Debian init systems GR - voting is open

[Ian Jackson]

Hi.  Some of you will have seen a version of this by private email,
but it has been suggested that I should mail this list too.  This
message is aimed mostly at those of you who are are voting Debian
Members (Debian Developers), or have friends who are.

Voting is now open, until Friday 2019-12-27 23:59:59 UTC.

I wrote a voting guide blog posting which I hope you will read:
  https://diziet.dreamwidth.org/3999.html
and also another posting to help with the confusing ballot format:
  https://diziet.dreamwidth.org/4236.html

I want to advise *do not rank option A (#3) highly*.
It is a bad fudge, and a poor outcome for non-systemd init systems.

I explain this fully in my posting, but the summary is: Merely making
something an "important" bug has no practical effect.  It does not
prevent obstructive maintainers from blocking non-systemd support.
Rather, option `A' firmly establishes that they may carry on blocking.

You will note that this option `A (#3)' was proposed by Sam as DPL and
unlike even his withdrawn `C' has no formal support from anyone else.


I think we need to make sure that as many people vote as possible, and
that they are properly briefed.  (I think you will agree even with
this if you disagree with some of my voting advice.)

Please consider:

 * Writing your own blog posting, or emails, or irc messages,
   especially to people you think are broadly sympathetic.

 * Pointing people you know at my blogs posting (via your own
   blog or personal contacts or whatever).

The two key risks I see are:

 * People who are not properly briefed vote in favour of `A (#3)'.
   I think it is severely misleading.  It is a bad outcome for
   everyone, but especially for systemd sceptics.

 * I think systemd sceptics are less likely to be focused particularly
   on Debian (or on Linux desktops or whatever); we are more likely to
   have a wider set of interests.  This goes for our social
   connections, and our knowledge, too.

   So our connections and knowledge of the world at large are
   stronger, but our connections and knowledge within Debian are (on
   average) weaker.  In the context of this vote on init systems,
   strictly within Debian, this comes with risks:

   Our allies in Debian are on balance less likely to have friends who
   will remind them to vote.  Our allies are also less likely to be
   well-briefed about the specifics of the ballot proposals.

So thanks for any help you can give.


Also, don't forget to vote yourself!

If, at some point after you have voted, you have the time, you could
post "I voted" with some useful information, links, discussion, or
whatever.  But don't delay voting.  You can always post later.

Regards,
Ian.

-- 
Ian Jackson <ijackson at chiark.greenend.org.uk>   These opinions are my own.

If I emailed you from an address @fyvzl.net or @evade.org.uk, that is
a private address which bypasses my fierce spamfilter.