MapServer Technical Steering Committee Proposal

[Frank Warmerdam]

Folks,

We have had lots of talk over the last year or more about "process"
but without a process to make a decision we haven't really done anything.
I have prepared a proposal for a mechanism, which is attached and
also available in CVS under rfc/ms-rfc-1.txt.

I am first putting this up for discussion but assuming relatively positive
feedback I will seek unanimous approval by the proposed voting members:

  Steve Lime, Daniel Morissette, Frank Warmerdam, Sean Gilles, Assefa
  Yewondwossen, Howard Butler and Perry Nacionales.

This isn't meant to be the be-all and end-all of committee constitutions.
Just enough process to get us going so we could decide a few other
things and know we have reached some sort of closure.  



	MS RFC 1: Technical Steering Committee Guidelines
	=================================================

Author: Frank Warmerdam, Independent, warmerdam at pobox.com
Proposed: 2005/06/24
Last Edited: 2005/06/24

Status: Proposed


Summary
=======

This document describes how the MapServer Technical Steering Committee 
determines membership, and makes decisions on MapServer technical issues.

In brief the technical team (primarily developers with commit priviledges)
votes on proposals on mapserver-dev.  Proposals are available for review
for at least two days, and a single veto is sufficient delay progress though
ultimately a majority of members can pass a proposal.


Detailed Process
================

 1) Proposals are written up and submitted on the mapserver-dev mailing
    list for discussion and voting. 

 2) Proposals need to be available for review for at least two business
    days before a final decision can be made. 

 3) Detailed proposals, especially those that are likely to live
    for a long time, should be written up in flat text, and submitted in 
    mapserver/rfc (in CVS). 

 4) Respondents may vote "+1" to indicate support for the proposal and a
    willingness to support implementation. 

 5) Respondents may vote "-1" to veto a proposal, but must provide clear
    reasoning and alternate approaches to resolving the problem within the two
    days.

 6) Anyone may comment on proposals on the list, but only members of the
    Technical Steering Committee's votes will be counted. 

 7) A proposal will be accepted if it receives +2 (including the proposer)
    and no vetos (-1). 

 8) If a proposal is vetoed, but an absolute majority of committee members
    support the proposal (with +1's) then it passes. 

 9) Upon completion of discussion and voting the proposer should announce
    whether they are proceeding (proposal accepted) or are withdrawing their 
    proposal (vetod). 

10) The Chair gets a vote.

11) The Chair is responsible for keeping track of who is a member of
    the Technical Steering Committee (perhaps as part of a TSC file in CVS). 

12) Addition and removal of members from the committee, as well as selection
    of a Chair should be handled as a proposal to the committee. 

13) The Chair adjudicates in cases of disputes about voting.


When is Vote Required?
======================

 o Anything that could cause backward compatability issues. 
 o Adding substantial amounts of new code. 
 o Changing inter-subssytem APIs, or objects. 
 o Issues of procedure.
 o When releases should take place.
 o Anything that might be controversial. 


Boundaries of "Technical"
=========================

 o If it relates to changes in the code, it is technical.
 o If it relates to how the developers cooperate, it is technical.
 o If it relates to documentation, or web site it is arguable whether
   it should be decided by the technical steering committee. 
 o If it relates to events such as conferences, it is not technical.


Observations
============

 o The Chair is the ultimate adjudicator if things break down.

 o The absolute majority rule can be used to override an obstructionist
   veto, but it is intended that in normal circumstances vetoers need to be
   convinced to withdraw their veto.  We are trying to reach consensus.

 o It is anticipated that seperate "committees" will exist to manage 
   conferences, and possible documentation and web sites. 


Bootstrapping
=============

Steve Lime is declared initial Chair of the Technical Steering Committee.

Steve Lime, Daniel Morissette, Frank Warmerdam, Sean Gilles, Assefa
Yewondwossen, Howard Butler and Perry Nacionales are declared to be the 
founding Technical Steering Committee.


Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent