From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Junio C Hamano Subject: Re: [PATCH] Documentation/CommunityGuidelines Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:55:48 -0700 Message-ID: <7va9mw9xkb.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org> References: <51B6AA7F.1060505@alum.mit.edu> <7v38sod1kn.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org> <20130611203303.GA14907@sigill.intra.peff.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: Michael Haggerty , Ramkumar Ramachandra , Git List , Jonathan Nieder , A Large Angry SCM To: Jeff King X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Tue Jun 11 22:55:56 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git-2@plane.gmane.org Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.180.67]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1UmVbf-0000RG-WF for gcvg-git-2@plane.gmane.org; Tue, 11 Jun 2013 22:55:56 +0200 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1754695Ab3FKUzw (ORCPT ); Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:55:52 -0400 Received: from b-pb-sasl-quonix.pobox.com ([208.72.237.35]:33979 "EHLO smtp.pobox.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752160Ab3FKUzv (ORCPT ); Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:55:51 -0400 Received: from smtp.pobox.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by b-sasl-quonix.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1624B2753A; Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:55:50 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:references:date:in-reply-to:message-id:mime-version :content-type; s=sasl; bh=4EMm7/ayfGIp5F+swtPLbLSMcZ4=; b=X8WsXX 2UoLNtaC69ailmO2B0HmdVineCNKPPBnckfg3RSdMJHClpe5CT731amkKZzYkwwg MPhv88raE/GlbASKIjG083eg6bbDww/6YLXHjTUkiu7srlMd+hRhvFO7S/2AFIYL ERiNEjKjEjwvn/qG4D5i1/1SX+p9MX0fHxhjM= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:references:date:in-reply-to:message-id:mime-version :content-type; q=dns; s=sasl; b=GQ6CBo6GEk9XFbqXk6gJY6T8w6xPiANi T6GY84PjE4Qmm2tKTARRjKfpmirYUOY6jDQ61LLYusDln9zvNVBwKkAPBnA3LALs cNS8YMv5ChTPskTu83tNw7f1Q2tEED0KzmfJEdPGkE4JNU3ZRTjSiUr1glrzhMG3 p6FI+2HfIIM= Received: from b-pb-sasl-quonix.pobox.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by b-sasl-quonix.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0988B27539; Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:55:50 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pobox.com (unknown [50.161.4.97]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by b-sasl-quonix.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 79D0427538; Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:55:49 +0000 (UTC) In-Reply-To: <20130611203303.GA14907@sigill.intra.peff.net> (Jeff King's message of "Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:33:03 -0400") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.2 (gnu/linux) X-Pobox-Relay-ID: 4BBF4A92-D2D9-11E2-8A2F-E56BAAC0D69C-77302942!b-pb-sasl-quonix.pobox.com Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: Jeff King writes: > So there are no hard rules, and this is not a democracy[1]. For the most > part the community runs itself in an open and collective fashion, and > the dictator's job is easy; but ultimately, he or she is in charge of > what gets applied and what doesn't. Rules like "break ties in favor of > reviewers" are just a guideline for the dictator to use in making > decisions. > > I do not think any of that is news to you, but I think the point needs > to be made, as it applies to any concrete rules. My original draft had "I am hoping we do not have to come to that" after "(I heard some communities break ties this way)", but I removed it by mistake. And I think you are right. I also am hoping that I am being fair to dictate ;-) > -Peff > > [1] Note that I think a benevolent dictator is a _terrible_ way to run a > real government, but it works in an open source project. I think the > difference is that dictatorship is open to abuse of power. In the > real world, there is a lot of power to abuse, and it is hard for > people to opt out of it. In the open source world, there is not that > much power, and if there is a bad dictator everyone can go somewhere > else (another project, or even a fork). So while a dictator _can_ > play favorites, or start deciding which patches to take based on > what they had for breakfast, there is a real incentive to remain > fair and reasonable.