Re: [AMENDMENT BR2] GR: Disambiguation of Section 4.1.5 of the constitution
Hi,
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 00:52:13 -0400, Simon Law <sfllaw@debian.org> said:
> On Sun, Sep 21, 2003 at 10:59:31PM -0500, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
>> Here is my amended proposal, further changed by incorporating
>> Branden's suggestions. Would the sponsors of my proposal approve of
>> this changed wording? (New sponsors are also welcome for second
>> this modified proposal).
> [snip]
>> - 5. Issue nontechnical policy documents and statements.
>> + 5. Issue, modify and withdraw nontechnical policy documents and
> Manoj,
> I wonder why you did not incorporate the wording on
> supercessionof documents. Although I will second your revised
> proposal no matter your answer, I am concerned that perhaps it was
> an oversight.
Yes, it was. I did include the supercession language later on
in the document, but forgot it at the top of clause 5.
Do people think that we should only supercede foundation
documents, and never modify them? I would not be averse to preserving
a historical record.
manoj
======================================================================
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, modify, supercede 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 supermajority for its
+ supercession. 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.
======================================================================
--
I will never lie to you.
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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