“Structural Evolution”

Musings on Debian, Today and Tomorrow

Bdale Garbee

bdale@gag.com

Who is Bdale?

First contribution to Free Software circa 1979

First Unix login in 1982, bsd 4.1 on a Vax!

Contributor to Debian GNU/Linux since 1995

significant contributor to 5 ports: alpha, sparc, arm, hppa, ia64

infrastructure contributions from building first master.debian.org to ideas like “package pools” and “flavors”

former DPL, participant in current “DPL Team” experiment

SPI board member

HP (Agilent) employee since 1986, Linux since 2001

HP Open Source & Linux CTO

So, What's This All About?

It's easy to complain about what you don't like, but it's more rewarding to ponder ways of making things better, then go about making them happen!

I ponder a lot.

These are a few of my musings, including a bold idea first presented publicly at the Debian miniconf held just before LCA in April.

Think of this as serious food for thought, not “the answer”... and together we'll craft the future...

Ideas to Ponder

Debian as a “Community”

Community

My favorite dictionary definition of “community”

A body of people having common rights, privileges, or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations.

We all participate in traditional communities

the towns we live in, the schools we attended

churches, sports teams, volunteer organizations

The Internet enabled the formation of a new class of communities that did not previously exist.

People with common interests or values

Potentially broadly geographically distributed

Community Development Model

A key attribute of Linux and many Open Source applications is that they are developed and supported “by the community”

What does that mean?

No one company in charge

A range of contributors with varied interests, abilities, and motivations

Freedom of choice

1

HP Linux R&D Approach

Embrace Linux for what it is … a disruptive technology

Don’t pre-suppose what Linux can and can’t do

Target areas where Linux fits now

Contribute to Linux development as needed to meet requirements

The ultimate market and use models are not yet known … be nimble!

Participate as a member of the community, consistent with community values and behaviors, to develop enterprise capabilities and robustness on Linux that are of interest to HP

Work with Linux distributions and ISVs to deliver innovative and effective solutions for Linux in the Real World

Ideas to Ponder

Debian as a “Community”

NM as a citizenship process, rather than a filter

NM as a Citizenship Process

Is it more important to test for depth in a single area, or should we ensure new members of our community have a broad foundation of knowledge across the areas of work in Debian?

Gating vs Rating

Ideas to Ponder

Debian as a “Community”

NM as a citizenship process, rather than a filter

Does the model of governance coded in the Debian Constitution (still) represent the best set of choices for our project today?

Do the DPL and Tech Ctte take full advantage of the current definitions of their roles in the Constitution?

Have conditions changed enough to warrant a different approach?

DPL Elections

Electing a DPL is “strange” for Debian

We value working together, but we reward competitive individuals

Debian may now be too complex for one person

Our constitution constrains the role of DPL

We spend 9 weeks each year on the process...

Technical Committee

Our Technical Committee is not particularly satisfying as currently defined

Perception of inactivity leads to lack of use

Composition of the committee needs a periodic review and refresh

Many appear to wish the committee would take a more active role in defining Debian technical direction

SPI / Debian Relationship

At Debconf 3 in Oslo, there was a session about SPI. We talked about the “Foundation” model (used by GNOME, Apache, etc) as a possible fix or replacement for SPI

Since that time, SPI has mostly fixed itself, but Debian developers should get more involved!

There still may be things we can take from the foundation model, though, like elected boards

Project SCUD

I have advised/helped every DPL in some way...

When I first heard about it, project SCUD felt to me like an attempt to address some of these issues, working within the context of our current constitution. But you've raised concerns:

Relationship between the DPL and team is not clear

Team is mostly self-selected

At least one significant group of Debian project participants felt excluded

Project SCUD is a hack. We can do better.

Amending Debian's Constitution

Maybe it's time to ditch the model of a DPL and a Technical Committee, and replace it with an elected leadership board?

Roles would be appointed/delegated by the board

Candidates would be motivated to campaign on how well they can work on a team

More qualified people are likely to run for a board than for an individual post

Easier to take a proactive role than current Tech Ctte

Your Thoughts?

http://www.gag.com/~bdale/talks

http://wiki.debian.net/?Governance

2005-04-17T22:04:06