On 10/13/2011 9:18 AM, Jürgen Schmidt wrote:
...
Juergen Schmidt may be able to provide more insight here when he can catch
up to the list as he was a member of the CC.
i don't really want to comment on this because of my history. The general
idea and intention of the CC was good but in practise in was never able to
operate or run in the way it should. So let us focus on finding our own new
way...
I am sure that over time we will find a way that is Apache conform and that
will reflect the way how we work here. Some kind of governance will
establish automatically in different areas. We will trust people who have
shown expertise in development and code questions, the same for people who
focus on documentation, on marketing, QA etc. We will simply trust lets call
it working groups and will correct things if necessary or something fails.
Apologies: I think I was unclear in my original note, as several replies
seem to show.
I have no interest in replicating any previous governance structures, or
even necessarily using them as models in future governance. The Apache
PMC structure (here, a Podling PMC) is already well defined, both in
general across Apache projects and in specific here within the Apache
OOo podling.
In particular, factors like the inherent corporate control in many
previous OOo governance structures is something that is explicitly
forbidden at Apache. Likewise, the multiplicity of separate governance
communities (as it seems the various projects had, at least to my
untrained eye) is also something that is not part of the Apache Way.
Similarly, while Apache projects strive to use consensus to drive
projects forward, there is also a clear set of rules for [VOTE]ing to
ensure that formal and binding decisions are made in a timely manner.
To be specific, we have a PPMC that runs the Apache OOo project, and
effectively will be managing the openoffice.org domain and brands.
While various committers here may work in groups or on various Apache
mailing lists to move the project forward, the PPMC is the governing
body. This fairly flat governance model is definitely a change for
those who may have experience with working in OOo in the past.
For those who haven't read it, here's an essay I wrote which I think
would be valuable for people concerned about the independence of PMC
governance here at Apache:
http://communityovercode.com/2011/05/apache-projects-are-independent/
In any case, I was just curious as to what the previous structures were
so I can understand them better, and hopefully be better prepared to
explain to people what has happened in the OpenOffice.org "world".
Sorry if anyone mistook my query to think that I was interested in
replicating any past governance structures - I assure you, I am not.
- Shane
