Hi Vinz, Hi all, Le vendredi 07 août 2020 à 20:22 +0200, Vinzenz Vietzke a écrit :
Hi all,
as you can see in the minutes [1] for the last board meeting on 2020- 08-04 we once again talked about the long standing topic of an openSUSE foundation. This came up in the light of the past months and the recent thread on this mailing list where governance structures were discussed. [2]
Quoting the minutes "We need to broaden the group of people working on foundation" this is where we want to give the topic a push here on project ML. To give everyone an overview of what is done until now I condensed documents floating around in the wiki at "Current state". [3]
*The why* The openSUSE community has the reputation of being progressive and thriving in terms of technical aspects. This is where the "do-ocracy" works impressively. Yet our organizational structure sometimes lacks behind, which is why we need to talk.
There are good reasons for an independent openSUSE legal entity that have been already been discussed extensively before. Yet this comes with governance structures being not only necessary but also obligate. Having had structural challenging times recently and an obvious need from the community for progressive discussions makes the picture complete somehow. So throwing both topics together is just a logical consequence there.
I think that working on both subjects at the same time is not necessarily a good thing. On the one hand because there is little chance that these subjects will attract a lot of people, on the other hand because the mode of governance will be closely linked to the final form of the Foundation, in particular as regards the nature of its links with SUSE. In my opinion, it is wiser to wait until we have made progress on the subject of the Foundation before considering its mode of governance. This does not preclude collecting ideas from the community, but it would be better not having to start working on this topic then change a lot of things because the solutions found won't fit in the final Foundation bylaws.
*To do* So I hereby invite everyone interested to chime in. Please get to know what's already been done on the first hand. And then give input, constructive criticism and ideas on both parts of the story - Foundation and Governance.
It's a subject that interests me, I'm also currently working on the issue of governance at my work (in a cooperative society). The recent and unfortunate discussions have shown that this is an important subject which the community cannot ignore and which cannot simply rest on the shoulders of the Council. The content of the wiki [3] is a good starting point which I think needs to be refined. I started an Etherpad [6] by rereading the original topic [7] (over a year ago already!) and noting some points in order to summarize past discussions. I also tried to look for resources (in English) on the subject (German Stiftung) in order to see more clearly concerning the legal aspects. [8] [9].
*A few thoughts on the practical side* To add comments on the existing stuff it might be good to copy text to some etherpad for collaborative work. If desired we also can set up a conference call or even revive the pre-existing mailing list. [4] [5]
I support a mailing list which I find more open and easier to follow for those who wish to contribute. There is no need to be online all the time and it's easier to catch up on discussions
Looking forward to healthy and interesting discussions!
vinz.
[1] https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-project/2020-08/msg00064.html [2] https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-project/2020-07/msg00085.html ff. [3] https://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Foundation [4] https://etherpad.opensuse.org [5] https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-foundation/
Have a nice day. [6] https://etherpad.opensuse.org/p/00-foundation-ml-abstract [7] https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-project/2019-06/msg00233.html [8] https://www.cof.org/content/nonprofit-law-germany |9] https://www.stiftungen.org/en/home/german-foundations/establishing-a-foundat... -- Sébastien 'sogal' Poher
When there's no more room at school, the dumb will walk the Earth!