--- /dev/null
+
+2. It is not practical for the TC to vote to accept/reject individual
+ amendments to the GR proposal. The TC would wish to delegate its
+ power to accept amendments, to avoid needing the collection of
+ sponsors for uncontroversial changes. However the Secretary has
+ advised that this is not constitutionally acceptable.
+
+ Therefore, to achieve roughly the same effect, the TC makes the
+ following promise. If any TC member gives notice that the TC
+ accepts an amendment, then at least one of the following will
+ happen:
+
+ (a) the TC will use its own power under A.1(1) to arrange that
+ the amendment appears on the GR ballot as an option;
+
+ (b) the TC will use its power under A.1(1) to propose and
+ its power under A.1(2) to accept the amendment, so that
+ the amendment is incorporated in the version voted on; or
+
+ (c) A member of the TC will publicly notify the amendment's
+ proposer that the amendment will not be accepted after all.
+ In this case TC will wait at least 7 more days before calling
+ for a vote, to give time for the amendment's proposer to
+ collect sponsors.
+
+===== TC RESOLUTION ENDS =====
--- /dev/null
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+<h1>Debian Constitution</h1>
+<h1>Constitution for the Debian Project (v1.4)</h1>
+<p>Version 1.4 ratified on October 7th, 2007. Supersedes
+<a href="constitution.1.3">Version 1.3</a> ratified on September 24th,
+2006,
+<a href="constitution.1.2">Version 1.2</a> ratified on October 29th,
+2003 and
+<a href="constitution.1.1">Version 1.1</a> ratified on June 21st,
+2003, which itself supersedes <a href="constitution.1.0">Version 1.0</a>
+ratified on December 2nd, 1998.</p>
+<ul class="toc">
+ <li><a href="#item-1">1. Introduction</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-2">2. Decision-making bodies and individuals</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-3">3. Individual Developers</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-4">4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-5">5. Project Leader</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-6">6. Technical committee</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-7">7. The Project Secretary</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-8">8. The Project Leader's Delegates</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-9">9. Assets held in trust for Debian</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-A">A. Standard Resolution Procedure</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#item-B">B. Use of language and typography</a></li>
+</ul>
+<h2><a name="item-1" id="item-1">1. Introduction</a></h2>
+<p><cite>The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have
+made common cause to create a free operating system.</cite></p>
+<p>This document describes the organisational structure for formal
+decision-making in the Project. It does not describe the goals of the
+Project or how it achieves them, or contain any policies except those
+directly related to the decision-making process.</p>
+<h2><a name="item-2" id="item-2">2. Decision-making bodies and individuals</a></h2>
+<p>Each decision in the Project is made by one or more of the
+following:</p>
+<ol>
+ <li>The Developers, by way of General Resolution or an election;</li>
+ <li>The Project Leader;</li>
+ <li>The Technical Committee and/or its Chairman;</li>
+ <li>The individual Developer working on a particular task;</li>
+ <li>Delegates appointed by the Project Leader for specific
+ tasks;</li>
+ <li>The Project Secretary.</li>
+</ol>
+<p>Most of the remainder of this document will outline the powers of
+these bodies, their composition and appointment, and the procedure for
+their decision-making. The powers of a person or body may be subject to
+review and/or limitation by others; in this case the reviewing body or
+person's entry will state this. <cite>In the list above, a person or
+body is usually listed before any people or bodies whose decisions they
+can overrule or who they (help) appoint - but not everyone listed
+earlier can overrule everyone listed later.</cite></p>
+<h3>2.1. General rules</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>Nothing in this constitution imposes an obligation on anyone to
+ do work for the Project. A person who does not want to do a task
+ which has been delegated or assigned to them does not need to do
+ it. However, they must not actively work against these rules and
+ decisions properly made under them.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>A person may hold several posts, except that the Project Leader,
+ Project Secretary and the Chairman of the Technical Committee must
+ be distinct, and that the Leader cannot appoint themselves as their
+ own Delegate.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>A person may leave the Project or resign from a particular post
+ they hold, at any time, by stating so publicly.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h2><a name="item-3" id="item-3">3. Individual Developers</a></h2>
+<h3>3.1. Powers</h3>
+<p>An individual Developer may</p>
+<ol>
+ <li>make any technical or nontechnical decision with regard to their
+ own work;</li>
+ <li>propose or sponsor draft General Resolutions;</li>
+ <li>propose themselves as a Project Leader candidate in
+ elections;</li>
+ <li>vote on General Resolutions and in Leadership elections.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3>3.2. Composition and appointment</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>Developers are volunteers who agree to further the aims of the
+ Project insofar as they participate in it, and who maintain
+ package(s) for the Project or do other work which the Project
+ Leader's Delegate(s) consider worthwhile.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>The Project Leader's Delegate(s) may choose not to admit new
+ Developers, or expel existing Developers. <cite>If the Developers
+ feel that the Delegates are abusing their authority they can of
+ course override the decision by way of General Resolution - see
+ §4.1(3), §4.2.</cite></p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h3>3.3. Procedure</h3>
+<p>Developers may make these decisions as they see fit.</p>
+<h2><a name="item-4" id="item-4">4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election</a></h2>
+<h3>4.1. Powers</h3>
+<p>Together, the Developers may:</p>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>Appoint or recall the Project Leader.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Amend this constitution, provided they agree with a 3:1
+ majority.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Make or override any decision authorised by the powers of the Project
+ Leader or a Delegate.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Make or override any decision authorised by the powers of the Technical
+ Committee, provided they agree with a 2:1 majority.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Issue, supersede and withdraw nontechnical policy documents and
+ statements.</p>
+ <p>These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
+ relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
+ policies such as the free software licence terms that Debian
+ software must meet.</p>
+ <p>They may also include position statements about issues of the
+ day.</p>
+ <ol style="list-style: decimal;">
+ <li>A Foundation Document is a document or statement regarded as
+ critical to the Project's mission and purposes.</li>
+ <li>The Foundation Documents are the works entitled <q>Debian
+ Social Contract</q> and <q>Debian Free Software Guidelines</q>.</li>
+ <li>A Foundation Document requires a 3:1 majority for its
+ supersession. New Foundation Documents are issued and
+ existing ones withdrawn by amending the list of Foundation
+ Documents in this constitution.</li>
+ </ol>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Make decisions about property held in trust for purposes
+ related to Debian. (See §9.).</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>In case of a disagreement between the project leader and
+ the incumbent secretary, appoint a new secretary.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h3>4.2. Procedure</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>The Developers follow the Standard Resolution Procedure, below.
+ A resolution or amendment is introduced if proposed by any
+ Developer and sponsored by at least K other Developers, or if
+ proposed by the Project Leader or the Technical Committee.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Delaying a decision by the Project Leader or their Delegate:</p>
+ <ol>
+ <li>If the Project Leader or their Delegate, or the Technical
+ Committee, has made a decision, then Developers can override them
+ by passing a resolution to do so; see §4.1(3).</li>
+ <li>If such a resolution is sponsored by at least 2K Developers,
+ or if it is proposed by the Technical Committee, the resolution
+ puts the decision immediately on hold (provided that resolution
+ itself says so).</li>
+ <li>If the original decision was to change a discussion period or
+ a voting period, or the resolution is to override the Technical
+ Committee, then only K Developers need to sponsor the resolution
+ to be able to put the decision immediately on hold.</li>
+ <li>If the decision is put on hold, an immediate vote is held to
+ determine whether the decision will stand until the full vote on
+ the decision is made or whether the implementation of the
+ original decision will be delayed until then. There is no
+ quorum for this immediate procedural vote.</li>
+ <li>If the Project Leader (or the Delegate) withdraws the
+ original decision, the vote becomes moot, and is no longer
+ conducted.</li>
+ </ol>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>
+ Votes are taken by the Project Secretary. Votes, tallies, and
+ results are not revealed during the voting period; after the
+ vote the Project Secretary lists all the votes cast. The voting
+ period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up to 1 week by the
+ Project Leader.
+ </p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>The minimum discussion period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by
+ up to 1 week by the Project Leader. The Project Leader has a
+ casting vote. There is a quorum of 3Q.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Proposals, sponsors, amendments, calls for votes and other
+ formal actions are made by announcement on a publicly-readable
+ electronic mailing list designated by the Project Leader's
+ Delegate(s); any Developer may post there.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Votes are cast by email in a manner suitable to the Secretary.
+ The Secretary determines for each poll whether voters can change
+ their votes.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Q is half of the square root of the number of current
+ Developers. K is Q or 5, whichever is the smaller. Q and K need not
+ be integers and are not rounded.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h2><a name="item-5" id="item-5">5. Project Leader</a></h2>
+<h3>5.1. Powers</h3>
+<p>The <a href="leader">Project Leader</a> may:</p>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>Appoint Delegates or delegate decisions to the Technical
+ Committee.</p>
+ <p>The Leader may define an area of ongoing responsibility or a
+ specific decision and hand it over to another Developer or to the
+ Technical Committee.</p>
+ <p>Once a particular decision has been delegated and made the
+ Project Leader may not withdraw that delegation; however, they may
+ withdraw an ongoing delegation of particular area of
+ responsibility.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Lend authority to other Developers.</p>
+ <p>The Project Leader may make statements of support for points of
+ view or for other members of the project, when asked or otherwise;
+ these statements have force if and only if the Leader would be
+ empowered to make the decision in question.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Make any decision which requires urgent action.</p>
+ <p>This does not apply to decisions which have only become
+ gradually urgent through lack of relevant action, unless there is a
+ fixed deadline.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Make any decision for whom noone else has responsibility.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Propose draft General Resolutions and amendments.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Together with the Technical Committee, appoint new members to
+ the Committee. (See §6.2.)</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Use a casting vote when Developers vote.</p>
+ <p>The Project Leader also has a normal vote in such ballots.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Vary the discussion period for Developers' votes (as above).</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Lead discussions amongst Developers.</p>
+ <p>The Project Leader should attempt to participate in discussions
+ amongst the Developers in a helpful way which seeks to bring the
+ discussion to bear on the key issues at hand. The Project Leader
+ should not use the Leadership position to promote their own
+ personal views.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>In consultation with the developers, make decisions affecting
+ property held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See
+ §9.). Such decisions are communicated to the members by the
+ Project Leader or their Delegate(s). Major expenditures
+ should be proposed and debated on the mailing list before
+ funds are disbursed.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Add or remove organizations from the list of trusted
+ organizations (see §9.3) that are authorized to accept and
+ hold assets for Debian. The evaluation and discussion leading
+ up to such a decision occurs on an electronic mailing list
+ designated by the Project Leader or their Delegate(s), on
+ which any developer may post. There is a minimum discussion
+ period of two weeks before an organization may be added to
+ the list of trusted organizations.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h3>5.2. Appointment</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>The Project Leader is elected by the Developers.</li>
+ <li>The election begins six weeks before the leadership post becomes
+ vacant, or (if it is too late already) immediately.</li>
+ <li>For the first week any Developer may nominate
+ themselves as a candidate Project Leader, and summarize their plans for their term.</li>
+ <li>For three weeks after that no more candidates may be nominated;
+ candidates should use this time for campaigning and discussion. If
+ there are no candidates at the end of the nomination period then the
+ nomination period is extended for an additional week, repeatedly if
+ necessary.</li>
+ <li>The next two weeks are the polling period during which
+ Developers may cast their votes. Votes in leadership elections are
+ kept secret, even after the election is finished.</li>
+ <li>The options on the ballot will be those candidates who have
+ nominated themselves and have not yet withdrawn, plus None Of The
+ Above. If None Of The Above wins the election then the election
+ procedure is repeated, many times if necessary.</li>
+ <li>
+ The decision will be made using the method specified in section
+ §A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure. The quorum is the
+ same as for a General Resolution (§4.2) and the default
+ option is <q>None Of The Above</q>.
+ </li>
+ <li>The Project Leader serves for one year from their election.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3>5.3. Procedure</h3>
+<p>The Project Leader should attempt to make decisions which are
+consistent with the consensus of the opinions of the Developers.</p>
+<p>Where practical the Project Leader should informally solicit the
+views of the Developers.</p>
+<p>The Project Leader should avoid overemphasizing their own point of
+view when making decisions in their capacity as Leader.</p>
+<h2><a name="item-6" id="item-6">6. Technical committee</a></h2>
+<h3>6.1. Powers</h3>
+<p>The <a href="tech-ctte">Technical Committee</a> may:</p>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>Decide on any matter of technical policy.</p>
+ <p>This includes the contents of the technical policy manuals,
+ developers' reference materials, example packages and the behaviour
+ of non-experimental package building tools. (In each case the usual
+ maintainer of the relevant software or documentation makes
+ decisions initially, however; see 6.3(5).)</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Decide any technical matter where Developers' jurisdictions
+ overlap.</p>
+ <p>In cases where Developers need to implement compatible
+ technical policies or stances (for example, if they disagree about
+ the priorities of conflicting packages, or about ownership of a
+ command name, or about which package is responsible for a bug that
+ both maintainers agree is a bug, or about who should be the
+ maintainer for a package) the technical committee may decide the
+ matter.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Make a decision when asked to do so.</p>
+ <p>Any person or body may delegate a decision of their own to the
+ Technical Committee, or seek advice from it.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Overrule a Developer (requires a 3:1 majority).</p>
+ <p>The Technical Committee may ask a Developer to take a
+ particular technical course of action even if the Developer does
+ not wish to; this requires a 3:1 majority. For example, the
+ Committee may determine that a complaint made by the submitter of a
+ bug is justified and that the submitter's proposed solution should
+ be implemented.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Offer advice.</p>
+ <p>The Technical Committee may make formal announcements about its
+ views on any matter. <cite>Individual members may of course make
+ informal statements about their views and about the likely views of
+ the committee.</cite></p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Together with the Project Leader, appoint new members to itself
+ or remove existing members. (See §6.2.)</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Appoint the Chairman of the Technical Committee.</p>
+ <p>
+ The Chairman is elected by the Committee from its members. All
+ members of the committee are automatically nominated; the
+ committee votes starting one week before the post will become
+ vacant (or immediately, if it is already too late). The members
+ may vote by public acclamation for any fellow committee member,
+ including themselves; there is no default option. The vote
+ finishes when all the members have voted, or when the voting
+ period has ended. The result is determined using the method
+ specified in section A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure.
+ </p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>The Chairman can stand in for the Leader, together with the
+ Secretary</p>
+ <p>As detailed in §7.1(2), the Chairman of the Technical
+ Committee and the Project Secretary may together stand in for the
+ Leader if there is no Leader.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h3>6.2. Composition</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>The Technical Committee consists of up to 8 Developers, and
+ should usually have at least 4 members.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>When there are fewer than 8 members the Technical Committee may
+ recommend new member(s) to the Project Leader, who may choose
+ (individually) to appoint them or not.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>When there are 5 members or fewer the Technical Committee may
+ appoint new member(s) until the number of members reaches 6.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>When there have been 5 members or fewer for at least one week
+ the Project Leader may appoint new member(s) until the number of
+ members reaches 6, at intervals of at least one week per
+ appointment.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>If the Technical Committee and the Project Leader agree they
+ may remove or replace an existing member of the Technical
+ Committee.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h3>6.3. Procedure</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>The Technical Committee uses the Standard Resolution
+ Procedure.</p>
+ <p>A draft resolution or amendment may be proposed by any member
+ of the Technical Committee. There is no minimum discussion period;
+ the voting period lasts for up to one week, or until the outcome is
+ no longer in doubt. Members may change their votes. There is a
+ quorum of two.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Details regarding voting</p>
+ <p>The Chairman has a casting vote. When the Technical Committee
+ votes whether to override a Developer who also happens to be a
+ member of the Committee, that member may not vote (unless they are
+ the Chairman, in which case they may use only their casting
+ vote).</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Public discussion and decision-making.</p>
+ <p>Discussion, draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by
+ members of the committee, are made public on the Technical
+ Committee public discussion list. There is no separate secretary
+ for the Committee.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Confidentiality of appointments.</p>
+ <p>The Technical Committee may hold confidential discussions via
+ private email or a private mailing list or other means to discuss
+ appointments to the Committee. However, votes on appointments must
+ be public.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>No detailed design work.</p>
+ <p>The Technical Committee does not engage in design of new
+ proposals and policies. Such design work should be carried out by
+ individuals privately or together and discussed in ordinary
+ technical policy and design forums.</p>
+ <p>The Technical Committee restricts itself to choosing from or
+ adopting compromises between solutions and decisions which have
+ been proposed and reasonably thoroughly discussed elsewhere.</p>
+ <p><cite>Individual members of the technical committee may of
+ course participate on their own behalf in any aspect of design and
+ policy work.</cite></p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Technical Committee makes decisions only as last resort.</p>
+ <p>The Technical Committee does not make a technical decision
+ until efforts to resolve it via consensus have been tried and
+ failed, unless it has been asked to make a decision by the person
+ or body who would normally be responsible for it.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h2><a name="item-7" id="item-7">7. The Project Secretary</a></h2>
+<h3>7.1. Powers</h3>
+<p>The <a href="secretary">Secretary</a>:</p>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>Takes votes amongst the Developers, and determines the number
+ and identity of Developers, whenever this is required by the
+ constitution.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Can stand in for the Leader, together with the Chairman of the
+ Technical Committee.</p>
+ <p>If there is no Project Leader then the Chairman of the
+ Technical Committee and the Project Secretary may by joint
+ agreement make decisions if they consider it imperative to do
+ so.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Adjudicates any disputes about interpretation of the
+ constitution.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>May delegate part or all of their authority to someone else, or
+ withdraw such a delegation at any time.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h3>7.2. Appointment</h3>
+<p>The Project Secretary is appointed by the Project Leader and the
+current Project Secretary.</p>
+<p>If the Project Leader and the current Project Secretary cannot agree
+on a new appointment, they must ask the Developers by way of
+General Resolution to appoint a Secretary.</p>
+<p>If there is no Project Secretary or the current Secretary is
+unavailable and has not delegated authority for a decision then the
+decision may be made or delegated by the Chairman of the Technical
+Committee, as Acting Secretary.</p>
+<p>The Project Secretary's term of office is 1 year, at which point
+they or another Secretary must be (re)appointed.</p>
+<h3>7.3. Procedure</h3>
+<p>The Project Secretary should make decisions which are fair and
+reasonable, and preferably consistent with the consensus of the
+Developers.</p>
+<p>When acting together to stand in for an absent Project Leader the
+Chairman of the Technical Committee and the Project Secretary should
+make decisions only when absolutely necessary and only when consistent
+with the consensus of the Developers.</p>
+<h2><a name="item-8" id="item-8">8. The Project Leader's Delegates</a></h2>
+<h3>8.1. Powers</h3>
+<p>The Project Leader's Delegates:</p>
+<ol>
+ <li>have powers delegated to them by the Project Leader;</li>
+ <li>may make certain decisions which the Leader may not make
+ directly, including approving or expelling Developers or designating
+ people as Developers who do not maintain packages. <cite>This is to
+ avoid concentration of power, particularly over membership as a
+ Developer, in the hands of the Project Leader.</cite></li>
+</ol>
+<h3>8.2. Appointment</h3>
+<p>The Delegates are appointed by the Project Leader and may be
+replaced by the Leader at the Leader's discretion. The Project Leader
+may not make the position as a Delegate conditional on particular
+decisions by the Delegate, nor may they override a decision made by a
+Delegate once made.</p>
+<h3>8.3. Procedure</h3>
+<p>Delegates may make decisions as they see fit, but should attempt to
+implement good technical decisions and/or follow consensus opinion.</p>
+<h2><a name="item-9" id="item-9">9. Assets held in trust for Debian</a></h2>
+<p>In most jurisdictions around the world, the Debian project is not
+in a position to directly hold funds or other property. Therefore,
+property has to be owned by any of a number of organisations as
+detailed in §9.2.</p>
+<p>Traditionally, SPI was the sole organisation authorized to hold
+property and monies for the Debian Project. SPI was created in
+the U.S. to hold money in trust there.</p>
+<p><a href="http://www.spi-inc.org/">SPI</a> and Debian are separate
+organisations who share some goals.
+Debian is grateful for the legal support framework offered by SPI.</p>
+<h3>9.1. Relationship with Associated Organizations</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>Debian Developers do not become agents or employees of
+ organisations holding assets in trust for Debian, or of
+ each other, or of persons in authority in the Debian Project,
+ solely by the virtue of being Debian Developers. A person
+ acting as a Developer does so as an individual, on their own
+ behalf. Such organisations may, of their own accord,
+ establish relationships with individuals who are also Debian
+ developers.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h3>9.2. Authority</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>An organisation holding assets for Debian has no authority
+ regarding Debian's technical or nontechnical decisions, except
+ that no decision by Debian with respect to any property held
+ by the organisation shall require it to act outside its legal
+ authority.</p>
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Debian claims no authority over an organisation that holds
+ assets for Debian other than that over the use of property
+ held in trust for Debian.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h3>9.3. Trusted organisations</h3>
+<p>Any donations for the Debian Project must be made to any one of a
+set of organisations designated by the Project leader (or a
+delegate) to be authorized to handle assets to be used for the
+Debian Project.</p>
+<p>Organisations holding assets in trust for Debian should
+undertake reasonable obligations for the handling of such
+assets.</p>
+<p>Debian maintains a public List of Trusted Organisations that
+accept donations and hold assets in trust for Debian
+(including both tangible property and intellectual property)
+that includes the commitments those organisations have made as
+to how those assets will be handled.</p>
+<h2><a name="item-A" id="item-A">A. Standard Resolution Procedure</a></h2>
+<p>These rules apply to communal decision-making by committees and
+plebiscites, where stated above.</p>
+<h3>A.1. Proposal</h3>
+<p>The formal procedure begins when a draft resolution is proposed and
+sponsored, as required.</p>
+<h3>A.1. Discussion and Amendment</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>Following the proposal, the resolution may be discussed.
+ Amendments may be made formal by being proposed and sponsored
+ according to the requirements for a new resolution, or directly by
+ the proposer of the original resolution.</li>
+ <li>A formal amendment may be accepted by the resolution's proposer,
+ in which case the formal resolution draft is immediately changed to
+ match.</li>
+ <li>If a formal amendment is not accepted, or one of the sponsors of
+ the resolution does not agree with the acceptance by the proposer of
+ a formal amendment, the amendment remains as an amendment and will be
+ voted on.</li>
+ <li>If an amendment accepted by the original proposer is not to the
+ liking of others, they may propose another amendment to reverse the
+ earlier change (again, they must meet the requirements for proposer
+ and sponsor(s).)</li>
+ <li>The proposer of a resolution may suggest changes to the wordings
+ of amendments; these take effect if the proposer of the amendment
+ agrees and none of the sponsors object. In this case the changed
+ amendments will be voted on instead of the originals.</li>
+ <li>The proposer of a resolution may make changes to correct minor
+ errors (for example, typographical errors or inconsistencies) or
+ changes which do not alter the meaning, providing noone objects
+ within 24 hours. In this case the minimum discussion period is not
+ restarted.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3>A.2. Calling for a vote</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>The proposer or a sponsor of a motion or an amendment may call
+ for a vote, providing that the minimum discussion period (if any) has
+ elapsed.</li>
+ <li>
+ The proposer or any sponsor of a resolution may call for a vote on that
+ resolution and all related amendments.
+ </li>
+ <li>The person who calls for a vote states what they believe the
+ wordings of the resolution and any relevant amendments are, and
+ consequently what form the ballot should take. However, the final
+ decision on the form of ballot(s) is the Secretary's - see 7.1(1),
+ 7.1(3) and A.3(4).</li>
+ <li>
+ The minimum discussion period is counted from the time the last
+ formal amendment was accepted, or since the whole resolution
+ was proposed if no amendments have been proposed and accepted.
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<h3>A.3. Voting procedure</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ Each resolution and its related amendments is voted on in a
+ single ballot that includes an option for the original
+ resolution, each amendment, and the default option (where
+ applicable).
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ The default option must not have any supermajority requirements.
+ Options which do not have an explicit supermajority requirement
+ have a 1:1 majority requirement.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ The votes are counted according to the rules in A.6. The
+ default option is <q>Further Discussion</q>, unless specified
+ otherwise.
+ </li>
+ <li>In cases of doubt the Project Secretary shall decide on matters
+ of procedure.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3>A.4. Withdrawing resolutions or unaccepted amendments</h3>
+<p>The proposer of a resolution or unaccepted amendment may withdraw
+it. In this case new proposers may come forward keep it alive, in which
+case the first person to do so becomes the new proposer and any others
+become sponsors if they aren't sponsors already.</p>
+<p>A sponsor of a resolution or amendment (unless it has been
+accepted) may withdraw.</p>
+<p>If the withdrawal of the proposer and/or sponsors means that a
+resolution has no proposer or not enough sponsors it will not be voted
+on unless this is rectified before the resolution expires.</p>
+<h3>A.5. Expiry</h3>
+<p>
+ If a proposed resolution has not been discussed, amended, voted on or
+ otherwise dealt with for 4 weeks the secretary may issue a statement
+ that the issue is being withdrawn. If none of the sponsors of any
+ of the proposals object within a week, the issue is withdrawn.
+</p>
+<p>
+ The secretary may also include suggestions on how to proceed,
+ if appropriate.
+</p>
+<h3>A.6. Vote Counting</h3>
+<ol>
+ <li> Each voter's ballot ranks the options being voted on. Not all
+ options need be ranked. Ranked options are considered
+ preferred to all unranked options. Voters may rank options
+ equally. Unranked options are considered to be ranked equally
+ with one another. Details of how ballots may be filled out
+ will be included in the Call For Votes.
+ </li>
+ <li> If the ballot has a quorum requirement R any options other
+ than the default option which do not receive at least R votes
+ ranking that option above the default option are dropped from
+ consideration.
+ </li>
+ <li> Any (non-default) option which does not defeat the default option
+ by its required majority ratio is dropped from consideration.
+ <ol>
+ <li>
+ Given two options A and B, V(A,B) is the number of voters
+ who prefer option A over option B.
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ An option A defeats the default option D by a majority
+ ratio N, if V(A,D) is strictly greater than N * V(D,A).
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ If a supermajority of S:1 is required for A, its majority ratio
+ is S; otherwise, its majority ratio is 1.
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+ </li>
+ <li> From the list of undropped options, we generate a list of
+ pairwise defeats.
+ <ol>
+ <li>
+ An option A defeats an option B, if V(A,B) is strictly greater
+ than V(B,A).
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+ </li>
+ <li> From the list of [undropped] pairwise defeats, we generate a
+ set of transitive defeats.
+ <ol>
+ <li>
+ An option A transitively defeats an option C if A defeats
+ C or if there is some other option B where A defeats B AND
+ B transitively defeats C.
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+ </li>
+ <li> We construct the Schwartz set from the set of transitive defeats.
+ <ol>
+ <li>
+ An option A is in the Schwartz set if for all options B,
+ either A transitively defeats B, or B does not transitively
+ defeat A.
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+ </li>
+ <li> If there are defeats between options in the Schwartz set,
+ we drop the weakest such defeats from the list of pairwise
+ defeats, and return to step 5.
+ <ol>
+ <li>
+ A defeat (A,X) is weaker than a defeat (B,Y) if V(A,X)
+ is less than V(B,Y). Also, (A,X) is weaker than (B,Y) if
+ V(A,X) is equal to V(B,Y) and V(X,A) is greater than V(Y,B).
+ </li>
+ <li>
+ A weakest defeat is a defeat that has no other defeat weaker
+ than it. There may be more than one such defeat.
+ </li>
+ </ol>
+ </li>
+ <li> If there are no defeats within the Schwartz set, then the winner
+ is chosen from the options in the Schwartz set. If there is
+ only one such option, it is the winner. If there are multiple
+ options, the elector with the casting vote chooses which of those
+ options wins.
+ </li>
+</ol>
+<p>
+ <strong>Note:</strong> Options which the voters rank above the default option
+ are options they find acceptable. Options ranked below the default
+ options are options they find unacceptable.
+</p>
+<p><cite>When the Standard Resolution Procedure is to be used, the text
+which refers to it must specify what is sufficient to have a draft
+resolution proposed and/or sponsored, what the minimum discussion
+period is, and what the voting period is. It must also specify any
+supermajority and/or the quorum (and default option) to be
+used.</cite></p>
+<h2><a name="item-B" id="item-B">B. Use of language and typography</a></h2>
+<p>The present indicative (<q>is</q>, for example) means that the statement
+is a rule in this constitution. <q>May</q> or <q>can</q> indicates that the
+person or body has discretion. <q>Should</q> means that it would be
+considered a good thing if the sentence were obeyed, but it is not
+binding. <cite>Text marked as a citation, such as this, is rationale
+and does not form part of the constitution. It may be used only to aid
+interpretation in cases of doubt.</cite></p>
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+++ /dev/null
-
-2. It is not practical for the TC to vote to accept/reject individual
- amendments to the GR proposal. The TC would wish to delegate its
- power to accept amendments, to avoid needing the collection of
- sponsors for uncontroversial changes. However the Secretary has
- advised that this is not constitutionally acceptable.
-
- Therefore, to achieve roughly the same effect, the TC makes the
- following promise. If any TC member gives notice that the TC
- accepts an amendment, then at least one of the following will
- happen:
-
- (a) the TC will use its own power under A.1(1) to arrange that
- the amendment appears on the GR ballot as an option;
-
- (b) the TC will use its power under A.1(1) to propose and
- its power under A.1(2) to accept the amendment, so that
- the amendment is incorporated in the version voted on; or
-
- (c) A member of the TC will publicly notify the amendment's
- proposer that the amendment will not be accepted after all.
- In this case TC will wait at least 7 more days before calling
- for a vote, to give time for the amendment's proposer to
- collect sponsors.
-
-===== TC RESOLUTION ENDS =====
+++ /dev/null
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-<h1>Debian Constitution</h1>
-<h1>Constitution for the Debian Project (v1.4)</h1>
-<p>Version 1.4 ratified on October 7th, 2007. Supersedes
-<a href="constitution.1.3">Version 1.3</a> ratified on September 24th,
-2006,
-<a href="constitution.1.2">Version 1.2</a> ratified on October 29th,
-2003 and
-<a href="constitution.1.1">Version 1.1</a> ratified on June 21st,
-2003, which itself supersedes <a href="constitution.1.0">Version 1.0</a>
-ratified on December 2nd, 1998.</p>
-<ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="#item-1">1. Introduction</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-2">2. Decision-making bodies and individuals</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-3">3. Individual Developers</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-4">4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-5">5. Project Leader</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-6">6. Technical committee</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-7">7. The Project Secretary</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-8">8. The Project Leader's Delegates</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-9">9. Assets held in trust for Debian</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-A">A. Standard Resolution Procedure</a></li>
- <li><a href="#item-B">B. Use of language and typography</a></li>
-</ul>
-<h2><a name="item-1" id="item-1">1. Introduction</a></h2>
-<p><cite>The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have
-made common cause to create a free operating system.</cite></p>
-<p>This document describes the organisational structure for formal
-decision-making in the Project. It does not describe the goals of the
-Project or how it achieves them, or contain any policies except those
-directly related to the decision-making process.</p>
-<h2><a name="item-2" id="item-2">2. Decision-making bodies and individuals</a></h2>
-<p>Each decision in the Project is made by one or more of the
-following:</p>
-<ol>
- <li>The Developers, by way of General Resolution or an election;</li>
- <li>The Project Leader;</li>
- <li>The Technical Committee and/or its Chairman;</li>
- <li>The individual Developer working on a particular task;</li>
- <li>Delegates appointed by the Project Leader for specific
- tasks;</li>
- <li>The Project Secretary.</li>
-</ol>
-<p>Most of the remainder of this document will outline the powers of
-these bodies, their composition and appointment, and the procedure for
-their decision-making. The powers of a person or body may be subject to
-review and/or limitation by others; in this case the reviewing body or
-person's entry will state this. <cite>In the list above, a person or
-body is usually listed before any people or bodies whose decisions they
-can overrule or who they (help) appoint - but not everyone listed
-earlier can overrule everyone listed later.</cite></p>
-<h3>2.1. General rules</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>Nothing in this constitution imposes an obligation on anyone to
- do work for the Project. A person who does not want to do a task
- which has been delegated or assigned to them does not need to do
- it. However, they must not actively work against these rules and
- decisions properly made under them.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>A person may hold several posts, except that the Project Leader,
- Project Secretary and the Chairman of the Technical Committee must
- be distinct, and that the Leader cannot appoint themselves as their
- own Delegate.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>A person may leave the Project or resign from a particular post
- they hold, at any time, by stating so publicly.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h2><a name="item-3" id="item-3">3. Individual Developers</a></h2>
-<h3>3.1. Powers</h3>
-<p>An individual Developer may</p>
-<ol>
- <li>make any technical or nontechnical decision with regard to their
- own work;</li>
- <li>propose or sponsor draft General Resolutions;</li>
- <li>propose themselves as a Project Leader candidate in
- elections;</li>
- <li>vote on General Resolutions and in Leadership elections.</li>
-</ol>
-<h3>3.2. Composition and appointment</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>Developers are volunteers who agree to further the aims of the
- Project insofar as they participate in it, and who maintain
- package(s) for the Project or do other work which the Project
- Leader's Delegate(s) consider worthwhile.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>The Project Leader's Delegate(s) may choose not to admit new
- Developers, or expel existing Developers. <cite>If the Developers
- feel that the Delegates are abusing their authority they can of
- course override the decision by way of General Resolution - see
- §4.1(3), §4.2.</cite></p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h3>3.3. Procedure</h3>
-<p>Developers may make these decisions as they see fit.</p>
-<h2><a name="item-4" id="item-4">4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election</a></h2>
-<h3>4.1. Powers</h3>
-<p>Together, the Developers may:</p>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>Appoint or recall the Project Leader.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Amend this constitution, provided they agree with a 3:1
- majority.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Make or override any decision authorised by the powers of the Project
- Leader or a Delegate.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Make or override any decision authorised by the powers of the Technical
- Committee, provided they agree with a 2:1 majority.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Issue, supersede and withdraw nontechnical policy documents and
- statements.</p>
- <p>These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
- relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
- policies such as the free software licence terms that Debian
- software must meet.</p>
- <p>They may also include position statements about issues of the
- day.</p>
- <ol style="list-style: decimal;">
- <li>A Foundation Document is a document or statement regarded as
- critical to the Project's mission and purposes.</li>
- <li>The Foundation Documents are the works entitled <q>Debian
- Social Contract</q> and <q>Debian Free Software Guidelines</q>.</li>
- <li>A Foundation Document requires a 3:1 majority for its
- supersession. New Foundation Documents are issued and
- existing ones withdrawn by amending the list of Foundation
- Documents in this constitution.</li>
- </ol>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Make decisions about property held in trust for purposes
- related to Debian. (See §9.).</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>In case of a disagreement between the project leader and
- the incumbent secretary, appoint a new secretary.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h3>4.2. Procedure</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>The Developers follow the Standard Resolution Procedure, below.
- A resolution or amendment is introduced if proposed by any
- Developer and sponsored by at least K other Developers, or if
- proposed by the Project Leader or the Technical Committee.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Delaying a decision by the Project Leader or their Delegate:</p>
- <ol>
- <li>If the Project Leader or their Delegate, or the Technical
- Committee, has made a decision, then Developers can override them
- by passing a resolution to do so; see §4.1(3).</li>
- <li>If such a resolution is sponsored by at least 2K Developers,
- or if it is proposed by the Technical Committee, the resolution
- puts the decision immediately on hold (provided that resolution
- itself says so).</li>
- <li>If the original decision was to change a discussion period or
- a voting period, or the resolution is to override the Technical
- Committee, then only K Developers need to sponsor the resolution
- to be able to put the decision immediately on hold.</li>
- <li>If the decision is put on hold, an immediate vote is held to
- determine whether the decision will stand until the full vote on
- the decision is made or whether the implementation of the
- original decision will be delayed until then. There is no
- quorum for this immediate procedural vote.</li>
- <li>If the Project Leader (or the Delegate) withdraws the
- original decision, the vote becomes moot, and is no longer
- conducted.</li>
- </ol>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- Votes are taken by the Project Secretary. Votes, tallies, and
- results are not revealed during the voting period; after the
- vote the Project Secretary lists all the votes cast. The voting
- period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up to 1 week by the
- Project Leader.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>The minimum discussion period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by
- up to 1 week by the Project Leader. The Project Leader has a
- casting vote. There is a quorum of 3Q.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Proposals, sponsors, amendments, calls for votes and other
- formal actions are made by announcement on a publicly-readable
- electronic mailing list designated by the Project Leader's
- Delegate(s); any Developer may post there.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Votes are cast by email in a manner suitable to the Secretary.
- The Secretary determines for each poll whether voters can change
- their votes.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Q is half of the square root of the number of current
- Developers. K is Q or 5, whichever is the smaller. Q and K need not
- be integers and are not rounded.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h2><a name="item-5" id="item-5">5. Project Leader</a></h2>
-<h3>5.1. Powers</h3>
-<p>The <a href="leader">Project Leader</a> may:</p>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>Appoint Delegates or delegate decisions to the Technical
- Committee.</p>
- <p>The Leader may define an area of ongoing responsibility or a
- specific decision and hand it over to another Developer or to the
- Technical Committee.</p>
- <p>Once a particular decision has been delegated and made the
- Project Leader may not withdraw that delegation; however, they may
- withdraw an ongoing delegation of particular area of
- responsibility.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Lend authority to other Developers.</p>
- <p>The Project Leader may make statements of support for points of
- view or for other members of the project, when asked or otherwise;
- these statements have force if and only if the Leader would be
- empowered to make the decision in question.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Make any decision which requires urgent action.</p>
- <p>This does not apply to decisions which have only become
- gradually urgent through lack of relevant action, unless there is a
- fixed deadline.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Make any decision for whom noone else has responsibility.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Propose draft General Resolutions and amendments.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Together with the Technical Committee, appoint new members to
- the Committee. (See §6.2.)</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Use a casting vote when Developers vote.</p>
- <p>The Project Leader also has a normal vote in such ballots.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Vary the discussion period for Developers' votes (as above).</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Lead discussions amongst Developers.</p>
- <p>The Project Leader should attempt to participate in discussions
- amongst the Developers in a helpful way which seeks to bring the
- discussion to bear on the key issues at hand. The Project Leader
- should not use the Leadership position to promote their own
- personal views.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>In consultation with the developers, make decisions affecting
- property held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See
- §9.). Such decisions are communicated to the members by the
- Project Leader or their Delegate(s). Major expenditures
- should be proposed and debated on the mailing list before
- funds are disbursed.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Add or remove organizations from the list of trusted
- organizations (see §9.3) that are authorized to accept and
- hold assets for Debian. The evaluation and discussion leading
- up to such a decision occurs on an electronic mailing list
- designated by the Project Leader or their Delegate(s), on
- which any developer may post. There is a minimum discussion
- period of two weeks before an organization may be added to
- the list of trusted organizations.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h3>5.2. Appointment</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>The Project Leader is elected by the Developers.</li>
- <li>The election begins six weeks before the leadership post becomes
- vacant, or (if it is too late already) immediately.</li>
- <li>For the first week any Developer may nominate
- themselves as a candidate Project Leader, and summarize their plans for their term.</li>
- <li>For three weeks after that no more candidates may be nominated;
- candidates should use this time for campaigning and discussion. If
- there are no candidates at the end of the nomination period then the
- nomination period is extended for an additional week, repeatedly if
- necessary.</li>
- <li>The next two weeks are the polling period during which
- Developers may cast their votes. Votes in leadership elections are
- kept secret, even after the election is finished.</li>
- <li>The options on the ballot will be those candidates who have
- nominated themselves and have not yet withdrawn, plus None Of The
- Above. If None Of The Above wins the election then the election
- procedure is repeated, many times if necessary.</li>
- <li>
- The decision will be made using the method specified in section
- §A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure. The quorum is the
- same as for a General Resolution (§4.2) and the default
- option is <q>None Of The Above</q>.
- </li>
- <li>The Project Leader serves for one year from their election.</li>
-</ol>
-<h3>5.3. Procedure</h3>
-<p>The Project Leader should attempt to make decisions which are
-consistent with the consensus of the opinions of the Developers.</p>
-<p>Where practical the Project Leader should informally solicit the
-views of the Developers.</p>
-<p>The Project Leader should avoid overemphasizing their own point of
-view when making decisions in their capacity as Leader.</p>
-<h2><a name="item-6" id="item-6">6. Technical committee</a></h2>
-<h3>6.1. Powers</h3>
-<p>The <a href="tech-ctte">Technical Committee</a> may:</p>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>Decide on any matter of technical policy.</p>
- <p>This includes the contents of the technical policy manuals,
- developers' reference materials, example packages and the behaviour
- of non-experimental package building tools. (In each case the usual
- maintainer of the relevant software or documentation makes
- decisions initially, however; see 6.3(5).)</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Decide any technical matter where Developers' jurisdictions
- overlap.</p>
- <p>In cases where Developers need to implement compatible
- technical policies or stances (for example, if they disagree about
- the priorities of conflicting packages, or about ownership of a
- command name, or about which package is responsible for a bug that
- both maintainers agree is a bug, or about who should be the
- maintainer for a package) the technical committee may decide the
- matter.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Make a decision when asked to do so.</p>
- <p>Any person or body may delegate a decision of their own to the
- Technical Committee, or seek advice from it.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Overrule a Developer (requires a 3:1 majority).</p>
- <p>The Technical Committee may ask a Developer to take a
- particular technical course of action even if the Developer does
- not wish to; this requires a 3:1 majority. For example, the
- Committee may determine that a complaint made by the submitter of a
- bug is justified and that the submitter's proposed solution should
- be implemented.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Offer advice.</p>
- <p>The Technical Committee may make formal announcements about its
- views on any matter. <cite>Individual members may of course make
- informal statements about their views and about the likely views of
- the committee.</cite></p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Together with the Project Leader, appoint new members to itself
- or remove existing members. (See §6.2.)</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Appoint the Chairman of the Technical Committee.</p>
- <p>
- The Chairman is elected by the Committee from its members. All
- members of the committee are automatically nominated; the
- committee votes starting one week before the post will become
- vacant (or immediately, if it is already too late). The members
- may vote by public acclamation for any fellow committee member,
- including themselves; there is no default option. The vote
- finishes when all the members have voted, or when the voting
- period has ended. The result is determined using the method
- specified in section A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>The Chairman can stand in for the Leader, together with the
- Secretary</p>
- <p>As detailed in §7.1(2), the Chairman of the Technical
- Committee and the Project Secretary may together stand in for the
- Leader if there is no Leader.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h3>6.2. Composition</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>The Technical Committee consists of up to 8 Developers, and
- should usually have at least 4 members.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>When there are fewer than 8 members the Technical Committee may
- recommend new member(s) to the Project Leader, who may choose
- (individually) to appoint them or not.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>When there are 5 members or fewer the Technical Committee may
- appoint new member(s) until the number of members reaches 6.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>When there have been 5 members or fewer for at least one week
- the Project Leader may appoint new member(s) until the number of
- members reaches 6, at intervals of at least one week per
- appointment.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>If the Technical Committee and the Project Leader agree they
- may remove or replace an existing member of the Technical
- Committee.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h3>6.3. Procedure</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>The Technical Committee uses the Standard Resolution
- Procedure.</p>
- <p>A draft resolution or amendment may be proposed by any member
- of the Technical Committee. There is no minimum discussion period;
- the voting period lasts for up to one week, or until the outcome is
- no longer in doubt. Members may change their votes. There is a
- quorum of two.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Details regarding voting</p>
- <p>The Chairman has a casting vote. When the Technical Committee
- votes whether to override a Developer who also happens to be a
- member of the Committee, that member may not vote (unless they are
- the Chairman, in which case they may use only their casting
- vote).</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Public discussion and decision-making.</p>
- <p>Discussion, draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by
- members of the committee, are made public on the Technical
- Committee public discussion list. There is no separate secretary
- for the Committee.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Confidentiality of appointments.</p>
- <p>The Technical Committee may hold confidential discussions via
- private email or a private mailing list or other means to discuss
- appointments to the Committee. However, votes on appointments must
- be public.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>No detailed design work.</p>
- <p>The Technical Committee does not engage in design of new
- proposals and policies. Such design work should be carried out by
- individuals privately or together and discussed in ordinary
- technical policy and design forums.</p>
- <p>The Technical Committee restricts itself to choosing from or
- adopting compromises between solutions and decisions which have
- been proposed and reasonably thoroughly discussed elsewhere.</p>
- <p><cite>Individual members of the technical committee may of
- course participate on their own behalf in any aspect of design and
- policy work.</cite></p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Technical Committee makes decisions only as last resort.</p>
- <p>The Technical Committee does not make a technical decision
- until efforts to resolve it via consensus have been tried and
- failed, unless it has been asked to make a decision by the person
- or body who would normally be responsible for it.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h2><a name="item-7" id="item-7">7. The Project Secretary</a></h2>
-<h3>7.1. Powers</h3>
-<p>The <a href="secretary">Secretary</a>:</p>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>Takes votes amongst the Developers, and determines the number
- and identity of Developers, whenever this is required by the
- constitution.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Can stand in for the Leader, together with the Chairman of the
- Technical Committee.</p>
- <p>If there is no Project Leader then the Chairman of the
- Technical Committee and the Project Secretary may by joint
- agreement make decisions if they consider it imperative to do
- so.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Adjudicates any disputes about interpretation of the
- constitution.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>May delegate part or all of their authority to someone else, or
- withdraw such a delegation at any time.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h3>7.2. Appointment</h3>
-<p>The Project Secretary is appointed by the Project Leader and the
-current Project Secretary.</p>
-<p>If the Project Leader and the current Project Secretary cannot agree
-on a new appointment, they must ask the Developers by way of
-General Resolution to appoint a Secretary.</p>
-<p>If there is no Project Secretary or the current Secretary is
-unavailable and has not delegated authority for a decision then the
-decision may be made or delegated by the Chairman of the Technical
-Committee, as Acting Secretary.</p>
-<p>The Project Secretary's term of office is 1 year, at which point
-they or another Secretary must be (re)appointed.</p>
-<h3>7.3. Procedure</h3>
-<p>The Project Secretary should make decisions which are fair and
-reasonable, and preferably consistent with the consensus of the
-Developers.</p>
-<p>When acting together to stand in for an absent Project Leader the
-Chairman of the Technical Committee and the Project Secretary should
-make decisions only when absolutely necessary and only when consistent
-with the consensus of the Developers.</p>
-<h2><a name="item-8" id="item-8">8. The Project Leader's Delegates</a></h2>
-<h3>8.1. Powers</h3>
-<p>The Project Leader's Delegates:</p>
-<ol>
- <li>have powers delegated to them by the Project Leader;</li>
- <li>may make certain decisions which the Leader may not make
- directly, including approving or expelling Developers or designating
- people as Developers who do not maintain packages. <cite>This is to
- avoid concentration of power, particularly over membership as a
- Developer, in the hands of the Project Leader.</cite></li>
-</ol>
-<h3>8.2. Appointment</h3>
-<p>The Delegates are appointed by the Project Leader and may be
-replaced by the Leader at the Leader's discretion. The Project Leader
-may not make the position as a Delegate conditional on particular
-decisions by the Delegate, nor may they override a decision made by a
-Delegate once made.</p>
-<h3>8.3. Procedure</h3>
-<p>Delegates may make decisions as they see fit, but should attempt to
-implement good technical decisions and/or follow consensus opinion.</p>
-<h2><a name="item-9" id="item-9">9. Assets held in trust for Debian</a></h2>
-<p>In most jurisdictions around the world, the Debian project is not
-in a position to directly hold funds or other property. Therefore,
-property has to be owned by any of a number of organisations as
-detailed in §9.2.</p>
-<p>Traditionally, SPI was the sole organisation authorized to hold
-property and monies for the Debian Project. SPI was created in
-the U.S. to hold money in trust there.</p>
-<p><a href="http://www.spi-inc.org/">SPI</a> and Debian are separate
-organisations who share some goals.
-Debian is grateful for the legal support framework offered by SPI.</p>
-<h3>9.1. Relationship with Associated Organizations</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>Debian Developers do not become agents or employees of
- organisations holding assets in trust for Debian, or of
- each other, or of persons in authority in the Debian Project,
- solely by the virtue of being Debian Developers. A person
- acting as a Developer does so as an individual, on their own
- behalf. Such organisations may, of their own accord,
- establish relationships with individuals who are also Debian
- developers.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h3>9.2. Authority</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>
- <p>An organisation holding assets for Debian has no authority
- regarding Debian's technical or nontechnical decisions, except
- that no decision by Debian with respect to any property held
- by the organisation shall require it to act outside its legal
- authority.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Debian claims no authority over an organisation that holds
- assets for Debian other than that over the use of property
- held in trust for Debian.</p>
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h3>9.3. Trusted organisations</h3>
-<p>Any donations for the Debian Project must be made to any one of a
-set of organisations designated by the Project leader (or a
-delegate) to be authorized to handle assets to be used for the
-Debian Project.</p>
-<p>Organisations holding assets in trust for Debian should
-undertake reasonable obligations for the handling of such
-assets.</p>
-<p>Debian maintains a public List of Trusted Organisations that
-accept donations and hold assets in trust for Debian
-(including both tangible property and intellectual property)
-that includes the commitments those organisations have made as
-to how those assets will be handled.</p>
-<h2><a name="item-A" id="item-A">A. Standard Resolution Procedure</a></h2>
-<p>These rules apply to communal decision-making by committees and
-plebiscites, where stated above.</p>
-<h3>A.1. Proposal</h3>
-<p>The formal procedure begins when a draft resolution is proposed and
-sponsored, as required.</p>
-<h3>A.1. Discussion and Amendment</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>Following the proposal, the resolution may be discussed.
- Amendments may be made formal by being proposed and sponsored
- according to the requirements for a new resolution, or directly by
- the proposer of the original resolution.</li>
- <li>A formal amendment may be accepted by the resolution's proposer,
- in which case the formal resolution draft is immediately changed to
- match.</li>
- <li>If a formal amendment is not accepted, or one of the sponsors of
- the resolution does not agree with the acceptance by the proposer of
- a formal amendment, the amendment remains as an amendment and will be
- voted on.</li>
- <li>If an amendment accepted by the original proposer is not to the
- liking of others, they may propose another amendment to reverse the
- earlier change (again, they must meet the requirements for proposer
- and sponsor(s).)</li>
- <li>The proposer of a resolution may suggest changes to the wordings
- of amendments; these take effect if the proposer of the amendment
- agrees and none of the sponsors object. In this case the changed
- amendments will be voted on instead of the originals.</li>
- <li>The proposer of a resolution may make changes to correct minor
- errors (for example, typographical errors or inconsistencies) or
- changes which do not alter the meaning, providing noone objects
- within 24 hours. In this case the minimum discussion period is not
- restarted.</li>
-</ol>
-<h3>A.2. Calling for a vote</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>The proposer or a sponsor of a motion or an amendment may call
- for a vote, providing that the minimum discussion period (if any) has
- elapsed.</li>
- <li>
- The proposer or any sponsor of a resolution may call for a vote on that
- resolution and all related amendments.
- </li>
- <li>The person who calls for a vote states what they believe the
- wordings of the resolution and any relevant amendments are, and
- consequently what form the ballot should take. However, the final
- decision on the form of ballot(s) is the Secretary's - see 7.1(1),
- 7.1(3) and A.3(4).</li>
- <li>
- The minimum discussion period is counted from the time the last
- formal amendment was accepted, or since the whole resolution
- was proposed if no amendments have been proposed and accepted.
- </li>
-</ol>
-<h3>A.3. Voting procedure</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>
- Each resolution and its related amendments is voted on in a
- single ballot that includes an option for the original
- resolution, each amendment, and the default option (where
- applicable).
- </li>
- <li>
- The default option must not have any supermajority requirements.
- Options which do not have an explicit supermajority requirement
- have a 1:1 majority requirement.
- </li>
- <li>
- The votes are counted according to the rules in A.6. The
- default option is <q>Further Discussion</q>, unless specified
- otherwise.
- </li>
- <li>In cases of doubt the Project Secretary shall decide on matters
- of procedure.</li>
-</ol>
-<h3>A.4. Withdrawing resolutions or unaccepted amendments</h3>
-<p>The proposer of a resolution or unaccepted amendment may withdraw
-it. In this case new proposers may come forward keep it alive, in which
-case the first person to do so becomes the new proposer and any others
-become sponsors if they aren't sponsors already.</p>
-<p>A sponsor of a resolution or amendment (unless it has been
-accepted) may withdraw.</p>
-<p>If the withdrawal of the proposer and/or sponsors means that a
-resolution has no proposer or not enough sponsors it will not be voted
-on unless this is rectified before the resolution expires.</p>
-<h3>A.5. Expiry</h3>
-<p>
- If a proposed resolution has not been discussed, amended, voted on or
- otherwise dealt with for 4 weeks the secretary may issue a statement
- that the issue is being withdrawn. If none of the sponsors of any
- of the proposals object within a week, the issue is withdrawn.
-</p>
-<p>
- The secretary may also include suggestions on how to proceed,
- if appropriate.
-</p>
-<h3>A.6. Vote Counting</h3>
-<ol>
- <li> Each voter's ballot ranks the options being voted on. Not all
- options need be ranked. Ranked options are considered
- preferred to all unranked options. Voters may rank options
- equally. Unranked options are considered to be ranked equally
- with one another. Details of how ballots may be filled out
- will be included in the Call For Votes.
- </li>
- <li> If the ballot has a quorum requirement R any options other
- than the default option which do not receive at least R votes
- ranking that option above the default option are dropped from
- consideration.
- </li>
- <li> Any (non-default) option which does not defeat the default option
- by its required majority ratio is dropped from consideration.
- <ol>
- <li>
- Given two options A and B, V(A,B) is the number of voters
- who prefer option A over option B.
- </li>
- <li>
- An option A defeats the default option D by a majority
- ratio N, if V(A,D) is strictly greater than N * V(D,A).
- </li>
- <li>
- If a supermajority of S:1 is required for A, its majority ratio
- is S; otherwise, its majority ratio is 1.
- </li>
- </ol>
- </li>
- <li> From the list of undropped options, we generate a list of
- pairwise defeats.
- <ol>
- <li>
- An option A defeats an option B, if V(A,B) is strictly greater
- than V(B,A).
- </li>
- </ol>
- </li>
- <li> From the list of [undropped] pairwise defeats, we generate a
- set of transitive defeats.
- <ol>
- <li>
- An option A transitively defeats an option C if A defeats
- C or if there is some other option B where A defeats B AND
- B transitively defeats C.
- </li>
- </ol>
- </li>
- <li> We construct the Schwartz set from the set of transitive defeats.
- <ol>
- <li>
- An option A is in the Schwartz set if for all options B,
- either A transitively defeats B, or B does not transitively
- defeat A.
- </li>
- </ol>
- </li>
- <li> If there are defeats between options in the Schwartz set,
- we drop the weakest such defeats from the list of pairwise
- defeats, and return to step 5.
- <ol>
- <li>
- A defeat (A,X) is weaker than a defeat (B,Y) if V(A,X)
- is less than V(B,Y). Also, (A,X) is weaker than (B,Y) if
- V(A,X) is equal to V(B,Y) and V(X,A) is greater than V(Y,B).
- </li>
- <li>
- A weakest defeat is a defeat that has no other defeat weaker
- than it. There may be more than one such defeat.
- </li>
- </ol>
- </li>
- <li> If there are no defeats within the Schwartz set, then the winner
- is chosen from the options in the Schwartz set. If there is
- only one such option, it is the winner. If there are multiple
- options, the elector with the casting vote chooses which of those
- options wins.
- </li>
-</ol>
-<p>
- <strong>Note:</strong> Options which the voters rank above the default option
- are options they find acceptable. Options ranked below the default
- options are options they find unacceptable.
-</p>
-<p><cite>When the Standard Resolution Procedure is to be used, the text
-which refers to it must specify what is sufficient to have a draft
-resolution proposed and/or sponsored, what the minimum discussion
-period is, and what the voting period is. It must also specify any
-supermajority and/or the quorum (and default option) to be
-used.</cite></p>
-<h2><a name="item-B" id="item-B">B. Use of language and typography</a></h2>
-<p>The present indicative (<q>is</q>, for example) means that the statement
-is a rule in this constitution. <q>May</q> or <q>can</q> indicates that the
-person or body has discretion. <q>Should</q> means that it would be
-considered a good thing if the sentence were obeyed, but it is not
-binding. <cite>Text marked as a citation, such as this, is rationale
-and does not form part of the constitution. It may be used only to aid
-interpretation in cases of doubt.</cite></p>
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+++ /dev/null
-===== TC RESOLUTION STARTS =====
-
-1. The Debian Technical Committee hereby exercises its power in
- 4.2(1) of the Debian Constitution to propose the following
- General Resolution:
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS -----
-
- Constitutional Amendment: Permit TC to hold informal private conversations
-
- On a number of occasions recently, enquirers have emailed TC
- members' personal addreses to informally seek members' views. This
- has worked well; however it is not clear that Constitution permits
- it. This situation should be regularised.
-
- On occasion the TC has been asked to decide on maintainership of
- packages. It is very difficult to hold the necessary discussions,
- which inevitably involve discussion of personalities, in public.
-
- At the moment the TC is unable to take on a mediation role, since
- mediation necessarily involves each party to a dispute conversing
- privately with the mediator. The TC should be able to mediate if
- the TC, and parties to a dispute, wish it to do so.
-
- Actual decisionmaking must still place in public of course.
-
- Therefore, amend the Debian Constitution 6.3 as follows (wdiff -i):
-
- 3. Public [-discussion and-] decision-making.
-
- [-Discussion,-]
- Draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by members of the
- committee, are made public on the Technical Committee public
- discussion list. There is no separate secretary for the
- Committee.
-
- [+<cite>The Technical Committee should limit private
- discussions to situations where holding the conversation in
- public would be infeasible or counterproductive.</cite>+]
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----
+++ /dev/null
-===== TC RESOLUTION STARTS =====
-
-1. The Debian Technical Committee hereby exercises its power in
- 4.2(1) of the Debian Constitution to propose the following
- General Resolution:
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS -----
-
- Constitutional Amendment: Fix duplicate section numbering.
-
- The current Debian Constitution has two sections numbered A.1.
- This does not currently give rise to any ambiguity but it is
- undesirable.
-
- Fix this with the following semantically neutral amendment:
-
- - Renumber the first section A.1 to A.0.
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----
+++ /dev/null
-=== TC RESOLUTION STARTS ===
-
-1. The Debian Technical Committee hereby exercises its power in 4.2(1)
- of the Debian Constitution to propose a General Resolution,
- and according to A.1(1) the TC also proposes an amendment.
-
- The proposed texts of the two resulting options for the General
- Resolution are as follows:
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS, COMMON INTRODUCTORY TEXT -----
-
- Advice to the TC on overruling maintainers
-
- In the past the Technical Committee have been reluctant to overrule
- a maintainer unless all the members are absolutely convinced that
- the maintainer's decision was wrong.
-
- The TC has sought the views of the Developers. Accordingly, the
- Developers advise, in their (non-binding) opinion, that:
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION OPTION A -----
-
- The Technical Committee's approach so far has been correct.
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION OPTION B -----
-
- Technical Committee members should be willing to vote to overrule if
- they feel that the maintainer's decision was wrong; the
- supermajority requirement is sufficient to guard against overruling
- in questionable cases.
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----
-
+++ /dev/null
-=== TC RESOLUTION STARTS ===
-
-1. The Debian Technical Committee hereby exercises its power in
- 4.2(1) of the Debian Constitution to propose the following
- General Resolution:
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS -----
-
- Constitutional Amendment- TC Supermajority Fix
-
- Prior to the Clone Proof SSD GR in June 2003, the Technical
- Committee could overrule a Developer with a supermajority of 3:1.
-
- Unfortunately, the definition of supermajorities in the SSD GR has a
- fencepost error. In the new text a supermajority requirement is met
- only if the ratio of votes in favour to votes against is strictly
- greater than the supermajority ratio.
-
- In the context of the Technical Committee voting to overrule a
- developer that means that it takes 4 votes to overcome a single
- dissenter. And with a maximum committee size of 8, previously two
- dissenters could be overruled by all 6 remaining members; now that
- is no longer possible.
-
- This change was unintentional, was contrary to the original intent
- of the Constitution, and is unhelpful.
-
- Therefore, amend the Debian Constitution as follows:
-
- (i) Replace "majority" with "supermajority" everywhere a ratio
- other than 1:1 is specified. That is, in
- 4.1(2) -- Developers' power to amend the Constitution
- 4.1(4) -- Developers' power to overrule the TC
- 4.1(5)(3) -- Developers' power to amend Foundation Documents
- 6.1(4) -- TC's power to overrule a Developer (both occurrences)
- replace the word "majority" with "supermajority".
-
- (ii) In A.6(3):
-
- 3. Any (non-default) option which does not defeat the default
- option by its required majority ratio is dropped from
- consideration.
- 1. Given two options A and B, V(A,B) is the number of voters
- who prefer option A over option B.
- - 2. An option A defeats the default option D by a majority
- - ratio N, if V(A,D) is strictly greater than N * V(D,A).
- - 3. If a supermajority of S:1 is required for A, its majority
- - ratio is S; otherwise, its majority ratio is 1.
- + 2. An option A defeats the default option D by its
- + required majority ratio if both:
- + (a) V(A,D) is strictly greater than V(D,A); and
- + (b) if a supermajority of N:M is required for A,
- + M * V(A,D) is greater than or equal to N * V(D,A).
-
- (iii) In A.3(2) "Voting procedure", delete as follows:
- 2. The default option must not have any supermajority requirements.
- - Options which do not have an explicit supermajority requirement
- - have a 1:1 majority requirement.
-
- The effect is to fix the fencepost bug, and make the wording
- consistent, by always referring to "supermajorities" where
- applicable. A 1:1 vote will need strictly more in favour than
- against, but an N:1 vote will need only exactly N:1. This will
- also have a (negligible) effect on any General Resolutions
- requiring supermajorities.
-
- For the avoidance of any doubt, this change does not affect any
- votes (whether General Resolutions or votes in the Technical
- Committee) in progress at the time the change is made.
-
- ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----
--- /dev/null
+===== TC RESOLUTION STARTS =====
+
+1. The Debian Technical Committee hereby exercises its power in
+ 4.2(1) of the Debian Constitution to propose the following
+ General Resolution:
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS -----
+
+ Constitutional Amendment: Permit TC to hold informal private conversations
+
+ On a number of occasions recently, enquirers have emailed TC
+ members' personal addreses to informally seek members' views. This
+ has worked well; however it is not clear that Constitution permits
+ it. This situation should be regularised.
+
+ On occasion the TC has been asked to decide on maintainership of
+ packages. It is very difficult to hold the necessary discussions,
+ which inevitably involve discussion of personalities, in public.
+
+ At the moment the TC is unable to take on a mediation role, since
+ mediation necessarily involves each party to a dispute conversing
+ privately with the mediator. The TC should be able to mediate if
+ the TC, and parties to a dispute, wish it to do so.
+
+ Actual decisionmaking must still place in public of course.
+
+ Therefore, amend the Debian Constitution 6.3 as follows (wdiff -i):
+
+ 3. Public [-discussion and-] decision-making.
+
+ [-Discussion,-]
+ Draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by members of the
+ committee, are made public on the Technical Committee public
+ discussion list. There is no separate secretary for the
+ Committee.
+
+ [+<cite>The Technical Committee should limit private
+ discussions to situations where holding the conversation in
+ public would be infeasible or counterproductive.</cite>+]
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----
--- /dev/null
+===== TC RESOLUTION STARTS =====
+
+1. The Debian Technical Committee hereby exercises its power in
+ 4.2(1) of the Debian Constitution to propose the following
+ General Resolution:
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS -----
+
+ Constitutional Amendment: Fix duplicate section numbering.
+
+ The current Debian Constitution has two sections numbered A.1.
+ This does not currently give rise to any ambiguity but it is
+ undesirable.
+
+ Fix this with the following semantically neutral amendment:
+
+ - Renumber the first section A.1 to A.0.
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----
--- /dev/null
+=== TC RESOLUTION STARTS ===
+
+1. The Debian Technical Committee hereby exercises its power in 4.2(1)
+ of the Debian Constitution to propose a General Resolution,
+ and according to A.1(1) the TC also proposes an amendment.
+
+ The proposed texts of the two resulting options for the General
+ Resolution are as follows:
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS, COMMON INTRODUCTORY TEXT -----
+
+ Advice to the TC on overruling maintainers
+
+ In the past the Technical Committee have been reluctant to overrule
+ a maintainer unless all the members are absolutely convinced that
+ the maintainer's decision was wrong.
+
+ The TC has sought the views of the Developers. Accordingly, the
+ Developers advise, in their (non-binding) opinion, that:
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION OPTION A -----
+
+ The Technical Committee's approach so far has been correct.
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION OPTION B -----
+
+ Technical Committee members should be willing to vote to overrule if
+ they feel that the maintainer's decision was wrong; the
+ supermajority requirement is sufficient to guard against overruling
+ in questionable cases.
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----
+
--- /dev/null
+=== TC RESOLUTION STARTS ===
+
+1. The Debian Technical Committee hereby exercises its power in
+ 4.2(1) of the Debian Constitution to propose the following
+ General Resolution:
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS -----
+
+ Constitutional Amendment- TC Supermajority Fix
+
+ Prior to the Clone Proof SSD GR in June 2003, the Technical
+ Committee could overrule a Developer with a supermajority of 3:1.
+
+ Unfortunately, the definition of supermajorities in the SSD GR has a
+ fencepost error. In the new text a supermajority requirement is met
+ only if the ratio of votes in favour to votes against is strictly
+ greater than the supermajority ratio.
+
+ In the context of the Technical Committee voting to overrule a
+ developer that means that it takes 4 votes to overcome a single
+ dissenter. And with a maximum committee size of 8, previously two
+ dissenters could be overruled by all 6 remaining members; now that
+ is no longer possible.
+
+ This change was unintentional, was contrary to the original intent
+ of the Constitution, and is unhelpful.
+
+ Therefore, amend the Debian Constitution as follows:
+
+ (i) Replace "majority" with "supermajority" everywhere a ratio
+ other than 1:1 is specified. That is, in
+ 4.1(2) -- Developers' power to amend the Constitution
+ 4.1(4) -- Developers' power to overrule the TC
+ 4.1(5)(3) -- Developers' power to amend Foundation Documents
+ 6.1(4) -- TC's power to overrule a Developer (both occurrences)
+ replace the word "majority" with "supermajority".
+
+ (ii) In A.6(3):
+
+ 3. Any (non-default) option which does not defeat the default
+ option by its required majority ratio is dropped from
+ consideration.
+ 1. Given two options A and B, V(A,B) is the number of voters
+ who prefer option A over option B.
+ - 2. An option A defeats the default option D by a majority
+ - ratio N, if V(A,D) is strictly greater than N * V(D,A).
+ - 3. If a supermajority of S:1 is required for A, its majority
+ - ratio is S; otherwise, its majority ratio is 1.
+ + 2. An option A defeats the default option D by its
+ + required majority ratio if both:
+ + (a) V(A,D) is strictly greater than V(D,A); and
+ + (b) if a supermajority of N:M is required for A,
+ + M * V(A,D) is greater than or equal to N * V(D,A).
+
+ (iii) In A.3(2) "Voting procedure", delete as follows:
+ 2. The default option must not have any supermajority requirements.
+ - Options which do not have an explicit supermajority requirement
+ - have a 1:1 majority requirement.
+
+ The effect is to fix the fencepost bug, and make the wording
+ consistent, by always referring to "supermajorities" where
+ applicable. A 1:1 vote will need strictly more in favour than
+ against, but an N:1 vote will need only exactly N:1. This will
+ also have a (negligible) effect on any General Resolutions
+ requiring supermajorities.
+
+ For the avoidance of any doubt, this change does not affect any
+ votes (whether General Resolutions or votes in the Technical
+ Committee) in progress at the time the change is made.
+
+ ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----