[bug#74736,v10] Add Guix Consensus Document process
Commit Message
Hi,
I sent v9 (Message-ID: 8734hiskwm.fsf@gmail.com) but that has not
reached the list, hum?! And Hartmut sent a diff as v9, hence v10. :-)
Changes compared to v8:
• Changed some level for the subtitles. And added “Getting Started”.
• Removed trailing dot after repository URL.
• Reworded ’prospective’.
• Removed redundant information about “submitted” and pointed to the
dedicated section. Clarified using the term “draft”.
• Replaced the term RFC by GCD.
• Added a sentence about the role of “Sponsor”. And added a
“Contributor” role. The idea is to rely on that term for clarifying
“author” and who can discuss. But then, the term does not appear…
• Add section “Channel of Communication”.
• Revamped the artist view of the timeline.
• Minor tweaks under “Submission Period”.
• Minor tweaks under “Discussion Period”. Added a paragraph to deal
with the case where “Author” and “Sponsor” vanish.
• Minor tweaks under “Deliberation Period”: moved sentence; removed
redundant information.
• Minor tweaks under “Merging GCD”.
WDYT?
Cheers,
simon
--
--
Comments
Hi Simon,
Simon Tournier <zimon.toutoune@gmail.com> skribis:
> I sent v9 (Message-ID: 8734hiskwm.fsf@gmail.com) but that has not
> reached the list, hum?! And Hartmut sent a diff as v9, hence v10. :-)
Thanks for sending v10, late at night!
It’s of course not the only metric but there’s a bit of possibly
worrying inflation between v8 and v10:
001-gcd-process-v10.md | 116 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------
1 file changed, 68 insertions(+), 48 deletions(-)
> + - A *contributor* is a person contributing to Guix either with code,
> + translation, reviewing, etc. and more broadly any person feeling part
> + of the Guix community.
I would drop the last part, which makes it to fuzzy IMO:
- A *contributor* is a person who has been participating in Guix
activities, for instance by writing or reviewing code, by supporting
users on fora, or by contributing to translations.
> +## Channels of Communication
Rather “Communication Channels”.
> + - The *draft* is sent to `guix-devel@gnu.org`.
s/sent/sent by email/
> +If after 60 days, a final version is not yet published, then a grace period
> +of 14 days is granted. Finally the GCD is considered as *stale* and the last
> +update is picked for the final version.
This is like saying “between 30 and 74 days” in practice.
I would rather stick to the 60-day hard limit and clarify what happens
if author(s) fail to act during that time (starting with the paragraph
just above):
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*. If the authors
fail to do so, the deliberation period automatically starts 60 days
after the start of the discussion period based on the latest version
provided by the author(s).
> -## Merging Final GCDs
> +## Merging GCD
“Merging GCDs”
> -Whether it is accepted or withdrawn, a committer merges the final GCD
> -following these steps:
> +Whether it is accepted or withdrawn, a person who has commit permission
“a person with commit rights”
I think it’s a good document at this point!
Ludo’.
@@ -70,37 +70,39 @@
These day-to-day contributions remain governed by the process described
by the manual in its “Contributing” chapter.
-## How the Process Works
+# How the Process Works
+
+## Getting Started
1. Clone
- https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix/guix-consensus-documents.git .
+ 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
+3. Write your GCD following the template’s structure. The GCD must
+ describe a concrete idea and sketch a plan to implement it, even
+ if not all details are known; the GCD must not be a brainstorming
+ session or a vague idea but a concrete proposal. 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`.
+The GCD is now in “draft” state and will be *submitted* once it has at least
+one sponsor in addition to the author(s). See “Submission Period” below.
## Roles
- - An *author* is the person or one of the persons submitting the RFC.
+ - An *author* is the person or one of the persons submitting the GCD.
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
+ GCD by participating in discussions, providing constructive comments
to help the author(s), soliciting opinions, and acting as
- timekeepers.
+ timekeepers. As a sponsor, please make sure that all have the time
+ and space for expressing their comments.
Sponsors should be contributors who consider being sufficiently
familiar with the project’s practices; hence it is recommended, but
@@ -111,6 +113,20 @@
members is maintained in the file `etc/teams.scm` in the Guix
repository.
+ - A *contributor* is a person contributing to Guix either with code,
+ translation, reviewing, etc. and more broadly any person feeling part
+ of the Guix community.
+
+## Channels of Communication
+
+ - The *draft* is sent to `guix-devel@gnu.org`.
+
+ - Once *submitted*, the GCD is announced to `info-guix@gnu.org` and discussed
+ using the assigned issue number.
+
+ - The *final* document is published to `info-guix@gnu.org` and the
+ deliberating replies are sent to the assigned issue number.
+
## Timeline
A GCD must follow the process illustrated by the diagram below,
@@ -118,49 +134,60 @@
```
- +-----------+
- +- - - - - - ->| Withdrawn |<----------------------+
- : +-----------+ |
- : ^ |
- : : |
-+--------------------+ +---------------------+ +---------------------+
-| Submission Period | | Discussion Period | | Deliberation Period |
-| (up to 7 days) |-->| (30–60 days) |-->| (14 days) |
-+--------------------+ +---------------------+ +---------------------+
- |
- |
+ draft submitted final
++--------------------+ +---------------------+ +---------------------+
+| Submission Period | | Discussion Period | | Deliberation Period |
+| (up to 7 days) |-X->| (30–60 days) |-->| (14 days) |
++--------------------+ : +---------------------+ +---------------------+
+ : : : |
+ : v : |
+ : canceled v |
+ : o-----------o |
+ +- - - - - - - - ->| Withdrawn |<----------------- X
+ o-----------o |
V
- +----------+
- | Accepted |
- +----------+
+ o----------o
+ | Accepted |
+ o----------o
```
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
+Anyone can author and propose a GCD as a regular patch and look for
+sponsors (see “Roles”). 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
+*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.
+later (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.
+Once submitted, the GCD is publicly discussed by all the members of the
+community. Authors are encouraged to publish updated versions
+incorporating feedback during the discussion; members are encouraged to
+share a summary of their main concerns or opposition, if any, for being
+included under section “Open Issues” in the document.
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*.
+If after 60 days, a final version is not yet published, then a grace period
+of 14 days is granted. Finally the GCD is considered as *stale* and the last
+update is picked for the final version.
+
### Deliberation Period (14 days)
-All team members can participate in deliberation and are encouraged to
-do so.
+Deliberation aims at consolidating consensus; see “Decision Making”
+below.
+
+The *deliberation period* starts when the authors publish a final version of
+the GCD at `info-guix@gnu.org`. Anyone who is a team member is a
+deliberating member and is encouraged to contribute to the deliberation.
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:
@@ -172,16 +199,9 @@
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).
+The GCD is *accepted* if (1) at least 25% of all team members–as of
+the start of the “Deliberation Period”–send a reply, and (2) no one
+disapproves. In other cases, the GCD is *withdrawn*.
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
@@ -206,16 +226,16 @@
details, you are encouraged to read
<https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/consensus>.
-## Merging Final GCDs
+## Merging GCD
-Whether it is accepted or withdrawn, a committer merges the final GCD
-following these steps:
+Whether it is accepted or withdrawn, a person who has commit permission
+to the GCD repository merges the 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);
+ `status` header accordingly with `deprecated`);
2. committing everything;
3. announcing the publication of the GCD.