On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 05:53:46PM +0900, Stefano Zacchiroli wrote: > [ Draft GR text below, look for "-----". M-F-T set to -vote. ] > > Dear Debian project, > in recent events I've attended as DPL, the topic of welcoming > non-packaging contributors as project members has been a recurring one. > Since it was also part of my platform and since DPL terms don't last > forever, I feel it's time to have a project-wide decision on the topic. > > There are various intertwined topics here: from which levels of project > membership we want, to the evergreen topic of NM reform. They are all > valuable and important, but what I'm trying to do here is to be > modular. Take one decision at a time, instead of trying to fix all at > once (as we risk to never converge on that), and without posing > artificial barriers to subsequent, hopefully orthogonal, changes. > > Of all those topics, one topic *might* have consensus already: accepting > as DDs contributors which have contributed a lot to Debian doing > non-packaging work, which intend to continue doing so, and which are > ready to uphold our Foundation Documents. My feeling of consensus on > that builds upon: in person feedback, private mails, and a growing > number of requests on that direction hitting Front Desk (which FD has > kindly shared with me). I do have an impression of consensus, but I > don't have any "quantitative" evidence. As a discussion alone cannot fix > that, here is the draft GR I'm hereby introducing: > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Debian project aims at producing the best free operating system. > To that end the project benefits from various types of contributions, > including but not limited to: package maintenance, translations, > infrastructure and website maintenance, porting, bug triaging and > fixing, management activities, communication, testing, legal advice, > quality assurance, etc. > > The Debian project acknowledges that: > > * To pursue Debian goals, package maintenance as well as a wide range of > other technical and non-technical contributions are all valuable. > > * Active contributors of non-packaging work, which share Debian values > and are ready to uphold Debian Foundation Documents, deserve the > opportunity for becoming Debian project members. > > The Debian project therefore invites the Debian Account Managers to: > > * Endorse the idea that contributors of non-packaging work might become > Debian Developers without upload rights to the Debian archive. These > new developers shall be recognized as Debian Contributors (DC). > > * Establish procedures to evaluate and accept Debian Contributors. > > * Initiate the appropriate technical measures to enable Debian > Contributors to participate in Debian decision making and to access > Debian infrastructure. > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Some few more comments are in order: > > - Constitution §4.2.1 does not require seconds in this case, but I would > appreciate them nonetheless. > > - Related past history is <http://www.debian.org/vote/2008/vote_002>. > This GR is narrower in scope and aims at verifying project consensus > before proceeding to implementation. > > - At the same time, the text does not mandate a specific implementation. > This is on purpose since: > > - Leaving out implementation details, it will be easier to change > project membership procedures later on. > > - DAM is authoritative on membership procedures and should be trusted > on these matters. I do have an idea of how the process will look > like (i.e. "like NM, but swifter, without the packaging part") and > I'm sure DAM will be happy to comment on that. > > - I've done some background study before posting this. In particular > I've shared the text with FD and DAM, as the GR outcome will directly > impact their work. They have raised no specific objection to any > possible outcome of the GR in its present form. I've also shared the > text with the secretary. While formal ruling can be done only on an > actual ballot, he doesn't consider the above text to be in need of 3:1 > majority. I second this to allow people who write documentation, translate various software and contribute to the project in ways other than packaging to be "official" members of the project. Thanks for doing this. Kumar -- "What you end up with, after running an operating system concept through these many marketing coffee filters, is something not unlike plain hot water." (By Matt Welsh)
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