openSUSE Project September 2010

project@lists.opensuse.org

64 participants
29 discussions

[opensuse-project] How to announce team meetings?
by Andreas Jaeger 25 Nov '10

25 Nov '10

I see different teams announce their team meetings in different ways and suggest to discuss how to do it the best way - and document it. Here's one proposal for this: == Announcing Team Meetings == * Create a meeting page in the wiki to collect the agenda * Add the meeting to http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Meetings * Get the meeting in the calendar on news.o.o - this way the openSUSE Weekly News Team will add it to their calendar * Announce it via opensuse-announce(a)opensuse.org and news.o.o. for the first meeting or for special meetings * Announce it on your team mailing list * Good practice: Announce a preliminary agenda with topics for the meeting and not only that it will take place Right now we have both the wiki calendar in the meetings portal and the news.o.o calendar, I propose to remove the wiki calendar and point to news.o.o. Thoughts on this? Btw. - I would add the result of our discussion to http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Meetings, Andreas -- Andreas Jaeger, Program Manager openSUSE, aj(a){novell.com,opensuse.org} Twitter: jaegerandi | Identica: jaegerandi SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F FED1 389A 563C C272 A126

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[opensuse-project] Strategy sucks
by Andreas Jaeger 07 Nov '10

07 Nov '10

Hi all, Over the last weeks there has been a lot of disussion, both internally and externally, about the strategies which have been proposed. However, we also missed a lot of voices from our community. We take responsibility for leaving many of you behind by focusing on a very corporate-management solution to the initial question which prompted this process. A question we think still is relevant: The identity of openSUSE both as a Community and as a Project. Initially our goal was to answer: “Who is openSUSE and what does it (want to) do?” prompted by the discussion about the default desktop at the openSUSE conference last year. In five years the openSUSE project has evolved from a fully company-driven project to a communty project where everybody can contribute. This has brought uncertainty and a lack of direction. The current lack of a clear ‘story behind it all’ is hampering our ability to establish a common identity and sense of security. From a marketing point of view, it becomes an uphill battle… Throughout the process, we consulted some people and the discussion about a strategy started with the goal to solve this issue. However, many feel that ‘strategy’ and the approach to find one is not fitting our community. We lost most of you in the second paragraph of the strategy pages on the wiki – too much talk. We would like to go back to the start and focus on describing who we are, as a community, instead of finding new ways to go. The input you all have given us by mail, forums, IRC and in person was valuable and we will use that. So that is what we will do: * Highlight the story behind openSUSE * Identify what users we target and illustrate what we offer to them, * Connect it with the issues that matter most to our community And then we will document this story, image, direction, strategy – or however your call it ;) . From you all – we will continue to seek your input on it once we post it. By mail, forum, IRC or in person – again. Without your help it won’t be much, so please think about that! Greetings, Your strategy team P.S. Also posted at http://news.opensuse.org/2010/09/03/strategy-sucks/ -- Andreas Jaeger, Program Manager openSUSE, aj(a){novell.com,opensuse.org} Twitter: jaegerandi | Identica: jaegerandi SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F FED1 389A 563C C272 A126 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] SCALE CFP now open.
by Bryen M. Yunashko 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

Folks, SCALE (Southern California Linux Expo) Call for Papers is now open until December 13, 2010. SCALE will be in Los Angeles February 25-27, 2011. I would encourage anyone interested in giving talks about openSUSE to submit their papers to this event. There's lots to talk about openSUSE, so don't be shy! Here's the link. http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale9x/blog/scale-9x-call-papers Also of interesting notice is that SCALE will offer tutorial sessions as well. A suggestion for any OBS experts out there, perhaps we can organize a tutorial session showing how to use OBS to package for different distros, and not just openSUSE? At some point in the coming months, we'll also see about setting up an openSUSE booth and will welcome volunteers to support the booth. Thanks, Bryen M Yunashko openSUSE Board Member openSUSE Marketing Team lead -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] Tomorrow deadline travel & hotel reimbursement requests!
by Jos Poortvliet 18 Oct '10

18 Oct '10

Hi all! Friday the 1st of October will be the deadline for requesting travel and hotel sponsorship requests for the openSUSE conference. We will notify those who will receive support next week, some have already had mail about their hotel. Please note that the budget is limited and we like to help those who need it most! Greetings, The conference peeps

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[opensuse-project] Strategy part X+2
by Jos Poortvliet 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Hi all, As some might have read, today on news.opensuse.org the second part of the strategy new style went live. Let me compy some of that announcement: Over the last week you have all given input on the new strategy document describing the target users of openSUSE. It saw quite a bit of rewriting and rephrasing but it seems the description fitted most of your perceptions. We have incorporated all the comments into the document and a new iteration can be found on co-ment. Furthermore, the next piece of text has been added: "What does openSUSE offer its users?" [1] Like with "Target Users", we would really appreciate it if you could give your input on co-ment but we will accept any kind of input on any channel we can follow. So if co-ment isn't your thing, feel free to comment below this post, on the forums or anywhere else. For those new to co-ment - it is a pretty awesome commenting tool under the GNU Affero GPL[2]. Giving your input on co-ment [1] will make the discussion a bit more structured and easier for everyone to follow. How-to: select some text you want to comment on (a word, a few words, a sentence) and choose the little yellow + sign on the top-left of the page to add your comment. If you click a colored section of the text, you can see the comments which have been made to that section it and add your own voice to the discussion. Easy peasy! See for reference the openSUSE Strategy portal [3] on the wiki. A copy of the current proposal is at the bottom of the mail. Please have fun! Greetings, Your strategy team [1] https://lite.co-ment.com/text/lNPCgzeGHdV/view/ [2] http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html [3] http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Strategy The current proposal: As with every other 'who are we' document, this one assumes our community statement [ http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Strategy_Community_Statement ]. Target users ========== The target users of the openSUSE distribution are people who need to get work done and want something stable and usable for their every day needs. They are users who are interested in technology, willing to learn to adapt their computer environment if needed, capable of reading documentation and/or asking questions on forums. But also people who don't want to if they don't have to - good defaults save them time. In short, the technology-adept computer user or IT professional who is productivity-focused. This includes power users, developers, system administrators but also the typical office workers or students handy with computers. A convenient definition would be someone who has read a computer magazine or technology website once or twice and works with computers a lot. The default openSUSE does not target casual computer users. For them we have simplified Netbook editions and in a company they would run a SLED desktop configured by an administrator who uses openSUSE. Our user wants control over his or her computing experience - but at the same time doesn't want to WASTE time - things should work out of the box while offering flexibility and configurability for when it is needed. And this user is empowered to help his or her favorite distribution - it is easy to contribute back to openSUSE and we make sure our users know this. What openSUSE offers ================== * We offer a powerful, stable core and let our community contribute other packages and tools through the Build Service: freedom and choice. * We maintain our software for 18 months and allow a easy upgrade path * We don't jump ship whenever something shiny comes along - users depend on our product so we only move when something is proven better * But through our Build Service we offer the latest and greatest even for older releases in case our users needs it * So we are actually the ONLY DISTRIBUTION having both stability and a fresh taste! * a desktop system that works out of the box with good defaults but offers the needed flexibility and configurability * Easy ways to change the defaults while administration the system and during the installation * A great infrastructure to build upon including technologies like the build service, Kiwi and technology build upon those like SUSE Studio. Thanks to our build service, developers can easily provide users with their software, no matter what Linux distribution they use. And our users can easily contribute back to openSUSE. * A product clearly NOT the result of NIH - we collaborate and cooperate with others, providing the best technology from around the Free Software ecosystem * The option for commercial support from Novell by using SLES In short, our philosophy is stable over shiny and powerful over dumb combined with innovative and flexible technology and an open mind for collaboration.

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[opensuse-project] Revising the Board Election Rules, 2nd iteration
by Andreas Jaeger 05 Oct '10

05 Oct '10

A month ago I presented my first draft for the new openSUSE board election rules and received some good feedback, especially on the opensuse-project mailing list. Since the last version presented on the mailing list I reworked the draft some more taking into account the proposal by Henne to remove the split of the elected seats into Novell and non-Novell employees. So, now the goal of the changes for these rules are: * fill the holes that exist in the existing rules * clarify the existing rules * Open up the project even more with removing the restriction on two members beeing Novell employees. To help ensure that the board will always represent a wide part of the community, I've followed the example of the GNOME foundation to have a rule that only 40 % of the elected board members can work at the same company. Note that 40 % of 5 elected seats means 2 seats. I'd like to thank Vincent Untz and Alan Clark who helped me with this revision step. Below is the new draft, for reference I gave each rule a name. I'd like to hear now whether those complete rules are fine or where they need further revision and I'd also like to see wordsmithing to clarify and improve the rules. I've published the rules also on http://lizards.opensuse.org/2010/09/29/revising-the-board-election-rules-2n… iteration/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Complete rules There're too many changes now so that I don't mark additions/removals anymore. * Size: The board consists of six members: five seats are elected by the community and additionally an appointed chairperson. * Eligible candidates: Only openSUSE members may run for the Board. Any previous board member that has previously resigned or has been previously removed from the Board is not eligible for nomination or appointment for or within the next Board election period. * Eligible voters: Only openSUSE members may vote, each member having one ballot that has one vote per seat to be elected. * Election Committee: The election is run by an Election Committee that consists of at least three openSUSE members and gets appointed for each election by the board. None of the Election Committee can run for or be elected as an openSUSE board member while serving on the Election Committee. * Time length: The openSUSE board term is two years. Approximately half of the board is elected every year. This means that every year, the term of approximately half of the board ends, and the term of the other half ends the year after. To provide continuity to the organization the chairperson shall be appointed and replaced at Novell's discretion. The elected board members can appeal to Novell to have the chairperson replaced. * Yearly electing half the board: In case of resignations or removals occured since last elections, the term for elected board members for the current elections will be adjusted to make sure that half of the elected board seats - that means two out of five - will have to be filled during the next elections. To implement this adjustment, the elected seats with the most votes will have a two years term, while the seats with the lowest votes will have a one year term. The number of seats with the lowest votes is calculated so that half of the board seats will have to be filled during the next elections. * Serving time: openSUSE board members can serve for up to two consecutive election periods. After that they must stand down for at least one year, but may be run again after the one year break. * Resignation: A member of the board may resign their current position by giving written notice to the chairperson. * Removal: In the event of repeated absence without contact, or other serious misconduct or negligence, a Board member may be subject to removal. Before any other process occurs, the Board member in question will be personally contacted by the chairperson to try to resolve the situation. If this contact does not successfully resolve the situation, the Board member in question may be removed by a vote of 2/3s of the board members. The board should appoint a new board member. Repeated absence includes missing three consecutive board meetings without sending regrets, not answering at all to emails or sending regrets for more than 10 meetings. * Appointment: The running board is allowed to appoint new members during their term to fill a board vacancy caused by one of the following conditions: 1) Resignation of a Board member or 2) the removal of a Board member, or 3) as part of elections. Appointed seats are only appointed until the next election. Instead of opting to appointmore than one board member, the board may opt to call for a new board election for the vacant seats. * Company affiliation: To help ensure that the board will always represent a wide part of the community, no single organization or company will be allowed to control more than 40% of the elected or appointed board seats, regardless of election results. In the event that individuals affiliated with a corporation or organization hold more than 40% of the seats, affiliates from that corporation will be required to resign until 40% is no longer held. Individuals affiliated with a company or organization are people who are employees, officers, or members of the board of directors of an organization; or have a significant consulting relationship; or own at least 1% of the equity or debt, or derivatives thereof, of a company. Notwithstanding the above, members of the openSUSE board shall act on behalf of all openSUSE contributors in the best interest of the openSUSE project. Although board members may be affiliated with companies that have an interest in the success of openSUSE, they will not be considered representatives of companies with which they are affiliated. * Affiliation during election: If more than 40 % of the elected seats would be affiliated with one company (as defined above), elections results shall be adjusted as follows. Individuals who are affiliated with the company which has an excess of representatives shall be removed based on the number of votes they received until such individuals no longer hold a majority of the seats on the board. Other candidates shall replace them, based on the number of votes they received. * Nominations: The election committee will take self-nominations, nominations by others and can nominate people for election. The election committee will contact the nominated people and ask them whether they stand for election. These nominations are private until accepted by the nominated people. * Insufficient Nominations: In the event that the number of eligible candidates is less than or equal to the number of available seats, the voting period will be delayed by two weeks. A public message will be sent out to ask again for candidates. In the event that the number of eligible candidates is less than or equal to the number of available seats, voting occurs as normal but each candidate needs to have more than 50 per cent yes votes. In case that seats do not get elected, the new board will appoint them. * Constitution: A new board term should start on the first of January, the elections should be finished 14 days before. In the case of delays, the new board will start 7 days after the election results are published. * Tie: In the event of a tie for the final slot on the board, the election committee will schedule run-off elections between the tied candidates within one week, with a voting period of one week to resolve the tie. In the event of a tie during the run-off elections, the newly elected board - or the previous board, if all seats are to be filled during the run-off elections - will appoint candidates running in the run-off elections to fill the remaining slots. * Forced reelection: If 20 per cent of the openSUSE members require a new board election, an election will be held for the complete elected Board seats. * Amendment: Changes by the election rules can be done by vote of the board where 2/3s approve it including the chairperson or by vote of the membership where 2/3 of the openSUSE members approve it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Open Question From Vincent: Should we move to some "smarter" voting mechanism. The GNOME Foundation switched to STV [1][2], and I must admit it feels more "right", when voting. This would need some change in the voting software, though. [1] http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-announce/2009- March/msg00001.html [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Transferable_Vote ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ References: * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Board_succession_planning * Jono Bacon in The Art of community management * http://foundation.gnome.org/elections/2010/rules.html * http://foundation.gnome.org/about/charter/ * http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Board_election -- Andreas Jaeger, Program Manager openSUSE, aj(a){novell.com,opensuse.org} Twitter: jaegerandi | Identica: jaegerandi SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F FED1 389A 563C C272 A126 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] "Very impressed with 11.3"
by DenverD 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

even those old pharts who HATE the looks of the web forum, need to read this posting, it includes: "Very impressed with 11.3 - I have used Linux versions casually and professionally since 1995. . . The installation was flawless, found all the hardware and with no tweeking, everything works. ... I could swear this laptop runs as smooth as an Apple. ... I hope the opensuse team gets to read this. ..." and other good words for the Community!!! http://preview.tinyurl.com/28jf9ko or http://forums.opensuse.org/english/community/soapbox/447181-very-impressed-… DenverD ps1: no log-in required to read.. ps2: it is available via nntp.. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] community transition
by DenverD 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

'we' (as in 'we' of the openSUSE Community) don't really know what the future holds.. but, it _seems_ to me that there has been a sharp drop off of Novell employees contributing/posting to the mail lists/forums since the NYPost scoop.. i wonder what happens if (as has happened too often in recent weeks) the forum (or mail lists/irc/wiki/etc) machines/nets need TLC to return to work... do 'we' have non-Novell community hands with access to the levers and gears controlling our ability to coordinate, communicate, and etc? just thinking out loud: do 'we' need to make some backup plans _before_ the communications networks go down and _then_ learn our corporate sponsor has lost interest in 'we' and has decided to save those man hours for more profitable endeavors ?? i know it is unpopular with some, but maybe 'we' could cobble together some backup comm via everyone's friend, whose name begins with a big blue G ?? just sayin': its easier to plan a backup while the lights are still on. DenverD -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org

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Re: [opensuse-project] community transition
by Charles Wight 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

Hello Henne, On 09/16/2010 09:37 AM, Henne Vogelsang wrote: > Hey, > > On 16.09.2010 16:18, Charles Wight wrote: > >> The uncertainty is real, not FUD. > THE uncertainty? We (Denver and I) talk about uncertainty if the > openSUSE infrastructure would go away in a day and if we need a google > backup or something. > > Telling people that the openSUSE community would go away in a day is FUD > my friend. Real FUD. It might not be your intention but it is nonetheless. I certainly don't intend to do anything other than describe reality. Can OpenSUSE survive if all the folks who are currently employed by Novell are told, "you're not being paid to work on OpenSUSE any longer, work on XXX"? It's a genuine question ... it's not intended to be rhetorical. It's not intended to frighten anyone! Does a self-sustainable community actually exist? >> OpenSOLARIS as an Oracle product is >> alive and well. The OpenSOLARIS "community" ended in the course of a >> day. > The opensolaris community already found more than one new home and is > recovering. Also the situation is something very different don't you think? The situations are quite similar. Sun was trying to create a Fedora-like community around Open Solaris much as Novell has tried to do with OpenSUSE. While OpenSUSE is intrinsically more open than Solaris by virtue of being gnu/linux, the economic and political dynamics of corporate dependence are very similar. Of course, the intellectual property issues around Solaris don't apply here. My opinion is that OpenSUSE can never really be a community project if it depends on one corporate sponsor, whether it be Novell or another entity. >> Whether or not OpenSUSE survives as a product will depend upon >> it's value to Novell's successor. >> >> As for the "community", things are far less certain. > It's the community that suffers from your FUD at this time. Don't you > get that? You have influence on this community. opensuse-project is not > your own private smalltalk forum. You are accountable for what you say > to this forum. So put up or shut up on the openSUSE mailinglists. Please :) I certainly respect your opinion. I don't really know enough about the "community" to agree or disagree with it. I'm not convinced that a "community", aside from Novell employees, actually exists. Finally, I do respect the sentiment you expressed, "put up or shut up ...." , even if expressed somewhat rudely. I am more than willing to "Put up" if a community independent of Novell actually exists. If not, I won't be here very long. Either way, I won't annoy you too much more :). I'm testing the waters here! I am considering making a substantial commitment of time without compensation. I do apologise if my openly expressed doubts about OpenSUSE have disturbed you or anyone else. I have no desire to be disruptive. I have no desire to donate my labor to Novell or it's successor either! Charles Wight P.S. Thanks for the links .... -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] Fwd: [openSUSE-India] Review: openSUSE 11.3 Edu-Li-f-e - Amazing
by Manu Gupta 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jigish Gohil <cyberorg(a)opensuse.org> Date: Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 12:19 PM Subject: [openSUSE-India] Review: openSUSE 11.3 Edu-Li-f-e - Amazing To: opensuse-india <opensuse-india(a)googlegroups.com>, opensuse-edu(a)opensuse.org Hello Community Check out this great review of Li-f-e: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/opensuse-11sp3-edu-life.html Digg it: http://digg.com/news/technology/opensuse_11_3_edu_li_f_e_amazing Cheers -J -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "opensuse-india" group. To post to this group, send email to opensuse-india(a)googlegroups.com To unsubscribe: opensuse-india-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/opensuse-india -- Regards MANU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org

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openSUSE Project September 2010