On Sat, Jun 01, 2019 at 04:10:45PM -1000, Public mailing list for Arch Linux development wrote:
Hi Christian,
[2019-06-02 01:08:30 +0200] Christian Rebischke via arch-dev-public:
inspired by the last thread about moving proprietary software to community, our general problem of getting more people involved in Arch Linux and the (for me) chaotic organisation structure and hierarchy I would like to propose a discussion about changes.
I seem to recall we've had a similar discussion just a couple of months ago but allow me to reiterate some key points.
First, contrary to what you keep saying, the process by which devs make decisions is very clear: by discussing things until a consensus emerges. In extreme cases where a consensus cannot be reached, we can take a vote or let our leader decide, but this has never happened in the nine years I've been a dev.
Hi Gaetan, Thanks for your mail. I remember now that you have told me this some months ago. This leads to a question: Why are these types of dicussions not public?
I've been a dev. To the best of my knowledge, we're all very happy with this system and do not want to change it.
Who do you mean with 'we'? Are you sure you speak for all devs and TUs here?
Second, our current organizational structure has served us well for many years. What problem are you trying to solve by overhauling it? What piece of evidence do you have that your suggestions will fix those problems? I'm certainly going to support imposing more bureaucracy just for the sake of bureaucracy. Again, if a certain system works for TUs, I'm glad and I'm certainly not going to impose my views on how TUs work; after all, that's why the TUs were made a self-governing body.
Well, that's point. I don't really think the current system works as it could be. Why being happy with the current state of organisation if we could achieve much more with a more simplified and more contributor friendly model? And this 'self-governing body' is exactly what I don't like. It increases this 'we and them' like thinking. Furthermore my suggestions are not the best solution, it was just a start for discussing our current structure. If you and the others see no point in changing the current structure this is totally fine, I just think it's important to rethink processes from time over time.
Cheers.
-- Gaetan