[Request for Comments] Governance change for Fedora Project

[Haïkel]

2014-08-17 6:17 GMT+02:00 Richard Sewill <rsewill at gmail.com>:
> Thank you for your response helping me understand a little more about FESCo.
>
> The response to me indicates almost everything I thought the board did
> is done by FESCo.
>
> I am told FESCo decides what goes into a release and what does not.
>

Yes, FESCo is the actual technical leadership body, it functions but
sometimes, it had to take decisions that has technical/legal/ethical
issues requiring the board to step in.
That's what is preventing Fedora to have a proper strategic vision and
implementing it.

The council is not replacing FESCo at this moment, we can't break
everything at the same time.
It is likely that the council will assume some of the responsibilities
of the current FESCo, but it can't fully replace it.
There will always be a technical committee to  handle the daily
stewardship of the project.

And why FESCo is not replacing the board ? Mostly because, it does not
represent non-technical contributors and they already have too much on
their plate.

> I am guessing there is a legal department, is this the Redhat legal
> department, that decides legal issues.
> I am guessing the board won't (or can't) reject a Redhat legal
> department opinion.
>

Fedora Legal is handled by Red Hat Legal department based on the
project guidelines

> What exactly does the board do?
>

Currently not much :)

> Is the board a public relations group that handles relations with
> users, other companies, outsiders?
>
> Looking at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Board#Responsibilities doesn't help me.
>

It is supposed to do but without any actual power over the project, it
can't be done

> What is this about
> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Board#Strategic_Philosophy if FESCo
> decides what is
> in the release and what is not in the release?
>
> Does the board have its own set of developers who create strategic
> packages or something?
>

No

> Perhaps we need FESCo doing what it does, a public relations group for
> users and outsiders,
> a group that handles user complaints if the user has difficulty going
> through bugzilla,
> and a group that does strategic thinking?
>

Currently, the trend of Fedoraproject and more generally Distros is
moving downward. We need a stronger leadership, not diluting it. If
there's a group doing strategic thinking, it needs to be able to make
things happen.

> What strategic thinking has the board done in the past,
> by way of examples, so one can understand what strategic thinking
> might be expected in the future?
>

None, we just have no leverage to do that.



> I am guessing the board has a great deal of independence from Redhat,
> but could be wrong.
>
> What is the relationship between Redhat and the board, between Redhat
> and Fedora?
>

Red Hat nominate the FPL which is a Red Hat employee. Usually, it is a
respected Fedora contributor.
The FPL is automatically the chairman of the board, and he has a veto
power and untying vote. I can't remember an occasion when a FPL used
these rights, but I'm fairly new in the board.
5 seats are elected (I hold one those seat)
4 seats are nominated by the FPL

Ironically, since elections had become a name popularity contest
though we hold townhalls etc., FPL have done a pretty good job
balancing out the composition of the board (none of the current FPL
appointed members are employed by Red Hat).

The relation between Red Hat and Fedora is kinda symbiotic, they needs
us as much as we need them.
Red Hat covers our expenses, provides a large part of our
infrastructure, employs people working full-time on Fedora. Fedora is
the foundation upon which RHEL (Red Hat flagship product) is built and
it did well (You may want to watch Paul Frields talk at Flock about
this topic, Paul is a former FPL and later RHEL7 development
coordinator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFl7OQmRLkE)
All of that, couldn't have been done without the Fedora community, to
be successful for both Red Hat and Fedora, we need a pro-active
community, we need leaders, not sheeps.

As someone who's been around for quite a bit, Fedora Project is truly
a community-driven project and most of us intend to keep it like that.
AFAIK, Red Hat representatives we've been working directly with are
pretty supportive of the project, and FPLs have done a pretty good job
advocating the project within Red Hat.

> It wouldn't concern me to learn Redhat pulls the strings behind the
> curtain for Fedora.
> What matters to me is Fedora meeting my needs as a user.
>
> It's fine with me if I learn the board is little more than a
> secretarial function handling tactical details.
> I knew companies that were run by the CEO's secretary leaving the CEO
> to do strategic planning.
> Someone has to be strategic and someone has to be tactical and take
> care of details.
> I knew a company with divisions where the secretary within a
> particular division actually did have
> greater signature authority than the head of the division.
>
> It's not clear, to me, as a user, how these changes will affect users.
> Should I be worried?
>

No, it won't change anything to you. It will affect how we work as a
community and help making strategic-level decisions and implement
them.

H.

> -Rick
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