Originally posted on MetaOptimize.
Constitution for Governance of Open-Source Projects (v20100227)
Let it be affirmed that the primary goal in instituting governance of an open-source project be to ensure the long-term health of the project.
Accordingly, the default bias should be towards openness and inclusiveness.
However, policy should be changed as issues present themselves, in order to maintain the long-term health of the project.
For the model of decision making, we favor a "do-ocracy".
The people who contribute the most generally command the respect of the community.
Alienating them is the best way to derail the project.
The repository should be open the committers, given that commits can easily be reverted and commit-access easily revoked. This is preferable to alienating potential committers.
To ensure transparency for developers new and old, and allow them to decide their involvement in a project based upon the history of the project, their should be transparency and openess in the inner working of the project. For example, the email archive should be public.
Lastly, let us remember that too much red-tape gets in the way of progress. So red-tape and other barriers to contribution should be avoided, and only added as issues present themselves.
This Constitution can and should be amended as issues present themselves.
Therefore be it resolved.
