Re: GR: Selecting the default init system for Debian
Holger Levsen <holger@layer-acht.org> writes:
> On Sonntag, 19. Januar 2014, Ian Jackson wrote:
>>> As a TC member, I dislike the supermajority requirement for the project
>>> to overturn a TC decision by GR, particularly in this case.
>> I agree. I think that would be quite bad.
> care to explain why you think so? I do think its a useful requirement to
> avoid $adjective GRs like this one (or at least make them harder).
Supporting a new init system is going to be a group effort by large
portions of the project, and is going to have substantial impact on a lot
of work inside Debian (non-Linux ports, desktop environments, udev
maintenance, convergence or lack thereof with Ubuntu, and so on). If the
project at large is actually opposed to whatever decision the TC makes,
I think it will be very difficult on a practical level for that decision
to be effective. (Note that assumes opposition, not "I would have chosen
differently, but this is fine.")
And, more generally, I feel like we should be careful about how much
legitimacy the TC has. It's an unelected and basically self-selected
group of people, and in that situation, it's quite possible for the TC to
diverge from the goals of the rest of the project and not realize it.
This is something that I think we can manage, particularly given that the
TC members are aware of this and are trying to take it into account, but,
well, one of the great features of Debian for me is that other people
don't tell me what to do. And of course it's unsurprising that I, as a TC
member, think we can manage that; my opinion isn't the one that matters.
The TC must not become akin to the typical management structure of a
corporation, able to make unaccountable decisions and impose them on the
"workers." It would destroy one of the major features of Debian as
aproject.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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