From 7a53250922d58d1d1131eb45419ed74bc93fc160 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: aph Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 02:34:11 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] purge the constitution git-svn-id: svn://anonscm.debian.org/ddp/manuals/trunk/developers-reference@945 313b444b-1b9f-4f58-a734-7bb04f332e8d --- constitution.en.html | 736 --------------------------------------- debian-constitution.desc | 12 - debian/postinst | 4 +- debian/prerm | 3 +- debian/rules | 3 - 5 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 753 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 constitution.en.html delete mode 100644 debian-constitution.desc diff --git a/constitution.en.html b/constitution.en.html deleted file mode 100644 index 2d76d31..0000000 --- a/constitution.en.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,736 +0,0 @@ - - - -Debian GNU/Linux -- Debian Constitution - - - - - - - - - -

Debian Constitution

Constitution for the Debian Project (v1.0)

1. Introduction

- The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have - made common cause to create a free operating system. -

- This document describes the organisational structure for formal - decisionmaking in the Project. It does not describe the goals of - the Project or how it achieves them, or contain any policies - except those directly related to the decisionmaking process. -

2. Decisionmaking bodies and individuals

- Each decision in the Project is made by one or more of the following: -

The Developers, by way of General Resolution or an election; -
The Project Leader; -
The Technical Committee and/or its Chairman; -
The individual Developer working on a particular task; -
Delegates appointed by the Project Leader for specific - tasks. -
The Project Secretary; -

- Most of the remainder of this document will outline the powers of - these bodies, their composition and appointment, and the procedure - for their decisionmaking. The powers of a person or body may be - subject to review and/or limitation by others; in this case the - reviewing body or person's entry will state this. In the - list above, a person or body is usually listed before any people - or bodies whose decisions they can overrule or who they - (help) appoint - but not everyone listed earlier can overrule - everyone listed later. -

2.1. General rules

- Nothing in this constitution imposes an obligation on anyone - to do work for the Project. A person who does not want to do - a task which has been delegated or assigned to them does not - need to do it. However, they must not actively work against - these rules and decisions properly made under them. -
- A person may hold several posts, except that the Project Leader, - Project Secretary and the Chairman of the Technical Committee must - be distinct, and that the Leader cannot appoint themselves as - their own Delegate. -
- A person may leave the Project or resign from a particular - post they hold, at any time, by stating so publicly. -

3. Individual Developers

3.1. Powers

- An individual Developer may -

make any technical or nontechnical decision with regard to - their own work; -
propose or sponsor draft General Resolutions; -
propose themselves as a Project Leader candidate in elections; -
vote on General Resolutions and in Leadership elections. -

3.2. Composition and appointment

- Developers are volunteers who agree to further the aims of the - Project insofar as they participate in it, and who maintain - package(s) for the Project or do other work which the Project - Leader's Delegate(s) consider worthwhile. -
- The Project Leader's Delegate(s) may choose not to admit new - Developers, or expel existing Developers. If the Developers - feel that the Delegates are abusing their authority they can of - course override the decision by way of General Resolution - see - s.4.1(3), s.4.2. -

3.3. Procedure

- Developers may make these decisions as they see fit. -

4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election

4.1. Powers

- Together, the Developers may: -

Appoint or recall the Project Leader. -
-
Amend this constitution, provided they agree with a 3:1 majority. -
-
Override any decision by the Project Leader or a Delegate. -
-
Override any decision by the Technical Committee, - provided they agree with a 2:1 majority. -
-
Issue nontechnical policy documents and statements. -
- These include documents describing the goals of the project, its - relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical - policies such as the free software licence terms that Debian - software must meet. -
- They may also include position statements about issues of the day. -
-
Together with the Project Leader and SPI, make decisions - about property held in trust for purposes related to Debian. - (See s.9.1.) -

4.2. Procedure

- The Developers follow the Standard Resolution Procedure, below. A - resolution or amendment is introduced if proposed by any Developer - and sponsored by at least K other Developers, or if proposed by the - Project Leader or the Technical Committee. -
Delaying a decision by the Project Leader or their Delegate: -
1. - If the Project Leader or their Delegate, or the Technical - Committee, has made a decision, then Developers can override - them by passing a resolution to do so; see s4.1(3). -
2. - If such a resolution is sponsored by at least 2K Developers, or - if it is proposed by the Technical Committee, the resolution - puts the decision immediately on hold (provided that resolution - itself says so). -
3. - If the original decision was to change a discussion period or a - voting period, or the resolution is to override the Technical - Committee, then only K Developers need to sponsor the resolution - to be able to put the decision immediately on hold. -
4. - If the decision is put on hold, an immediate vote is held to - determine whether the decision will stand until the full vote on - the decision is made or whether the implementation of the - original decision will be be delayed until then. There is no - quorum for this immediate procedural vote. -
5. - If the Project Leader (or the Delegate) withdraws the original - decision, the vote becomes moot, and is no longer conducted. -
-
- Votes are taken by the Project Secretary. Votes and tallies - results are not be revealed during the voting period; after the - vote the Project Secretary lists all the votes cast. The voting - period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up to 1 week by the - Project Leader, and may be ended by the Project Secretary when - the outcome of a vote is no longer in doubt. -
- The minimum discussion period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up to 1 - week by the Project Leader. The Project Leader has a casting - vote. There is a quorum of 3Q. -
- Proposals, sponsors, amendments, calls for votes and other formal - actions are made by announcement on a publicly-readable electronic - mailing list designated by the Project Leader's Delegate(s); any - Developer may post there. -
- Votes are cast by email in a manner suitable to the Secretary. - The Secretary determines for each poll whether voters can change - their votes. -
- Q is half of the square root of the number of current - Developers. K is Q or 5, whichever is the smaller. Q and K - need not be integers and are not rounded. -

5. Project Leader

5.1. Powers

- The Project Leader may: -

Appoint Delegates or delegate decisions to the Technical - Committee. -
- The Leader may define an area of ongoing responsibility or a - specific decision and hand it over to another Developer or - to the Technical Committee. -
- Once a particular decision has been delegated and made the - Project Leader may not withdraw that delegation; however, - they may withdraw an ongoing delegation of particular area - of responsibility. -
-
Lend authority to other Developers. -
- The Project Leader may make statements of support for points of view - or for other members of the project, when asked or otherwise; these - statements have force if and only if the Leader would be empowered to - make the decision in question. -
-
Make any decision which requires urgent action. -
- This does not apply to decisions which have only become - gradually urgent through lack of relevant action, unless - there is a fixed deadline. -
-
Make any decision for whom noone else has responsibility. -
-
Propose draft General Resolutions and amendments. -
-
Together with the Technical Committee, appoint new members - to the Committee. (See s.6.2.) -
-
Use a casting vote when Developers vote. -
- The Project Leader also has a normal vote in such ballots. -
-
Vary the discussion period for Developers' votes (as above). -
-
Lead discussions amongst Developers. -
- The Project Leader should attempt to participate in discussions - amongst the Developers in a helpful way which seeks to bring the - discussion to bear on the key issues at hand. The Project Leader - should not use the Leadership position to promote their own personal - views. -
-
Together with SPI, make decisions affecting property - held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See s.9.1.) -

5.2. Appointment

- The Project Leader is elected by the Developers. -
- The election begins nine weeks before the leadership post becomes - vacant, or (if it is too late already) immediately. -
- For the following three weeks any Developer may nominate themselves as - a candidate Project Leader. -
- For three weeks after that no more candidates may be nominated; - candidates should use this time for campaigning (to make their - identities and positions known). If there are no candidates - at the end of the nomination period then the nomination period - is extended for three further weeks, repeatedly if necessary. -
- The next three weeks are the polling period during which - Developers may cast their votes. Votes in leadership - elections are kept secret, even after the election is - finished. -
- The options on the ballot will be those candidates who have - nominated themselves and have not yet withdrawn, plus None Of - The Above. If None Of The Above wins the election then the - election procedure is repeated, many times if necessary. -
The decision will be made using Concorde Vote Counting. - The quorum is the same as for a General Resolution - (s.4.2) and the default option is None Of The Above. -
- The Project Leader serves for one year from their election. -

5.3. Procedure

- The Project Leader should attempt to make decisions which are - consistent with the consensus of the opinions of the Developers. -

- Where practical the Project Leader should informally solicit the views - of the Developers. -

- The Project Leader should avoid overemphasizing their own point - of view when making decisions in their capacity as Leader. -

6. Technical committee

6.1. Powers

- The Technical Committee may: -

Decide on any matter of technical policy. -
- This includes the contents of the technical policy manuals, - developers' reference materials, example packages and the - behaviour of non-experimental package building tools. (In - each case the usual maintainer of the relevant software or - documentation makes decisions initially, however; see - 6.3(5).) -
-
Decide any technical matter where Developers' jurisdictions overlap. -
- In cases where Developers need to implement compatible - technical policies or stances (for example, if they disagree - about the priorities of conflicting packages, or about - ownership of a command name, or about which package is - responsible for a bug that both maintainers agree is a bug, - or about who should be the maintainer for a package) the - technical committee may decide the matter. -
-
Make a decision when asked to do so. -
- Any person or body may delegate a decision of their own to - the Technical Committee, or seek advice from it. -
-
Overrule a Developer (requires a 3:1 majority). -
- The Technical Committee may ask a Developer to take a - particular technical course of action even if the Developer - does not wish to; this requires a 3:1 majority. For - example, the Committee may determine that a complaint made - by the submitter of a bug is justified and that the - submitter's proposed solution should be implemented. -
-
- Offer advice. -
- The Technical Committee may make formal announcements about - its views on any matter. Individual members may of - course make informal statements about their views and about - the likely views of the committee. -
-
Together with the Project Leader, appoint new members to - itself or remove existing members. (See s.6.2.) -
-
Appoint the Chairman of the Technical Committee. -
- The Chairman is elected by the Committee from its members. - All members of the committee are automatically nominated; - the committee vote starting one week before the post will - become vacant (or immediately, if it is already too late). - The members may vote by public acclamation for any fellow - committee member, including themselves; there is no None Of - The Above option. The vote finishes when all the members - have voted or when the outcome is no longer in doubt. The - result is determined according to Concorde Vote Counting. -
-
The Chairman can stand in for the Leader, together with the Secretary -
- As detailed in s.7.1(2), the Chairman of the Technical - Committee and the Project Secretary may together stand in - for the Leader if there is no Leader. -

6.2. Composition

- The Technical Committee consists of up to 8 Developers, and should - usually have at least 4 members. -
- When there are fewer than 8 members the Technical Committee may - recommend new member(s) to the Project Leader, who may choose - (individually) to appoint them or not. -
- When there are 5 members or fewer the Technical Committee may appoint - new member(s) until the number of members reaches 6. -
- When there have been 5 members or fewer for at least one week - the Project Leader may appoint new member(s) until the number of - members reaches 6, at intervals of at least one week per - appointment. -
- If the Technical Committee and the Project Leader agree they may - remove or replace an existing member of the Technical Committee. -

6.3. Procedure

The Technical Committee uses the Standard Resolution Procedure. -
- A draft resolution or amendment may be proposed by any - member of the Technical Committee. There is no minimum - discussion period; the voting period lasts for up to one - week, or until the outcome is no longer in doubt. Members - may change their votes. There is a quorum of two. -
-
Details regarding voting -
- The Chairman has a casting vote. When the Technical - Committee votes whether to override a Developer who also - happens to be a member of the Committee, that member may not - vote (unless they are the Chairman, in which case they may - use only their casting vote). -
-
Public discussion and decisionmaking. -
- Discussion, draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by - members of the committee, are made public on the Technical - Committee public discussion list. There is no separate - secretary for the Committee. -
-
- Confidentiality of appointments. -
- The Technical Committee may hold confidential discussions - via private email or a private mailing list or other means - to discuss appointments to the Committee. However, votes on - appointments must be public. -
-
- No detailed design work. -
- The Technical Committee does not engage in design of new proposals - and policies. Such design work should be carried out by individuals - privately or together and discussed in ordinary technical policy and - design forums. -
- The Technical Committee restricts itself to choosing from - or adopting compromises between solutions and decisions which have - been proposed and reasonably thoroughly discussed elsewhere. -
- Individual members of the technical committee may of course - participate on their own behalf in any aspect of design and - policy work. -
-
Technical Committee makes decisions only as last resort. -
- The Technical Committee does not make a technical decision - until efforts to resolve it via consensus have been tried - and failed, unless it has been asked to make a decision by - the person or body who would normally be responsible for it. -

7. The Project Secretary

7.1. Powers

- The Secretary: -

-
- Takes votes amongst the Developers, and determines the - number and identity of Developers, whenever this is required - by the constitution. -
-
-
- Can stand in for the Leader, together with the Chairman of - the Technical Committee. -
- If there is no Project Leader then the Chairman of the - Technical Committee and the Project Secretary may by - joint agreement make decisions if they consider it - imperative to do so. -
-
-
- Adjudicates any disputes about interpretation of the - constitution. -
-
-
- May delegate part or all of their authority to someone else, - or withdraw such a delegation at any time. -

7.2. Appointment

- The Project Secretary is appointed by the Project Leader and the - current Project Secretary. -

- If the Project Leader and the current Project Secretary cannot - agree on a new appointment they must ask the board of SPI to - appoint a Secretary. -

- If there is no Project Secretary or the current Secretary is - unavailable and has not delegated authority for a decision then - the decision may be made or delegated by the Chairman of the - Technical Committee, as Acting Secretary. -

- The Project Secretary's term of office is 1 year, at which point - they or another Secretary must be (re)appointed. -

7.3. Procedure

- The Project Secretary should make decisions which are fair and - reasonable, and preferably consistent with the consensus of the - Developers. -

- When acting together to stand in for an absent Project Leader the - Chairman of the Technical Committee and the Project Secretary - should make decisions only when absolutely necessary and only when - consistent with the consensus of the Developers. -

8. The Project Leader's Delegates

8.1. Powers

- The Project Leader's Delegates: -

have powers delegated to them by the Project Leader; -
may make certain decisions which the Leader may not make - directly, including approving or expelling Developers or - designating people as Developers who do not maintain packages. - - This is to avoid concentration of power, particularly over - membership as a Developer, in the hands of the Project - Leader. - -

8.2. Appointment

- The Delegates are appointed by the Project Leader and may be - replaced by the Leader at the Leader's discretion. The Project - Leader may not make the position as a Delegate conditional on - particular decisions by the Delegate, nor may they override a - decision made by a Delegate once made. -

8.3. Procedure

- Delegates may make decisions as they see fit, but should attempt - to implement good technical decisions and/or follow consensus - opinion. -

9. Software in the Public Interest

- SPI and Debian are separate organisations who share some goals. - Debian is grateful for the legal support framework offered by SPI. - - Debian's Developers are currently members of SPI by virtue - of their status as Developers. - -

9.1. Authority

- SPI has no authority regarding Debian's technical or - nontechnical decisions, except that no decision by Debian with - respect to any property held by SPI shall require SPI to act - outside its legal authority, and that Debian's constitution - may occasionally use SPI as a decision body of last resort. -
- Debian claims no authority over SPI other than that over the - use of certain of SPI's property, as described below, though - Debian Developers may be granted authority within SPI by SPI's - rules. -
- Debian Developers are not agents or employees of SPI, or of - each other or of persons in authority in the Debian Project. - A person acting as a Developer does so as an individual, on - their own behalf. -

9.2. Management of property for purposes related to Debian

- Since Debian has no authority to hold money or property, any - donations for the Debian Project must made to SPI, which - manages such affairs. -

- SPI have made the following undertakings: -

- SPI will hold money, trademarks and other tangible and - intangible property and manage other affairs for purposes - related to Debian. -
- Such property will be accounted for separately and held in - trust for those purposes, decided on by Debian and SPI - according to this section. -
- SPI will not dispose of or use property held in trust for - Debian without approval from Debian, which may be granted by - the Project Leader or by General Resolution of the Developers. -
- SPI will consider using or disposing of property held in trust - for Debian when asked to do so by the Project Leader. -
- SPI will use or dispose of property held in trust for Debian - when asked to do so by a General Resolution of the Developers, - provided that this is compatible with SPI's legal authority. -
- SPI will notify the Developers by electronic mail to a - Debian Project mailing list when it uses or disposes of - property held in trust for Debian. -

A. Standard Resolution Procedure

- These rules apply to communal decisionmaking by committees and - plebiscites, where stated above. -

A.1. Proposal

- The formal procedure begins when a draft resolution is proposed and - sponsored, as required. -

A.1. Discussion and Amendment

- Following the proposal, the resolution may be discussed. - Amendments may be made formal by being proposed and sponsored - according to the requirements for a new resolution, or - directly by the proposer of the original resolution. -
- A formal amendment may be accepted by the resolution's - proposer, in which case the formal resolution draft is - immediately changed to match. -
- If a formal amendment is not accepted, or one of the sponsors - of the resolution does not agree with the acceptance by the - proposer of a formal amendment, the amendment remains as an - amendment and will be voted on. -
- If an amendment accepted by the original proposer is not to - the liking of others, they may propose another amendment to - reverse the earlier change (again, they must meet the - requirements for proposer and sponsor(s).) -
- The proposer or a resolution may suggest changes to the - wordings of amendments; these take effect if the proposer of - the amendment agrees and none of the sponsors object. In - this case the changed amendments will be voted on instead of - the originals. -
- The proposer of a resolution may make changes to correct minor - errors (for example, typographical errors or inconsistencies) or - changes which do not alter the meaning, providing noone objects - within 24 hours. In this case the mininum discussion period is not - restarted. -

A.2. Calling for a vote

- The proposer or a sponsor of a motion or an amendment may call for a vote, - providing that the minimum discussion period (if any) has - elapsed. -
- The proposer or a sponsor of a motion may call for a vote on any - or all of the amendments individually or together; the - proposer or sponsor of an amendment may call for a vote only on that - amendment and related amendments. -
- The person who calls for a vote states what they believe the - wordings of the resolution and any relevant amendments are, - and consequently what form the ballot should take. However, - the final decision on the form of ballot(s) is the Secretary's - - see 7.1(1), 7.1(3) and A.3(6). -
- The minimum discussion period is counted from the time the - last formal amendment was accepted, or the last related formal - amendment was accepted if an amendment is being voted on, or - since the whole resolution was proposed if no amendments have - been proposed and accepted. -

A.3. Voting procedure

- Each independent set of related amendments is voted on in a - separate ballot. Each such ballot has as options all the - sensible combinations of amendments and options, and an option - Further Discussion. If Further Discussion wins then the - entire resolution procedure is set back to the start of the - discussion period. No quorum is required for an amendment. -
- When the final form of the resolution has been determined it - is voted on in a final ballot, in which the options are Yes, - No and Further Discussion. If Further Discussion wins then - the entire procedure is set back to the start of the - discussion period. -
- The vote taker (if there is one) or the voters (if voting is - done by public pronouncement) may arrange for these ballots to - be held simultaneously, even (for example) using a single - voting message. If amendment ballot(s) and the final ballot - are combined in this way then it must be possible for a voter - to vote differently in the final ballot for each of the - possible forms of the final draft resolution. -
- Votes may be cast during the voting period, as specified - elsewhere. If the voting period can end if the outcome is no - longer in doubt, the possibility that voters may change their - votes is not considered. -
- The votes are counted according to the Concorde Vote - Counting. If a quorum is required then the default option - is Further Discussion. -
- In cases of doubt the Project Secretary shall decide on - matters of procedure (for example, whether particular - amendments should be considered independent or not). -

A.4. Withdrawing resolutions or unaccepted amendments

- The proposer of a resolution or unaccepted amendment may withdraw - it. In this case new proposers may come forward keep it alive, in - which case the first person to do so becomes the new proposer and - any others become sponsors if they aren't sponsors already. -

- A sponsor of a resolution or amendment (unless it has been - accepted) may withdraw. -

- If the withdrawal of the proposer and/or sponsors means that a - resolution has no proposer or not enough sponsors it will not be - voted on unless this is rectified before the resolution expires. -

A.5. Expiry

- If a proposed resolution has not been discussed, amended, voted on - or otherwise dealt with for 4 weeks then it is considered to have - been withdrawn. -

A.6. Concorde Vote Counting

- This is used to determine the winner amongst a list of - options. Each ballot paper gives a ranking of the voter's - preferred options. (The ranking need not be complete.) -
- Option A is said to Dominate option B if strictly more ballots - prefer A to B than prefer B to A. -
- All options which are Dominated by at least one other option - are discarded, and references to them in ballot papers will be - ignored. -
- If there is any option which Dominates all others then that is - the winner. -
- If there is now more than one option remaining Single - Transferrable Vote will be applied to choose amongst those - remaining: -
- - The number of first preferences for each option is - counted, and if any option has more than half it is the - winner. -
- - Otherwise the option with the lowest number of first - preferences is eliminated and its votes redistributed - according to the second preferences. -
- - This elimination procedure is repeated, moving down ballot - papers to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. preferences as required, - until one option gets more than half of the `first' - preferences. -
-
- In the case of ties the elector with a casting vote will - decide. The casting vote does not count as a normal vote; - however that elector will usually also get a normal vote. -
- If a supermajority is required the number of Yes votes in the - final ballot is reduced by an appropriate factor. Strictly - speaking, for a supermajority of F:A, the number of ballots - which prefer Yes to X (when considering whether Yes Dominates - X or X Dominates Yes) or the number of ballots whose first - (remaining) preference is Yes (when doing STV comparisons for - winner and elimination purposes) is multiplied by a factor A/F - before the comparison is done. - - This means that a 2:1 vote, for example, means twice as many - people voted for as against; abstentions are not counted. - -
- If a quorum is required, there must be at least that many votes - which prefer the winning option to the default option. If - there are not then the default option wins after all. For - votes requiring a supermajority, the actual number of Yes - votes is used when checking whether the quorum has been - reached. -

- When the Standard Resolution Procedure is to be used, the text - which refers to it must specify what is sufficient to have a draft - resolution proposed and/or sponsored, what the minimum discussion - period is, and what the voting period is. It must also specify - any supermajority and/or the quorum (and default option) to be - used. -

B. Use of language and typography

- The present indicative (`is', for example) means that the - statement is a rule in this constitution. `May' or `can' indicates - that the person or body has discretion. `Should' means that it - would be considered a good thing if the sentence were obeyed, but - it is not binding. - Text marked as a citation, such as this, is rationale and - does not form part of the constitution. It may be used only to - aid interpretation in cases of doubt. -

-Copyright © 1997-1999 SPI; See license terms - - diff --git a/debian-constitution.desc b/debian-constitution.desc deleted file mode 100644 index 5c3b197..0000000 --- a/debian-constitution.desc +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12 +0,0 @@ -Document: debian-constitution -Title: Debian Constitution -Author: The Debian Project, Ian Jackson -Abstract: Describes the organisational structure for formal - decisionmaking in the Project. It does not describe the goals of - the Project or how it achieves them, or contain any policies - except those directly related to the decisionmaking process. -Section: Debian - -Format: HTML -Index: /usr/doc/developers-reference/constitution.en.html -Files: /usr/doc/developers-reference/constitution.en.html diff --git a/debian/postinst b/debian/postinst index 0728813..2022f20 100644 --- a/debian/postinst +++ b/debian/postinst @@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ esac if [ -x /usr/sbin/install-docs ]; then /usr/sbin/install-docs -i /usr/share/doc-base/developers-reference - /usr/sbin/install-docs -i /usr/share/doc-base/debian-constitution fi +exit 0 + + diff --git a/debian/prerm b/debian/prerm index 67a04d3..dc19579 100644 --- a/debian/prerm +++ b/debian/prerm @@ -2,5 +2,6 @@ if [ -x /usr/sbin/install-docs ]; then /usr/sbin/install-docs -r developers-reference - /usr/sbin/install-docs -r debian-constitution fi + +exit 0 diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules index 2e784d0..8553d5e 100755 --- a/debian/rules +++ b/debian/rules @@ -79,9 +79,6 @@ binary-indep: build $(install_file) debian/changelog $(docdir)/ $(install_file) developers-reference.desc $(docbasedir)/$(package) - $(install_file) constitution.*.html $(docdir) - $(install_file) debian-constitution.desc $(docbasedir)/debian-constitution - # make sure control files are good sh -n debian/postinst sh -n debian/prerm -- 2.30.2