Manifesto grobian 2012-2013

  "The elected Gentoo Council decides on global issues and policies that
   affect multiple projects in Gentoo."    -- http://council.gentoo.org/


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The Gentoo Council decides on issues and policies mainly by voting on
topics.  To achieve efficient voting here, all Council members need to
be well informed, and prepared for their vote.  The chair, who also
prepares the agenda needs even more preparation to orchestrate a meeting
well.  In the past year, the Council has shown it is well capable of
having efficient meetings, I would like to contribute in a next term to
this by chairing, and hence preparing, more meetings.

 1. An efficient Council gives minimal delay to progress of Gentoo.

 This means discussions take place prior to the meeting on -project ML.
 Next to the agenda, also the summary should be sent out for easier
 consumption/involvement by developers.


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In the past year, we've seen many issues been brought up, some of them
discussed, some not.  In many cases the Council is called for blessing
or cursing an idea that some other developers do or don't like.  I
believe that the Council should more be seen be the last entity being
called upon by developers, if all else fails.  If there is no business
for the Council, don't involve it, but solve the issue by community
consensus.

 2. Developers should not just reach out to the Council, but accept
    other's freedom.

 This means for example Portage's quiet-build, Python 3, /usr merge and
 possible git migration should not be topics, because they depend on
 those doing (or not doing) the work.  Trying to find compromises is
 mandatory (common sense), but does not require a Council to force it,
 IMO.


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It is easy to brag about wanting progress, fast movings forward, and
other exciting improvements and attracting new developer blood.  Often,
the devil is in the details, and progress is hindred by small problems
that have unclear solutions or replacements (e.g. git generated
ChangeLogs when allowing merges).  Big changes like these, also rely on
people to do the work, to do it right, and think it through properly
first.  It is, for example, very undesirable if someday we would not
have an updateable tree for 4 consecutive days or longer.  I believe
that people who do not understand the values and problems of those kinds
of things, do not fully comprehend in how many different ways Gentoo is
being used, and that each of them has equal rights to exist.  From a
Council perspective, progress is desired, maybe even required.  But not
at all costs.  Fitting a Corvette V8 engine in a Fiat 500 is not making
the latter any faster.

 3. What looks like a slowdown, might actually be a showstopper when
    "just" implemented.

 This means the Council might have to make or support unpopular
 decisions, because they simply make more sense for the big picture.