[Spi-private] A question for candidates...

Bruce Perens bruce at perens.com
Mon Jul 17 22:17:20 UTC 2006


Tim Brown wrote:
> How do all candidates (those previously mentioned included - you have views on Debian, Postgres etc I am sure) intend to deal with the trade off between inclusiveness and individual project positions?
>   
This is an interesting question. It makes me think of the problems that
Debian is prone to with such a large community, the fact that Ubuntu has
been able to do some things that did not work for Debian, and that
Ubuntu chose to have their own community rather than work in Debian. Not
that I have an answer yet, but I'll keep looking.
> When we signed up to SPI we viewed them as a governance against bad practice and a support against legal malice.
As important as I believe this is, the problems have been theoretical so
far. So, there is little history to talk about. It would be wonderful if
they stayed theoretical and the world just let us work in peace, but I
don't believe they will.
> In short I am looking for those who will carry consensus[1] in the wider context.
>   
Well, the above hasn't said much about carrying consensus. My best
exercise in that was the development of the Debian Social Contract. We
all pretty much agreed that one was necessary, we discussed it for a
month, and at the end of the month we had a clear majority for approval
and a number of dissenters who recognized that they were in the minority
and were willing to go along with the rest of the group.

They aren't all that easy.

    Thanks

    Bruce



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