-=-=-=-=- Don't Delete Anything Between These Lines =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
[ ] Choice 1: Proposal A
[ ] Choice 2: Proposal B
[ ] Choice 3: Proposal C
[ ] Choice 4: No action
[ ] Choice 5: Further Discussion
- - -=-=-=-=-=- Don't Delete Anything Between These Lines =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Proposal A: The actual text of the proposal A is:
======================================================================
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, supersede and withdraw 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.
+ 5.1 A Foundation Document is a document or statement regarded as
+ critical to the Project's mission and purposes.
+ 5.2 The Foundation Documents are the works entitled "Debian
+ Social Contract" and "Debian Free Software Guidelines".
+ 5.3 A Foundation Document requires a 3:1 super-majority for its
+ supersession. New Foundation Documents are issued and
+ existing ones withdrawn by amending the list of Foundation
+ Documents in this constitution.
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 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.
======================================================================
______________________________________________________________________
Proposal B: The actual text of the Proposal B is:
======================================================================
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, withdraw, and supersede 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.
======================================================================
Rationale: The clause being modified has been seen 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.
======================================================================
______________________________________________________________________
Proposal C: The actual text of the Proposal C is:
======================================================================
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, supersede and withdraw 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.
+ 5.1 A Foundation Document is a document or statement regarded as
+ critical to the Project's mission and purposes.
+ 5.2 The Foundation Document is the work entitled "Debian
+ Social Contract".
+ 5.3 A Foundation Document requires a 3:1 super-majority for its
+ supersession. New Foundation Documents are issued and
+ existing ones withdrawn by amending the list of Foundation
+ Documents in this constitution.
6. Together with the Project Leader and SPI, make decisions about
property held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See
s.9.1.)
======================================================================
It occurs to me that there are some people who may wish to afford the
Debian Social Contract the opportunity of a 25% minority veto, but not
wish to extend this to the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
======================================================================
--
If there was any justice in the world, "trust" would be a four-letter
word.
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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