From patchwork Fri Jan 10 17:15:20 2025 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Patchwork-Submitter: =?utf-8?q?Ludovic_Court=C3=A8s?= X-Patchwork-Id: 36874 Return-Path: X-Original-To: patchwork@mira.cbaines.net Delivered-To: patchwork@mira.cbaines.net Received: by mira.cbaines.net (Postfix, from userid 113) id 79C1527BBEA; Fri, 10 Jan 2025 17:16:29 +0000 (GMT) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.6 (2021-04-09) on mira.cbaines.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-7.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,DKIMWL_WL_HIGH, DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_BLOCKED, RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_CERTIFIED,RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_RPBL,RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_SAFE, SPF_HELO_PASS,URIBL_BLOCKED autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.6 Received: from lists.gnu.org (lists.gnu.org [209.51.188.17]) by mira.cbaines.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8A5FD27BBE2 for ; Fri, 10 Jan 2025 17:16:26 +0000 (GMT) Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1tWIcC-0002pH-Qw; Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:16:09 -0500 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1tWIcA-0002oT-0M for guix-patches@gnu.org; Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:16:06 -0500 Received: from debbugs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:5::43]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:128) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1tWIc5-00067s-SE for guix-patches@gnu.org; Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:16:05 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=debbugs.gnu.org; s=debbugs-gnu-org; h=MIME-Version:Date:References:In-Reply-To:From:To:Subject; bh=CJJw9VOrmgByYNmp5JOq+KT+9dsEr/5zILrMth0J3F0=; b=ogC4fQFE7lVtydjEdMpMwv3uWw0Yegz3hqjKqu9+Cz6ZwGUDt1ebKiAyezRzW94gDHafe1VJ/GgZngXwibSk3OG/H8XNbaAPmN5Ye+Q2JHtT5FdaPfMVKdaDsxrM0V47wjgicVVYnZ+/ygOW4y3i9Fmshg9+DsULUz3UlMDTv1CyVZDLDPKK73G4p2zodRtBcioLMC/dRRN6GMefg+neQ0DCZN6fne6KV5Vj6oqYotq6bz5waQsBldZKXmlkXXp6Muvap5vgKsOZCQAYySKlO978nxLJ+S5kqbcjOzitjmwfgD2eaf6+WQR7x97T1T/2f1xvuAARGXowlc6tQ87ltw==; Received: from Debian-debbugs by debbugs.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1tWIc5-0005BW-MX for guix-patches@gnu.org; Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:16:01 -0500 X-Loop: help-debbugs@gnu.org Subject: [bug#74736] [PATCH v8] Add Request-For-Comment process. Resent-From: Ludovic =?utf-8?q?Court=C3=A8s?= Original-Sender: "Debbugs-submit" Resent-CC: guix-patches@gnu.org Resent-Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2025 17:16:01 +0000 Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: help-debbugs@gnu.org X-GNU-PR-Message: followup 74736 X-GNU-PR-Package: guix-patches X-GNU-PR-Keywords: patch To: Simon Tournier Cc: =?utf-8?q?No=C3=A9?= Lopez , =?utf-8?q?No=C3=A9?= Lopez , 74736@debbugs.gnu.org, Christopher Baines Received: via spool by 74736-submit@debbugs.gnu.org id=B74736.173652933819890 (code B ref 74736); Fri, 10 Jan 2025 17:16:01 +0000 Received: (at 74736) by debbugs.gnu.org; 10 Jan 2025 17:15:38 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:58630 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1tWIbg-0005Ai-Nv for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:15:38 -0500 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:46602) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1tWIbd-0005AM-Lp for 74736@debbugs.gnu.org; Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:15:35 -0500 Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1tWIbW-0005ym-Rr; Fri, 10 Jan 2025 12:15:26 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gnu.org; s=fencepost-gnu-org; h=MIME-Version:Date:References:In-Reply-To:Subject:To: From; bh=CJJw9VOrmgByYNmp5JOq+KT+9dsEr/5zILrMth0J3F0=; b=HSZoM+vAALDg2ZwgyXto 5ATNNe+LiO5MXshlyRIy7ebHNrt6R1RBkcW9f3XwBNmlvrIuKoZUtmBRvrq8ouga0+uWeuonEQYMl MFAYue/iuO1LidscWTIaL9X5sKDsm7NsmaOAFbnsrUtygx8oJaD/qoHoreiuglS7+du53Gh6Ldl1x qgT1NQWcsDjQCrMvOhOZyKUsYUh7/nyP4yzasbSZGL0t3qvTXUQ+M4IemMwOHA0Y41dx4RZ5Z8VQA WD2phrd/Gn7KZEdVmqqhzvsv28siXbjyxrIzqJkGsDRrewFrnk7SYVD5BHxqwL+SGr9Hgv2sOeDZu LZmZL6x9fhlstg==; From: Ludovic =?utf-8?q?Court=C3=A8s?= In-Reply-To: <87jzb3h7ps.fsf@gmail.com> (Simon Tournier's message of "Fri, 10 Jan 2025 00:45:51 +0100") References: <87jzb3h7ps.fsf@gmail.com> Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2025 18:15:20 +0100 Message-ID: <877c72lhef.fsf_-_@gnu.org> User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) MIME-Version: 1.0 X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list X-BeenThere: guix-patches@gnu.org List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-patches-bounces+patchwork=mira.cbaines.net@gnu.org Sender: guix-patches-bounces+patchwork=mira.cbaines.net@gnu.org X-getmail-retrieved-from-mailbox: Patches Hello Simon and all, Here’s v8 (based on changes I had made to v6) to account for the many good suggestions that were made in the past few days. Main changes: • New “Roles” section (replacing “Supporters”), where “team member” is defined. • Mention cancellation when sponsors are not found. • ASCII art for the diagram. • Clarify that it is up to the author(s) to decide when to stop the discussion period and start the deliberation period, as long as it’s between 30 and 60 days. • Regarding disapproval, change “must have …” to “should …”. As for the name, I was fine with “RFC”, I’m fine with “Guix Consensus Document” (as pukkamustard suggested), but I would rather avoid “Guix Common Document”, which IMO fails to convey what this is about. Find v8 attached and a diff compared to v7, for clarity (?). I’ll refrain from sending any new version! BTW, should we start using a version control tool? We have to file a Savannah support request to rename the repo though, if there’s consensus about one of the “GCD” names. Ludo’. v7-to-v8 diff: And v8: title: Guix Consensus Document Process id: 001 status: submitted discussion: https://issues.guix.gnu.org/74736 authors: Simon Tournier, Noé Lopez, Ludovic Courtès sponsors: pukkamustard, Ricardo Wurmus date-submitted: 2024-12-12 date: 2025-01-15 SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 OR GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-only --- # Summary This document describes the _Guix Consensus Document_ (GCD) process of the Guix project. The GCD process is intended to provide a consistent and structured way to propose, discuss, and decide on major changes affecting the project. It aims to draw attention of community members on important decisions, technical or not, and to give them a chance to weigh in. # Motivation Day-to-day work on Guix revolves around informal interactions, peer review, and consensus-based decision making. As the community grows, so does the stream of proposed changes, and no single person is able to keep track of all of them. The GCD process is a mechanism to determine whether a proposed change is “significant” enough to require attention from the community at large and if so, to provide a documented way to bring about broad community discussion and to collectively decide on the proposal. A change may be deemed “significant” when it could only be reverted at a high cost or, for technical changes, when it has the potential to disrupt user scripts and programs or user workflows. Examples include: - changing the `` record type and/or its interfaces; - adding or removing a `guix` sub-command; - changing the channel mechanism; - changing project governance policy such as teams, decision making, the deprecation policy, or this very document; - changing the contributor workflow and related infrastructure (mailing lists, source code repository and forge, continuous integration, etc.). # Detailed Design ## When to Follow This Process The GCD process applies only to “significant” changes, which include: - changes that modify user-facing interfaces that may be relied on (command-line interfaces, core Scheme interfaces); - big restructuring of packages; - hard to revert changes; - significant project infrastructure or workflow changes; - governance or changes to the way we collaborate. Someone submitting a patch for any such change may be asked to submit an GCD first. Most day-to-day contributions do *not* require a GCD; examples include: - adding or updating packages, removing outdated packages; - fixing security issues and bugs in a way that does not change interfaces; - updating the manual, updating translations; - changing the configuration of systems part of project infrastructure in a user-invisible way. These day-to-day contributions remain governed by the process described by the manual in its “Contributing” chapter. ## How the Process Works 1. Clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix/guix-consensus-documents.git . 2. Copy `000-template.md` to `XYZ-short-name.md` where `short-name` is a short descriptive name and `XYZ` is the sequence number. 3. Write your GCD following the template’s structure. The GCD must not be prospective; it must formalize an idea and sketch a plan to implement it, even if not all details are known. If it intends to deprecate a previously-accepted GCD, it must explicitly say so. 4. Submit the GCD as a patch to `guix-patches@gnu.org`. 5. Announce your GCD at `guix-devel@gnu.org` and look for *sponsors*: one or more people who will support the GCD and participate in discussions by your side (see below). The GCD is *submitted* once it has at least one sponsor in addition to the author(s). See “Submission Period” below. Submitted GCD is announced at `info-guix@gnu.org`. ## Roles - An *author* is the person or one of the persons submitting the RFC. Authors bear the responsibility to carry out the process to its conclusion. - A *sponsor* is a contributor who, during the submission period (see below), informs the author(s) that they would like to support the RFC by participating in discussions, providing constructive comments to help the author(s), soliciting opinions, and acting as timekeepers. Sponsors should be contributors who consider being sufficiently familiar with the project’s practices; hence it is recommended, but not mandatory, to be a team member. - A *team member* is the member of a team, as defined by the Guix project in the manual. Currently, the list of teams and their members is maintained in the file `etc/teams.scm` in the Guix repository. ## Timeline A GCD must follow the process illustrated by the diagram below, consisting of several *periods*. ``` +-----------+ +- - - - - - ->| Withdrawn |<----------------------+ : +-----------+ | : ^ | : : | +--------------------+ +---------------------+ +---------------------+ | Submission Period | | Discussion Period | | Deliberation Period | | (up to 7 days) |-->| (30–60 days) |-->| (14 days) | +--------------------+ +---------------------+ +---------------------+ | | V +----------+ | Accepted | +----------+ ``` The subsections below detail the various periods and their duration. ### Submission Period (up to 7 days) Anyone can author and submit a GCD as a regular patch and look for sponsors (see below). The GCD is *submitted* once one or more people have volunteered to be sponsors by publicly replying “I sponsor”; it is canceled if no sponsor could be found during that period. The next step is the *discussion period*. Authors may withdraw their GCD at any time; they can resubmit it again later, possibly under a new GCD number. ### Discussion Period (at least 30 days, up to 60 days) Once submitted, the GCD is publicly discussed; authors are encouraged to publish updated versions incorporating feedback during the discussion. When deemed appropriate, between 30 days and 60 days after the start of the discussion period, the author(s) may publish a final version and announce the start of the *deliberation period*. ### Deliberation Period (14 days) All team members can participate in deliberation and are encouraged to do so. Once the final version is published, team members have 14 days to send one of the following replies on the patch-tracking entry of the GCD: - “I support”, meaning that one supports the proposal; - “I accept”, meaning that one consents to the implementation of the proposal; - “I disapprove”, meaning that one opposes the implementation of the proposal. A team member sending this reply should have made constructive comments during the discussion period. The GCD is *accepted* if (1) at least 25% of all team members send a reply, and (2) no one disapproves. In other cases, the GCD is *withdrawn*. Deliberation aims at consolidating consensus; see “Decision Making” below. Anyone who is a team member is a deliberating member and is encouraged to contribute to the deliberation. Team members are defined by the file etc/teams.scm (see “Teams” in the manual). GCD acceptance is not a rubber stamp; in particular, it does not mean the proposal will effectively be implemented, but it does mean that all the participants consent to its implementation. Similarly, withdrawal does not necessarily equate with rejection; it could mean that more discussion and thought is needed before ideas in the GCD are accepted by the community. ## Decision Making Contributors and even more so team members are expected to help build consensus. By using consensus, we are committed to finding solutions that everyone can live with. Thus, no decision is made against significant concerns; these concerns are actively resolved through counter proposals. A deliberating member disapproving a proposal bears a responsibility for finding alternatives, proposing ideas or code, or explaining the rationale for the status quo. To learn what consensus decision making means and understand its finer details, you are encouraged to read . ## Merging Final GCDs Whether it is accepted or withdrawn, a committer merges the final GCD following these steps: 1. filling in the remaining metadata in the GCD headers (changing the `status` to `accepted` or `withdrawn`; adding the URL of the discussion in the `discussion` header; updating the `date` header; if previously-accepted GCDs are deprecated by this new GCD, change the `status` header accordingly); 2. committing everything; 3. announcing the publication of the GCD. All the GCDs are dual-licensed under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) license and the [GNU Free Documentation License 1.3, with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html) or (at your option) any later version. ## GCD Template The expected structure of GCDs is captured by the template in the file `000-template.md`, written in English with Markdown syntax. ## Cost of Reverting The GCD process described in this document can be amended by subsequent GCDs. ## Drawbacks There is a risk that the additional process will hinder contribution more than it would help. We should stay alert that the process is only a way to help contribution, not an end in itself. Discussions could easily have a low signal-to-noise ratio. We will collectively pay attention to over- and under-representation of voices and notably avoid repeating arguments, avoid using exclusionary jargon, and solicit opinions of those who remained silent. ## Open Issues There are still questions regarding the desired scope of the process. While we want to ensure that technical changes that affect users are well-considered, we certainly don’t want the process to become unduly burdensome. This is a careful balance which will require care to maintain moving forward. --- /home/ludo/doc/guix/001-gcd-process.md 2025-01-10 17:47:35.269850711 +0100 +++ /home/ludo/doc/guix/001-gcd-process-v2.md 2025-01-10 18:07:43.556236460 +0100 @@ -1,17 +1,17 @@ -title: Guix Common Document Process +title: Guix Consensus Document Process id: 001 status: submitted discussion: https://issues.guix.gnu.org/74736 authors: Simon Tournier, Noé Lopez, Ludovic Courtès -sponsor: ? -submitted: 2024-12-08 +sponsors: pukkamustard, Ricardo Wurmus +date-submitted: 2024-12-12 date: 2025-01-15 SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 OR GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-only --- # Summary -This document describes the _Guix Common Document_ (GCD) process of the +This document describes the _Guix Consensus Document_ (GCD) process of the Guix project. The GCD process is intended to provide a consistent and structured way to propose, discuss, and decide on major changes affecting the project. It aims to draw attention of community members @@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ Someone submitting a patch for any such change may be asked to submit an GCD first. -Most day-to-day contributions do *not* require an GCD; examples include: +Most day-to-day contributions do *not* require a GCD; examples include: - adding or updating packages, removing outdated packages; - fixing security issues and bugs in a way that does not change @@ -72,9 +72,10 @@ ## How the Process Works -1. Clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix/guix-common-document.git #TODO: +1. Clone + https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix/guix-consensus-documents.git . 2. Copy `000-template.md` to `XYZ-short-name.md` where `short-name` - is a short descriptive name long and `XYZ` is the sequence number. + is a short descriptive name and `XYZ` is the sequence number. 3. Write your GCD following the template’s structure. The GCD must not be prospective; it must formalize an idea and sketch a plan to implement it, even if not all details are known. If it intends to @@ -89,58 +90,62 @@ Submitted GCD is announced at `info-guix@gnu.org`. -## Sponsors +## Roles -A sponsor is a contributor sufficiently familiar with the project’s -practices, hence it is recommended, but not mandatory, to be a team -member. Sponsors do not have to agree with all the points of the GCD -but should generally be satisfied that the proposed additions are a good -thing for the community. - -Sponsors help the author(s) by participating in discussions, amending -the document as it is being discussed, and acting as timekeepers. - -As sponsor, please make sure that all have the time and space for -expressing their comments. The GCD is about significant changes, thus -more opinions is better than less. + - An *author* is the person or one of the persons submitting the RFC. + Authors bear the responsibility to carry out the process to its + conclusion. + + - A *sponsor* is a contributor who, during the submission period (see + below), informs the author(s) that they would like to support the + RFC by participating in discussions, providing constructive comments + to help the author(s), soliciting opinions, and acting as + timekeepers. + + Sponsors should be contributors who consider being sufficiently + familiar with the project’s practices; hence it is recommended, but + not mandatory, to be a team member. + + - A *team member* is the member of a team, as defined by the Guix + project in the manual. Currently, the list of teams and their + members is maintained in the file `etc/teams.scm` in the Guix + repository. ## Timeline -The lifetime of an GCD is structured into the following recommended -periods: +A GCD must follow the process illustrated by the diagram below, +consisting of several *periods*. -![diagram.svg](Diagram of the GCD process.) -```dot -digraph "GCD Timeline" { - submission [label=up to 7 days>] - discussion [label=30–60 days>] - deliberation[label=14 days>] - withdrawn [label=Withdrawn, shape=rectangle] - accepted [label=Accepted, shape=rectangle] - - submission -> discussion - submission -> withdrawn - discussion -> deliberation - deliberation -> withdrawn - deliberation -> accepted - - withdrawn -> submission [label="New version"] - - discussion -> withdrawn -} +``` + +-----------+ + +- - - - - - ->| Withdrawn |<----------------------+ + : +-----------+ | + : ^ | + : : | ++--------------------+ +---------------------+ +---------------------+ +| Submission Period | | Discussion Period | | Deliberation Period | +| (up to 7 days) |-->| (30–60 days) |-->| (14 days) | ++--------------------+ +---------------------+ +---------------------+ + | + | + V + +----------+ + | Accepted | + +----------+ ``` -The subsections below detail the various stages and their duration. +The subsections below detail the various periods and their duration. ### Submission Period (up to 7 days) -Anyone can author and submit an GCD as a regular patch and look for -sponsor (see below). The GCD is *submitted* once one or more people -publicly reply “I sponsor” and volunteers to be sponsors; the next -step is the *discussion period*. +Anyone can author and submit a GCD as a regular patch and look for +sponsors (see below). The GCD is *submitted* once one or more people +have volunteered to be sponsors by publicly replying “I sponsor”; it is +canceled if no sponsor could be found during that period. The next step +is the *discussion period*. -Author(s) may withdraw their GCD at any time; they can resubmit it again +Authors may withdraw their GCD at any time; they can resubmit it again later, possibly under a new GCD number. ### Discussion Period (at least 30 days, up to 60 days) @@ -148,13 +153,14 @@ Once submitted, the GCD is publicly discussed; authors are encouraged to publish updated versions incorporating feedback during the discussion. -Once the discussion settles, at the latest after 60 days, the author(s) -publish a final version, leading to the *deliberation period*. +When deemed appropriate, between 30 days and 60 days after the start +of the discussion period, the author(s) may publish a final version and +announce the start of the *deliberation period*. ### Deliberation Period (14 days) -All members of any team of the Guix project can participate in -deliberation and are encouraged to do so. +All team members can participate in deliberation and are encouraged to +do so. Once the final version is published, team members have 14 days to send one of the following replies on the patch-tracking entry of the GCD: @@ -163,9 +169,8 @@ - “I accept”, meaning that one consents to the implementation of the proposal; - “I disapprove”, meaning that one opposes the implementation of the - proposal. A team member sending this reply must have actively - cooperated with for discussing the RFC during the discussion period. - See “Decision Making”. + proposal. A team member sending this reply should have made + constructive comments during the discussion period. The GCD is *accepted* if (1) at least 25% of all team members send a reply, and (2) no one disapproves. In other cases, the GCD is @@ -174,7 +179,7 @@ Deliberation aims at consolidating consensus; see “Decision Making” below. -Anyone who is a team member is a deliberating member and is asked +Anyone who is a team member is a deliberating member and is encouraged to contribute to the deliberation. Team members are defined by the file etc/teams.scm (see “Teams” in the manual). @@ -219,7 +224,8 @@ 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) license and the [GNU Free Documentation License 1.3, with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover -Texts](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html). +Texts](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html) or (at your option) +any later version. ## GCD Template @@ -228,8 +234,8 @@ ## Cost of Reverting -The GCD process described in this documented can be amended by -subsequent GCDs. +The GCD process described in this document can be amended by subsequent +GCDs. ## Drawbacks