Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [Tech-board-discuss] Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board Elections -- Change to charter

Konstantin Ryabitsev
2020-03-13T15:06:35Z

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On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 12:30:20PM +0200, Jani Nikula wrote:
> There is no way of knowing whether you're eligible to vote until you
> apply for a kernel.org account and either get approved or rejected.
>
> The current "obvious" requirement levels are not obvious to me. How many
> contributions is enough? Is everyone in MAINTAINERS eligible, or do you
> have to be a high-profile maintainer/developer? What is a high-profile
> developer? How many people in the web of trust must you have met in
> person?

Anyone listed in MAINTAINERS is eligible to get an auto-approved account
on kernel.org, but they *must* satisfy the web of trust requirement:

- their key is signed by 2 other people who already have a kernel.org
account (marginal trust), OR
- their key is signed by one of the following people (full trust):

- H. Peter Anvin
- Greg Kroah-Hartman
- Ted Ts'o
- Linus Torvalds
- Dirk Hohndel
- James Bottomley

Anyone who is not in MAINTAINERS but feel they should have an account on
kernel.org can still apply if they provide a reason behind their
request. Such cases are fairly rare and usually include collaboration on
non-kernel projects that are also hosted on kernel.org (there aren't
that many, but there are a few). The web of trust requirement is exactly
the same, but the final approval is not automatic. I forward these
requests to the above 6 people and it is sufficient for at least one
person to say "aye" for the account to be approved.

It is also important to highlight a distinction between "having an
account" and having a kernel.org email forwarding address. For this
particular case I was requested to provide a list of people with *active
accounts* on kernel.org, meaning that they have performed a git+ssh
operation within the past 12 months.

> And it actually seems like you think it's a good thing the admin team
> can make a subjective decision on the above.

The LF IT admin team does not make any decisions -- all decisions are
taken by the above 6 people (unless the person is in MAINTAINERS, in
which case their approval is implicit).

> It may seem completely transparent and fair and objective on the
> *inside*, but it does not look that way on the *outside*. Which is kind
> of the definition of transparent. Or lack of.

I hope I helped clarify the procedure. Of course, as the person actually
creating accounts I'm the final arbiter of all decisions. If I had any
malicious intents, I could totally subvert the whole process -- so in
the end you just have to trust me to be on the side of "lawful good."

-K

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