| 1 | = RFC 1: Project Management Committee Guidelines = |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Author: Frank Warmerdam[[BR]] |
| 4 | Contact: warmerdam@pobox.com[[BR]] |
| 5 | Status: Development |
| 6 | |
| 7 | == Summary == |
| 8 | |
| 9 | This document describes how the OSGeo4W Project Management Committee |
| 10 | determines membership, and makes decisions on OSGeo4W project issues. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | In brief the committee votes on proposals on osgeo4w-dev. Proposals are |
| 13 | available for review for at least two business days, and a single veto is sufficient |
| 14 | to delay progress though ultimately a majority of members can pass a proposal. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | == Detailed Process == |
| 17 | |
| 18 | 1. Proposals are written up and submitted on the osgeo4w-dev mailing list for discussion and voting, by any interested party, not just committee members. |
| 19 | 2. Simple proposals like adding members to the committee will be known as motions and can be handled entirely on the mailing list. |
| 20 | 3. Policies and complex proposals will be written up in the Trac wiki as an RFC (like this policy), so a permanent, accessible record exists. |
| 21 | 4. Proposals need to be available for review for at least two business days before a final decision can be made. |
| 22 | 5. Respondents may vote "+1" to indicate support for the proposal and a willingness to support implementation. |
| 23 | 6. Respondents may vote "-1" to veto a proposal, but must provide clear reasoning and alternate approaches to resolving the problem within the two days. |
| 24 | 7. A vote of -0 indicates mild disagreement, but has no effect. A 0 indicates no opinion. A +0 indicate mild support, but has no effect. |
| 25 | 8. Anyone may comment on proposals on the list, but only members of the Project Management Committee's votes will be counted. |
| 26 | 9. A proposal will be accepted if it receives +2 (including the proposer) and no vetos (-1). |
| 27 | 10. If a proposal is vetoed, and it cannot be revised to satisfy all parties, then it can be resubmitted for an override vote in which a majority of all eligible voters indicating +1 is sufficient to pass it. Note that this is a majority of all committee members, not just those who actively vote. |
| 28 | 11. Upon completion of discussion and voting the proposer should announce whether they are proceeding (proposal accepted) or are withdrawing their proposal (vetoed). |
| 29 | 12. The Chair gets a vote. |
| 30 | 13. The Chair may extend the voting time on any proposal to one calendar week (to ensure time to review). |
| 31 | 14. The Chair is responsible for keeping track of who is a member of the Project Management Committee. |
| 32 | 15. Addition and removal of members from the committee, as well as selection of a Chair should be handled as a proposal to the committee. The selection of a new Chair also requires confirmation of the OSGeo board. |
| 33 | 16. The Chair adjudicates in cases of disputes about voting. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | == When is an RFC Required? == |
| 36 | |
| 37 | * Issues of procedure and policy that will apply to the whole project. |
| 38 | * Changes results in significant backward compatibility effects. |
| 39 | * Major changes in technology choices (ie. adding a 64bit version, using a new packaging technology) |
| 40 | * Anything that might be controversial. |
| 41 | |
| 42 | == Observations == |
| 43 | |
| 44 | * The Chair is the adjudicator in cases of confusion. |
| 45 | * The OSGeo board may replace the chair in situations of extreme disfunction. |
| 46 | * The absolute majority rule can be used to override an obstructionist |
| 47 | veto, but it is intended that in normal circumstances vetoers need to be |
| 48 | convinced to withdraw their veto. We are trying to reach consensus. |
| 49 | |
| 50 | == Bootstrapping == |
| 51 | |
| 52 | Jürgen E. Fischer is declared initial Chair of the Project Management Committee. |
| 53 | |
| 54 | Frank Warmerdam, Jürgen E. Fischer, Matt Wilkie, Paolo Cavalini, Tamas Szekeres are |
| 55 | declared to be the founding Project Management Committee. The current membership |
| 56 | list can be found on the [wiki:CoreTeam Core Team] page (but identified distinctly |
| 57 | from other core team members). |