Project Steering Committee

The GeoNetwork Project Steering Committee (PSC) makes decisions on GeoNetwork opensource project issues. The PSC consists of a maximum of seven experienced and active members of the community.

In brief the committee votes on proposals on the [https://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/geonetwork-devel geonetwork-dev] mailinglist. Proposals are available for review for at least two days, and a single veto is sufficient to delay progress though ultimately a majority of members can pass a proposal.

• GeoNetwork Change Proposals
• Committer Responsibility Guidelines

Members that are inactive can be replaced by the PSC. If the PSC becomes dysfunctional, the project management falls back to the chair.

Members of the Project Steering Committee

• Jeroen Ticheler GeoCat - Chair
• Francois Prunayre Titellus
• Simon Pigot CSIRO
• Florent Gravin CamptoCamp
• Jose Garcia GeoCat
• Jo Cook Astun Technology

Former members of the PSC

• Patrizia Monteduro (Patrizia Monteduro * fao org) FAO-UN
• Emanuele Tajariol (e tajariol * mclink it - GeoSolutions)
• Jesse Eichar
• Andrea Carboni (acarboni * crisalis-tech com - Independent consultant)
• Archie Warnock (warnock * awcubed com) A/WWW Enterprises

Detailed Process

1. Proposals are written up and submitted on the [https://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/geonetwork-devel geonetwork-dev] mailing list for discussion and voting, by any interested party, not just committee members.
2. Proposals need to be available for review for at least two business days before a final decision can be made.
3. Respondents may vote "+1" to indicate support for the proposal and a willingness to support implementation.
4. Respondents may vote "-1" to veto a proposal, but must provide clear reasoning and alternate approaches to resolving the problem within the two days.
5. A vote of -0 indicates mild disagreement, but has no effect. A 0 indicates no opinion. A +0 indicates mild support, but has no effect.
6. Anyone may comment on proposals on the list, but only members of the Project Steering Committee's votes will be counted.
7. A proposal will be accepted if it receives +2 (including the proposer) and no vetoes (-1).
8. If a proposal is vetoed, and it cannot be revised to satisfy all parties, then it can be resubmitted for an override vote in which a majority of all eligible voters indicating +1 is sufficient to pass it. Note that this is a majority of all committee members, not just those who actively vote.
9. Upon completion of discussion and voting the proposer should announce whether they are proceeding (proposal accepted) or are withdrawing their proposal (vetoed).
10. The Chair gets a vote.
11. The Chair is responsible for keeping track of who is a member of the Project Steering Committee.
12. Addition and removal of members from the committee, as well as selection of a Chair should be handled as a proposal to the committee. The selection of a new Chair also requires approval of the OSGeo board.
13. The Chair adjudicates in cases of disputes about voting.

When is Vote Required?

• Anything that could cause backward compatibility issues.
• Adding substantial amounts of new code.
• Changing inter-subsystem APIs, or objects.
• Issues of procedure.
• When releases should take place.
• Anything that might be controversial.
• Add a new member to the PSC
• Add a new committer to the code repository

Observations

• The Chair is the ultimate adjudicator if things break down.
• The absolute majority rule can be used to override an obstructionist veto, but it is intended that in normal circumstances vetoers need to be convinced to withdraw their veto. We are trying to reach consensus.

See also the Authors document in the documentation