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The draft GNU Social Contract and the GNU package developers?
- From: "Carlos O'Donell" <carlos at systemhalted dot org>
- To: GNU C Library <libc-alpha at sourceware dot org>
- Cc: Jeff Law <law at redhat dot com>, Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>, Pedro Alves <palves at redhat dot com>
- Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2020 14:01:25 -0500
- Subject: The draft GNU Social Contract and the GNU package developers?
I have been working with several other GNU Maintainers and volunteers
to draft a GNU Social Contract which explains the key commitments we
want from the GNU Project.
The draft is up here and we're emailing all GNU Maintainers for feedback:
https://wiki.gnu.tools/gnu:social-contract
The draft is being designed from the ground up by GNU Project
volunteers and for GNU Project volunteers. Is it official? It's
official to me if I follow it.
We have asked for feedback by February 9th to be incorporated in an
update to the draft on February 10th.
We have asked for endorsement by current GNU Maintainers on or before
February 24th.
I will endorse the draft myself. I think it's a good and reasonable
set of values that provide packages with good guidance.
My opinion is that volunteers join an organization because they want
to support the goals and values of that organization. Volunteers may
also have their own goals and values. By making the project values
explicit it helps those volunteers and helps them make decisions
day-to-day. They know what they are volunteering for and what values
are important, including how their own goals fit into that of the
larger community.
The social contract should act as our guidance when it comes to making
difficult decisions. We should be asking "What does our social
contract say about this topic?"
Lastly, growing a community is easier if you are up front with your
values and explain them to the volunteers contributing to the project,
hence the GNU Social Contract.
Please feel free to discuss this here and I can take feedback upstream
to gnu-misc-discuss@gnu.org.
Please feel free to post directly to gnu-misc-discuss@gnu.org. Please
be aware that the list is open to the public, is being moderated, and
has only a loose code of conduct
(https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss).
Alternatively you can send feedback directly to social-contract@gnu.tools.
Cheers,
Carlos.