Re: [MirageOS-devel] [Need input] Proposal to change committers for the XAPI Project - implications for the whole project?

[Lars Kurth <lars.kurth@xxxxxxx>]

No feedback = No concerns.
So this matter can be laid to rest
Lars

On 16/05/2014 13:38, Lars Kurth wrote:
> On 15/05/2014 10:19, Anil Madhavapeddy wrote:
> > On 15 May 2014, at 09:57, Lars Kurth <lars.kurth@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > > All the existing committers have voted in favour. So the proposal 
> > > carries. I will update the XAPI webpage 
> > > http://www.xenproject.org/developers/teams/xapi.html accordingly
> > > Lars
> > This isn't intended to affect the voting, but I would note that it's 
> > slightly odd for an open-source project to switch its committers in 
> > such a big sweep without at least some discussion about how this 
> > affects the overall project direction.
> Actually, thinking about it *could* affect the direction of the 
> project for anything that is related to global votes. And we *do* need 
> to have a discussion about it. And we *may* need a process change or 
> clarification, but I don't think so as the process was originally 
> designed to cover a gradual increase in the number of subprojects.
> Thanks Anil for pointing this out. I was too overloaded to really spot 
> this : Apologies.
> == Different Expectations when to award maintainer status ==
> First there is the observation in that:
> * There are significant differences when it comes to when (aka under 
> which criteria) committer status is awarded between subprojects and 
> there are also difference in view within subprojects
> * XAPI does not have the maintainer role as far as I understand. In 
> other words in XAPI maintainer=committer. Please correct me if I am 
> wrong.
> == Process implications ==
> Looking at the governance process: 
> http://www.xenproject.org/governance.html
> Maintainers and committers have the right to vote in some 
> circumstances. Now we have local (within subproject) and global votes 
> (affecting all projects). What the process states specifically when it 
> comes to voting is:
> * The role of committers in electing other committers and project 
> leads - this is subproject local. As such, a significant change in the 
> number of committers only has a local effect.
> * The role of maintainers (but not committers) is mentioned 
> specifically when it comes to "formal votes" such as changes to 
> governance (global) and other local votes. No mention of committers. 
> In other words, all maintainers vote in "formal votes".
> * Looking at the voting related to the project lify cycle: These are 
> just "formal votes" which are allowed by maintainers
> * Committers are specifically mentioned as "referees" in case there 
> are conflicts. There we have a hierarchy of conflict resolution and 
> the proposed xhange to XAPI committers should not affect
> == What is the impact of this change (IMPORTANT) ==
>
> As such, the change proposed to XAPI committers is affecting the 
> voting dynamics for global votes as on the face of it it increases the 
> number of maintainers (=committers) from 5 to 13. Given the size of 
> XAPI subproject and the fact that it basically never listed its 
> maintainers this seems reasonable. Also in light of the number of 
> maintainers in the Hypervisor project, of which there are 28 if I 
> counted correctly.
> But it does raise the question as to whether such a significant change 
> to maintainers sets a bad precedence and whether we need to look at 
> our process
> So I would argue that, *this ptoposal has* a global impact - even 
> though unintended - and that for this reason we need to have a 
> discussion and maybe a formal vote to ratify this proposed change by 
> the XAPI project.
> Best Regards
> Lars

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