95 lines
3.8 KiB
ReStructuredText
95 lines
3.8 KiB
ReStructuredText
==================================
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OpenStack User Committee Charter
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==================================
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Starting August 1st, 2020, the User Committee will no longer operate as
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a separate entity. The entire OpenStack community will be represented by
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a single elected body, including developers, operators and end users of
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the OpenStack software, and inclusive of all types of contributions to
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the project.
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To avoid a costly amendment of the Bylaws, that single elected body will
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be called "the Technical Committee", but its role will be expanded to
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cover duties formerly filled by the User Committee.
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Motivation
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==========
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When the OpenStack project governance was established in 2012, we defined
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two separate bodies. The Technical Committee represented developers / code
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contributors to the open source project(s), while the User Committee
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represented the operators running the resulting software, as well as users
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of the APIs.
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That setup served us well in those early days. The focus on the upstream
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side was strongly around *development* of code, we did not have that many
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users, and even less users directly involved in upstream development.
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A separate User Committee resulted in the formation of an engaged community
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of users, and ensured that our community in general (and our events in
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particular) took the needs of operators into account.
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We now have a lot of users, and thanks to the efforts of the User Committee
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they are increasingly directly involved in the open source project development
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and maintenance, with several operators leading upstream project teams
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directly.
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Keeping two separate bodies maintains the illusion that devs and ops are
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different breeds, and that you have to choose a side. Having a unified body
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will encourage more operators to contribute directly, to run for election to
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the Technical Committee, and to influence the shape of the software.
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User Committee
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==============
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The User Committee is defined in the OpenStack bylaws. To avoid amending the
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bylaws, the User Committee will still formally exist, with the following rules.
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Membership
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----------
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The User Committee consists of five members: the Technical Committee chair and
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four other members, elected from within the current Technical Committee
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membership. Not more than half of the members of the User Committee should be
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affiliated with the same organization.
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The User Committee will therefore formally be a subcommittee of the Technical
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Committee, although the User Committee mission (representing and serving the
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user community of OpenStack) will be filled by all the Technical Committee
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members.
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Chair
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-----
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The bylaws require a chair of the User Committee to be designated. The chair
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of the Technical Committee will fill that role.
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The chair of the User Committee is a honorific title, they do not fill any
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specific duty.
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Active User Contributor
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-----------------------
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The bylaws define 'Active User Contributors' as being the electorate to elect
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the User Committee. Since the Technical Committee members now elect the User
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Committee members, starting on August 1st, 2020, Active User Contributors are
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the elected Technical Committee members.
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The Active User Contibutors electorate (previously used to elect the separate
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User Committee body) will be included in the electorate electing the Technical
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Committee. To that effect, the Active User Contributor criteria will be used
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by the Foundation to propose such contributors as extra Active Technical
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Contributors if they are not part of the Technical Committee electorate
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already.
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Meetings
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--------
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The User Committee is considered meeting every time the Technical Committee
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meets and at least three of the User Committee members are present.
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Amendments to this charter
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--------------------------
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This charter may be amended by a simple vote by the Technical Committee
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members.
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