On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 09:46:16AM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> I'd be interested in hearing more specifics on how you think it's
> disfunctional and why you think this change will fix the problems that you
> see. I think I have a vague idea of how you're connecting the dots, but
> I'd rather not try to read your mind. :)
You don't need to read my mind, you can read Ian's recent post on the
topic, eg:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2008/03/msg00000.html
Otherwise you could have a look at the ctte's open bugs, such as #436093.
Or you could look at the tech-ctte's lack of ability to help resolve
contentious issues in general, such as the conflict involving Sven the
year before last, or the tech-ctte's involvement in technical improvement
of Debian before a conflict exists.
Or you could look at the value of past decisions made by the ctte,
via the ctte web page www.debian.org/devel/tech-ctte.
At present the technical committee is both one of the most powerful bodies
in Debian -- it can overrule any maintainer on any topic; and the least
accountable -- it can only be overruled by a supermajority vote, and
changes in the committee can only be proposed by the committee itself.
In practice that means removals only happen when someone has been
demonstrably absent for a long time and has no interest in remaining on,
and additions only happen when enough people are removed that it becomes
a problem.
I've brought problems before the technical committee in the past -- both
what should be done in response to the "editorial amendments" GR [0], and
a dispute of severities with Branden [1], in both cases resulting in no
action or assistance from the ctte [2]; having been on the ctte for two
years, and tried to make some changes from within it [3] I still don't
think bringing issues before the ctte is something I could recommend
as productive, and without either any external accountability, or the
ability to get new blood onto the committee without existing members
disappearing or being effectively indicted for gross incompetence,
I don't think that will change.
Cheers,
aj
[0] http://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2004/04/msg00009.html
http://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2004/06/msg00033.html
[1] http://bugs.debian.org/96761
[2] http://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2004/06/msg00033.html
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=97671#156
[3] http://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2006/02/msg00002.html
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature