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33 <H1>Debian Constitution</H1>
34 <h1>Constitution for the Debian Project (v1.0)</h1>
35 <h2>1. Introduction</h2>
36 <cite>The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have
37 made common cause to create a free operating system.</cite>
39 This document describes the organisational structure for formal
40 decisionmaking in the Project. It does not describe the goals of
41 the Project or how it achieves them, or contain any policies
42 except those directly related to the decisionmaking process.
43 <h2>2. Decisionmaking bodies and individuals</h2>
44 Each decision in the Project is made by one or more of the following:
46 <li>The Developers, by way of General Resolution or an election;
47 <li>The Project Leader;
48 <li>The Technical Committee and/or its Chairman;
49 <li>The individual Developer working on a particular task;
50 <li>Delegates appointed by the Project Leader for specific
52 <li>The Project Secretary;
54 Most of the remainder of this document will outline the powers of
55 these bodies, their composition and appointment, and the procedure
56 for their decisionmaking. The powers of a person or body may be
57 subject to review and/or limitation by others; in this case the
58 reviewing body or person's entry will state this. <cite>In the
59 list above, a person or body is usually listed before any people
60 or bodies whose decisions they can overrule or who they
61 (help) appoint - but not everyone listed earlier can overrule
62 everyone listed later.</cite>
63 <h3>2.1. General rules</h3>
66 Nothing in this constitution imposes an obligation on anyone
67 to do work for the Project. A person who does not want to do
68 a task which has been delegated or assigned to them does not
69 need to do it. However, they must not actively work against
70 these rules and decisions properly made under them.
72 A person may hold several posts, except that the Project Leader,
73 Project Secretary and the Chairman of the Technical Committee must
74 be distinct, and that the Leader cannot appoint themselves as
77 A person may leave the Project or resign from a particular
78 post they hold, at any time, by stating so publicly.
80 <h2>3. Individual Developers</h2>
82 An individual Developer may
84 <li>make any technical or nontechnical decision with regard to
86 <li>propose or sponsor draft General Resolutions;
87 <li>propose themselves as a Project Leader candidate in elections;
88 <li>vote on General Resolutions and in Leadership elections.
90 <h3>3.2. Composition and appointment</h3>
92 Developers are volunteers who agree to further the aims of the
93 Project insofar as they participate in it, and who maintain
94 package(s) for the Project or do other work which the Project
95 Leader's Delegate(s) consider worthwhile.
97 The Project Leader's Delegate(s) may choose not to admit new
98 Developers, or expel existing Developers. <cite> If the Developers
99 feel that the Delegates are abusing their authority they can of
100 course override the decision by way of General Resolution - see
101 s.4.1(3), s.4.2.</cite>
103 <h3>3.3. Procedure</h3>
104 Developers may make these decisions as they see fit.
105 <h2>4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election</h2>
107 Together, the Developers may:
109 <li><p>Appoint or recall the Project Leader.
111 <li><p>Amend this constitution, provided they agree with a 3:1 majority.
113 <li><p>Override any decision by the Project Leader or a Delegate.
115 <li><p>Override any decision by the Technical Committee,
116 provided they agree with a 2:1 majority.
118 <li><p>Issue nontechnical policy documents and statements.
120 These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
121 relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
122 policies such as the free software licence terms that Debian
125 They may also include position statements about issues of the day.
127 <li><p>Together with the Project Leader and SPI, make decisions
128 about property held in trust for purposes related to Debian.
131 <h3>4.2. Procedure</h3>
133 The Developers follow the Standard Resolution Procedure, below. A
134 resolution or amendment is introduced if proposed by any Developer
135 and sponsored by at least K other Developers, or if proposed by the
136 Project Leader or the Technical Committee.
137 </p><li><p>Delaying a decision by the Project Leader or their Delegate:
139 If the Project Leader or their Delegate, or the Technical
140 Committee, has made a decision, then Developers can override
141 them by passing a resolution to do so; see s4.1(3).
143 If such a resolution is sponsored by at least 2K Developers, or
144 if it is proposed by the Technical Committee, the resolution
145 puts the decision immediately on hold (provided that resolution
148 If the original decision was to change a discussion period or a
149 voting period, or the resolution is to override the Technical
150 Committee, then only K Developers need to sponsor the resolution
151 to be able to put the decision immediately on hold.
153 If the decision is put on hold, an immediate vote is held to
154 determine whether the decision will stand until the full vote on
155 the decision is made or whether the implementation of the
156 original decision will be be delayed until then. There is no
157 quorum for this immediate procedural vote.
159 If the Project Leader (or the Delegate) withdraws the original
160 decision, the vote becomes moot, and is no longer conducted.
163 Votes are taken by the Project Secretary. Votes and tallies
164 results are not be revealed during the voting period; after the
165 vote the Project Secretary lists all the votes cast. The voting
166 period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up to 1 week by the
167 Project Leader, and may be ended by the Project Secretary when
168 the outcome of a vote is no longer in doubt.
170 The minimum discussion period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up to 1
171 week by the Project Leader. The Project Leader has a casting
172 vote. There is a quorum of 3Q.
174 Proposals, sponsors, amendments, calls for votes and other formal
175 actions are made by announcement on a publicly-readable electronic
176 mailing list designated by the Project Leader's Delegate(s); any
177 Developer may post there.
179 Votes are cast by email in a manner suitable to the Secretary.
180 The Secretary determines for each poll whether voters can change
183 Q is half of the square root of the number of current
184 Developers. K is Q or 5, whichever is the smaller. Q and K
185 need not be integers and are not rounded.
187 <h2>5. Project Leader</h2>
189 The Project Leader may:
191 <li>Appoint Delegates or delegate decisions to the Technical
194 The Leader may define an area of ongoing responsibility or a
195 specific decision and hand it over to another Developer or
196 to the Technical Committee.
198 Once a particular decision has been delegated and made the
199 Project Leader may not withdraw that delegation; however,
200 they may withdraw an ongoing delegation of particular area
203 <li><p>Lend authority to other Developers.
205 The Project Leader may make statements of support for points of view
206 or for other members of the project, when asked or otherwise; these
207 statements have force if and only if the Leader would be empowered to
208 make the decision in question.
210 <li><p>Make any decision which requires urgent action.
212 This does not apply to decisions which have only become
213 gradually urgent through lack of relevant action, unless
214 there is a fixed deadline.
216 <li><p>Make any decision for whom noone else has responsibility.
218 <li><p>Propose draft General Resolutions and amendments.
220 <li><p>Together with the Technical Committee, appoint new members
221 to the Committee. (See s.6.2.)
223 <li>Use a casting vote when Developers vote.
225 The Project Leader also has a normal vote in such ballots.
227 <li><p>Vary the discussion period for Developers' votes (as above).
229 <li><p>Lead discussions amongst Developers.
231 The Project Leader should attempt to participate in discussions
232 amongst the Developers in a helpful way which seeks to bring the
233 discussion to bear on the key issues at hand. The Project Leader
234 should not use the Leadership position to promote their own personal
237 <li><p>Together with SPI, make decisions affecting property
238 held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See s.9.1.)
240 <h3>5.2. Appointment</h3>
243 The Project Leader is elected by the Developers.
245 The election begins nine weeks before the leadership post becomes
246 vacant, or (if it is too late already) immediately.
248 For the following three weeks any Developer may nominate themselves as
249 a candidate Project Leader.
251 For three weeks after that no more candidates may be nominated;
252 candidates should use this time for campaigning (to make their
253 identities and positions known). If there are no candidates
254 at the end of the nomination period then the nomination period
255 is extended for three further weeks, repeatedly if necessary.
257 The next three weeks are the polling period during which
258 Developers may cast their votes. Votes in leadership
259 elections are kept secret, even after the election is
262 The options on the ballot will be those candidates who have
263 nominated themselves and have not yet withdrawn, plus None Of
264 The Above. If None Of The Above wins the election then the
265 election procedure is repeated, many times if necessary.
266 <li>The decision will be made using Concorde Vote Counting.
267 The quorum is the same as for a General Resolution
268 (s.4.2) and the default option is None Of The Above.
270 The Project Leader serves for one year from their election.
272 <h3>5.3. Procedure</h3>
274 The Project Leader should attempt to make decisions which are
275 consistent with the consensus of the opinions of the Developers.
277 Where practical the Project Leader should informally solicit the views
280 The Project Leader should avoid overemphasizing their own point
281 of view when making decisions in their capacity as Leader.
282 <h2>6. Technical committee</h2>
284 The Technical Committee may:
286 <li>Decide on any matter of technical policy.
288 This includes the contents of the technical policy manuals,
289 developers' reference materials, example packages and the
290 behaviour of non-experimental package building tools. (In
291 each case the usual maintainer of the relevant software or
292 documentation makes decisions initially, however; see
295 <li>Decide any technical matter where Developers' jurisdictions overlap.
297 In cases where Developers need to implement compatible
298 technical policies or stances (for example, if they disagree
299 about the priorities of conflicting packages, or about
300 ownership of a command name, or about which package is
301 responsible for a bug that both maintainers agree is a bug,
302 or about who should be the maintainer for a package) the
303 technical committee may decide the matter.
305 <li><p>Make a decision when asked to do so.
307 Any person or body may delegate a decision of their own to
308 the Technical Committee, or seek advice from it.
310 <li><p>Overrule a Developer (requires a 3:1 majority).
312 The Technical Committee may ask a Developer to take a
313 particular technical course of action even if the Developer
314 does not wish to; this requires a 3:1 majority. For
315 example, the Committee may determine that a complaint made
316 by the submitter of a bug is justified and that the
317 submitter's proposed solution should be implemented.
322 The Technical Committee may make formal announcements about
323 its views on any matter. <cite>Individual members may of
324 course make informal statements about their views and about
325 the likely views of the committee.</cite>
327 <li><p>Together with the Project Leader, appoint new members to
328 itself or remove existing members. (See s.6.2.)
330 <li><p>Appoint the Chairman of the Technical Committee.
332 The Chairman is elected by the Committee from its members.
333 All members of the committee are automatically nominated;
334 the committee vote starting one week before the post will
335 become vacant (or immediately, if it is already too late).
336 The members may vote by public acclamation for any fellow
337 committee member, including themselves; there is no None Of
338 The Above option. The vote finishes when all the members
339 have voted or when the outcome is no longer in doubt. The
340 result is determined according to Concorde Vote Counting.
342 <li>The Chairman can stand in for the Leader, together with the Secretary
344 As detailed in s.7.1(2), the Chairman of the Technical
345 Committee and the Project Secretary may together stand in
346 for the Leader if there is no Leader.
348 <h3>6.2. Composition</h3>
350 The Technical Committee consists of up to 8 Developers, and should
351 usually have at least 4 members.
353 When there are fewer than 8 members the Technical Committee may
354 recommend new member(s) to the Project Leader, who may choose
355 (individually) to appoint them or not.
357 When there are 5 members or fewer the Technical Committee may appoint
358 new member(s) until the number of members reaches 6.
360 When there have been 5 members or fewer for at least one week
361 the Project Leader may appoint new member(s) until the number of
362 members reaches 6, at intervals of at least one week per
365 If the Technical Committee and the Project Leader agree they may
366 remove or replace an existing member of the Technical Committee.
368 <h3>6.3. Procedure</h3>
370 <li>The Technical Committee uses the Standard Resolution Procedure.
372 A draft resolution or amendment may be proposed by any
373 member of the Technical Committee. There is no minimum
374 discussion period; the voting period lasts for up to one
375 week, or until the outcome is no longer in doubt. Members
376 may change their votes. There is a quorum of two.
378 <li>Details regarding voting
380 The Chairman has a casting vote. When the Technical
381 Committee votes whether to override a Developer who also
382 happens to be a member of the Committee, that member may not
383 vote (unless they are the Chairman, in which case they may
384 use only their casting vote).
386 <li>Public discussion and decisionmaking.
388 Discussion, draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by
389 members of the committee, are made public on the Technical
390 Committee public discussion list. There is no separate
391 secretary for the Committee.
394 Confidentiality of appointments.
396 The Technical Committee may hold confidential discussions
397 via private email or a private mailing list or other means
398 to discuss appointments to the Committee. However, votes on
399 appointments must be public.
402 No detailed design work.
404 The Technical Committee does not engage in design of new proposals
405 and policies. Such design work should be carried out by individuals
406 privately or together and discussed in ordinary technical policy and
409 The Technical Committee restricts itself to choosing from
410 or adopting compromises between solutions and decisions which have
411 been proposed and reasonably thoroughly discussed elsewhere.
413 <cite>Individual members of the technical committee may of course
414 participate on their own behalf in any aspect of design and
417 <li>Technical Committee makes decisions only as last resort.
419 The Technical Committee does not make a technical decision
420 until efforts to resolve it via consensus have been tried
421 and failed, unless it has been asked to make a decision by
422 the person or body who would normally be responsible for it.
424 <h2>7. The Project Secretary</h2>
430 Takes votes amongst the Developers, and determines the
431 number and identity of Developers, whenever this is required
436 Can stand in for the Leader, together with the Chairman of
437 the Technical Committee.
439 If there is no Project Leader then the Chairman of the
440 Technical Committee and the Project Secretary may by
441 joint agreement make decisions if they consider it
446 Adjudicates any disputes about interpretation of the
451 May delegate part or all of their authority to someone else,
452 or withdraw such a delegation at any time.
454 <h3>7.2. Appointment</h3>
456 The Project Secretary is appointed by the Project Leader and the
457 current Project Secretary.
459 If the Project Leader and the current Project Secretary cannot
460 agree on a new appointment they must ask the board of SPI to
463 If there is no Project Secretary or the current Secretary is
464 unavailable and has not delegated authority for a decision then
465 the decision may be made or delegated by the Chairman of the
466 Technical Committee, as Acting Secretary.
468 The Project Secretary's term of office is 1 year, at which point
469 they or another Secretary must be (re)appointed.
470 <h3>7.3. Procedure</h3>
471 The Project Secretary should make decisions which are fair and
472 reasonable, and preferably consistent with the consensus of the
475 When acting together to stand in for an absent Project Leader the
476 Chairman of the Technical Committee and the Project Secretary
477 should make decisions only when absolutely necessary and only when
478 consistent with the consensus of the Developers.
479 <h2>8. The Project Leader's Delegates</h2>
481 The Project Leader's Delegates:
483 <li>have powers delegated to them by the Project Leader;
484 <li>may make certain decisions which the Leader may not make
485 directly, including approving or expelling Developers or
486 designating people as Developers who do not maintain packages.
488 This is to avoid concentration of power, particularly over
489 membership as a Developer, in the hands of the Project
493 <h3>8.2. Appointment</h3>
494 The Delegates are appointed by the Project Leader and may be
495 replaced by the Leader at the Leader's discretion. The Project
496 Leader may not make the position as a Delegate conditional on
497 particular decisions by the Delegate, nor may they override a
498 decision made by a Delegate once made.
499 <h3>8.3. Procedure</h3>
500 Delegates may make decisions as they see fit, but should attempt
501 to implement good technical decisions and/or follow consensus
503 <h2>9. Software in the Public Interest</h2>
504 SPI and Debian are separate organisations who share some goals.
505 Debian is grateful for the legal support framework offered by SPI.
507 Debian's Developers are currently members of SPI by virtue
508 of their status as Developers.
510 <h3>9.1. Authority</h3>
513 SPI has no authority regarding Debian's technical or
514 nontechnical decisions, except that no decision by Debian with
515 respect to any property held by SPI shall require SPI to act
516 outside its legal authority, and that Debian's constitution
517 may occasionally use SPI as a decision body of last resort.
519 Debian claims no authority over SPI other than that over the
520 use of certain of SPI's property, as described below, though
521 Debian Developers may be granted authority within SPI by SPI's
524 Debian Developers are not agents or employees of SPI, or of
525 each other or of persons in authority in the Debian Project.
526 A person acting as a Developer does so as an individual, on
529 <h3>9.2. Management of property for purposes related to Debian</h3>
530 Since Debian has no authority to hold money or property, any
531 donations for the Debian Project must made to SPI, which
532 manages such affairs.
534 SPI have made the following undertakings:
537 SPI will hold money, trademarks and other tangible and
538 intangible property and manage other affairs for purposes
541 Such property will be accounted for separately and held in
542 trust for those purposes, decided on by Debian and SPI
543 according to this section.
545 SPI will not dispose of or use property held in trust for
546 Debian without approval from Debian, which may be granted by
547 the Project Leader or by General Resolution of the Developers.
549 SPI will consider using or disposing of property held in trust
550 for Debian when asked to do so by the Project Leader.
552 SPI will use or dispose of property held in trust for Debian
553 when asked to do so by a General Resolution of the Developers,
554 provided that this is compatible with SPI's legal authority.
556 SPI will notify the Developers by electronic mail to a
557 Debian Project mailing list when it uses or disposes of
558 property held in trust for Debian.
560 <h2>A. Standard Resolution Procedure</h2>
561 These rules apply to communal decisionmaking by committees and
562 plebiscites, where stated above.
563 <h3>A.1. Proposal</h3>
564 The formal procedure begins when a draft resolution is proposed and
565 sponsored, as required.
566 <h3>A.1. Discussion and Amendment</h3>
569 Following the proposal, the resolution may be discussed.
570 Amendments may be made formal by being proposed and sponsored
571 according to the requirements for a new resolution, or
572 directly by the proposer of the original resolution.
574 A formal amendment may be accepted by the resolution's
575 proposer, in which case the formal resolution draft is
576 immediately changed to match.
578 If a formal amendment is not accepted, or one of the sponsors
579 of the resolution does not agree with the acceptance by the
580 proposer of a formal amendment, the amendment remains as an
581 amendment and will be voted on.
583 If an amendment accepted by the original proposer is not to
584 the liking of others, they may propose another amendment to
585 reverse the earlier change (again, they must meet the
586 requirements for proposer and sponsor(s).)
588 The proposer or a resolution may suggest changes to the
589 wordings of amendments; these take effect if the proposer of
590 the amendment agrees and none of the sponsors object. In
591 this case the changed amendments will be voted on instead of
594 The proposer of a resolution may make changes to correct minor
595 errors (for example, typographical errors or inconsistencies) or
596 changes which do not alter the meaning, providing noone objects
597 within 24 hours. In this case the mininum discussion period is not
600 <h3>A.2. Calling for a vote</h3>
603 The proposer or a sponsor of a motion or an amendment may call for a vote,
604 providing that the minimum discussion period (if any) has
607 The proposer or a sponsor of a motion may call for a vote on any
608 or all of the amendments individually or together; the
609 proposer or sponsor of an amendment may call for a vote only on that
610 amendment and related amendments.
612 The person who calls for a vote states what they believe the
613 wordings of the resolution and any relevant amendments are,
614 and consequently what form the ballot should take. However,
615 the final decision on the form of ballot(s) is the Secretary's
616 - see 7.1(1), 7.1(3) and A.3(6).
618 The minimum discussion period is counted from the time the
619 last formal amendment was accepted, or the last related formal
620 amendment was accepted if an amendment is being voted on, or
621 since the whole resolution was proposed if no amendments have
622 been proposed and accepted.
624 <h3>A.3. Voting procedure</h3>
627 Each independent set of related amendments is voted on in a
628 separate ballot. Each such ballot has as options all the
629 sensible combinations of amendments and options, and an option
630 Further Discussion. If Further Discussion wins then the
631 entire resolution procedure is set back to the start of the
632 discussion period. No quorum is required for an amendment.
634 When the final form of the resolution has been determined it
635 is voted on in a final ballot, in which the options are Yes,
636 No and Further Discussion. If Further Discussion wins then
637 the entire procedure is set back to the start of the
640 The vote taker (if there is one) or the voters (if voting is
641 done by public pronouncement) may arrange for these ballots to
642 be held simultaneously, even (for example) using a single
643 voting message. If amendment ballot(s) and the final ballot
644 are combined in this way then it must be possible for a voter
645 to vote differently in the final ballot for each of the
646 possible forms of the final draft resolution.
648 Votes may be cast during the voting period, as specified
649 elsewhere. If the voting period can end if the outcome is no
650 longer in doubt, the possibility that voters may change their
651 votes is not considered.
653 The votes are counted according to the Concorde Vote
654 Counting. If a quorum is required then the default option
655 is Further Discussion.
657 In cases of doubt the Project Secretary shall decide on
658 matters of procedure (for example, whether particular
659 amendments should be considered independent or not).
661 <h3>A.4. Withdrawing resolutions or unaccepted amendments</h3>
662 The proposer of a resolution or unaccepted amendment may withdraw
663 it. In this case new proposers may come forward keep it alive, in
664 which case the first person to do so becomes the new proposer and
665 any others become sponsors if they aren't sponsors already.
667 A sponsor of a resolution or amendment (unless it has been
668 accepted) may withdraw.
670 If the withdrawal of the proposer and/or sponsors means that a
671 resolution has no proposer or not enough sponsors it will not be
672 voted on unless this is rectified before the resolution expires.
674 If a proposed resolution has not been discussed, amended, voted on
675 or otherwise dealt with for 4 weeks then it is considered to have
677 <h3>A.6. Concorde Vote Counting</h3>
680 This is used to determine the winner amongst a list of
681 options. Each ballot paper gives a ranking of the voter's
682 preferred options. (The ranking need not be complete.)
684 Option A is said to Dominate option B if strictly more ballots
685 prefer A to B than prefer B to A.
687 All options which are Dominated by at least one other option
688 are discarded, and references to them in ballot papers will be
691 If there is any option which Dominates all others then that is
694 If there is now more than one option remaining Single
695 Transferrable Vote will be applied to choose amongst those
699 The number of first preferences for each option is
700 counted, and if any option has more than half it is the
703 Otherwise the option with the lowest number of first
704 preferences is eliminated and its votes redistributed
705 according to the second preferences.
707 This elimination procedure is repeated, moving down ballot
708 papers to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. preferences as required,
709 until one option gets more than half of the `first'
713 In the case of ties the elector with a casting vote will
714 decide. The casting vote does not count as a normal vote;
715 however that elector will usually also get a normal vote.
717 If a supermajority is required the number of Yes votes in the
718 final ballot is reduced by an appropriate factor. Strictly
719 speaking, for a supermajority of F:A, the number of ballots
720 which prefer Yes to X (when considering whether Yes Dominates
721 X or X Dominates Yes) or the number of ballots whose first
722 (remaining) preference is Yes (when doing STV comparisons for
723 winner and elimination purposes) is multiplied by a factor A/F
724 before the comparison is done.
726 This means that a 2:1 vote, for example, means twice as many
727 people voted for as against; abstentions are not counted.
730 If a quorum is required, there must be at least that many votes
731 which prefer the winning option to the default option. If
732 there are not then the default option wins after all. For
733 votes requiring a supermajority, the actual number of Yes
734 votes is used when checking whether the quorum has been
737 <cite>When the Standard Resolution Procedure is to be used, the text
738 which refers to it must specify what is sufficient to have a draft
739 resolution proposed and/or sponsored, what the minimum discussion
740 period is, and what the voting period is. It must also specify
741 any supermajority and/or the quorum (and default option) to be
743 <h2>B. Use of language and typography</h2>
744 The present indicative (`is', for example) means that the
745 statement is a rule in this constitution. `May' or `can' indicates
746 that the person or body has discretion. `Should' means that it
747 would be considered a good thing if the sentence were obeyed, but
749 <cite> Text marked as a citation, such as this, is rationale and
750 does not form part of the constitution. It may be used only to
751 aid interpretation in cases of doubt. </cite>
753 <P>Back to the <A href="../">Debian GNU/Linux homepage</A>.
755 <SMALL>See the Debian <a href="../contact">contact page</a> for information on contacting us.</SMALL><P>
756 <SMALL>Last Modified: Thu, Dec 10 03:36:32 UTC 1998<BR>
757 Copyright © 1997-1999 <a href="http://www.spi-inc.org/">SPI</a>; See <a href="../license">license terms</A> </SMALL>