[[!meta title="Governance"]] Ick constitution v1.0 ============================================================================= Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This constitution is the formal rules of the Ick project: it defines how we govern the project. The Ick project develops the Ick software, for continuous integration. The project governance structure is informally based on the principle of **do-ocracy**: those who do, decide. This constitution formalises the principle, to help the project grow, to make it easier for new contributors to join the project, and to avoid misunderstandings. This is the first version of the constitution. It is expected to grow as the project gets more contributors. A probable change is to start using a [Debian-style Condorcet][] voting method. It is overkill with only a handful of contributors, but will become more important later on. [Debian-style Condorcet]: https://www.debian.org/vote/ Levels of membership ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are two levels of membership in the project: **contributors** and **voting members**. Contributors are all those who work to the project in order to make the Ick software, its website, documentation, other deliverables, or the project itself better. Voting members have the power to collectively make any decision of the project by voting on it. **Voting members are chosen by voting.** Candidates are nominated by themselves or by voting members, with approval of candidate. Voting membership may not be inflicted upon anyone without their **explicit approval**. Voting membership may be revoked by a vote. No contributors or voting member is required to do work for the project, and the project cannot compel anyone to do anything. The project may, via a formal decision, forbid something from being done in the context of a project, or require that if a thing is done, it gets done in a particular way. Decision making ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most decisions in the project are made by contributors as part of the work they do to contribute. These are called **mundane decisions**, and include things like how to structure a piece of code or documentation, how to name some component, etc. Mundane decisions do not normally need to be documented formally, but can be, if a contributor thinks it useful. If a mundane decision is challenged, the project aims to find a **rough consensus** on the matter via discussion. This is called a **consensus decision**. Consensus decisions are documented on a project website, and marked as such. To make rough consensus easier to achieve, the project follows the [lazy consensus][] approach. If you don't think a change is controversial, just do it. We use version control, changes are easy to revert. If you're not entirely sure, announce that you're going to make the change in three days, which gives everyone time to object. [lazy consensus]: https://rave.apache.org/docs/governance/lazyConsensus.html If consensus is not reached, or is challenged by a voting member, the project will **vote** on the matter. This is called a **formal decision**. Formal decisions are documented on a project website, and marked as such. Voting procedure ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The **project secretary** is chosen by voting by the voting members from among the voting members. The secretary must themselves be a voting member for the duration of their term. Candidates nominate themselves, or by other voting members with the candidate's approval. The secretary has the duty to conduct votes in a suitable manner. Votes are decided by **simple majority**, and voting members have an **equal vote**. In case of a tie, the project secretary casts the decisive vote. Voting members may suggest options for the ballot. The secretary decides what the ballot should be, announces the vote on a suitable project forum, and declares how a vote is to be cast. The **voting period is 7 days**. The secretary receives votes, counts them, and announces the result, and documents the decision on the project website. **Votes are made public** at that time, if not earlier. Team delegations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Responsibility of making decisions about an area or aspect of the project may be **delegated to a team** by a vote among the voting members. The decision shall name all members of the team and the scope of the delegation. The team members may be any contributors, not just formal members. Decisions within the team are made in the same manner as by the project as a whole, with contributors voting as if they were voting members. The team's consensus and formal decisions shall be documented in the same way as project decisions. The project may override a team's decision via project vote. Time and term limitations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Voting membership and the position of secretary and team delegations are **time limited**, and **expire automatically** with no further action. Memberships expire one by one in order of earliest membership first. The last membership does not expire, as that would leave the project without voters. If the project only has one voting member, that member is automatically also the secretary. The point of the automatic expiration is to avoid having inactive former contributors as voting members indefinitely. The **terms end on the following dates**, except terms do not end automatically within their first three months: - voting membership ends September 1 - position of secretary ends March 1 - team delegations ends June 1. On each date, the term ends at 23:59:59 in the UTC time zone. Voting membership, secretaryship, and team delegation may be renewed by a vote. There is no limit on how many times renewal may happen. Voting membership gets automatically renewed if the member has voted at least once in the preceding 12 months. It is the duty of the secretary to arrange new votes to renew terms in time before the terms end, and to maintain a list of voting memberships. If the project loses its secretary (by term expiration or otherwise), and thus the project can't hold votes, the voting members may appoint a temporary secretary by unanimously and publicly supporting a willing candidate to be secretary. Such support should happen within a 24 hour period, starting from a candidate announcing their willingness. The temporary secretary is empowered to run one vote, to choose the new project secretary. Status ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The current project secretary is Lars Wirzenius (term started 2021-01-25, ends 2022-03-01). The complete list of voting members in the project: * Lars Wirzenius (from 2017; expires 2022-09-01) * Daniel Silverstone (from 2018; expires 2022-09-01) See also: * list of [[consensus decisions|tag/consensus-decision]]. * list of [[formal decisions|tag/formal-decision]]. * list of [[votes|tag/vote]].