[FFmpeg-devel] FFmpeg governance and accusations

[Nicolas George]

Ronald S. Bultje (12024-12-31):
> (I don't need or want to be a new dictator, but I do believe in more
> community involvement in processes and decisions. CC/TC/GA are not perfect
> but they're a step forward and they can hopefully be improved.)

Hi.

I disagree with you on this: the GA is a mistake, the fact that somebody
could be elected to the CC mere days after insulting on the mailing-list
is a strong illustration of that fact.

Democracy is a human right for running a country because people need to
live somewhere and their attachment to their country is deep and was
forged before they had a say in it. It does not translate to a Libre
Software project.

A Libre Software project is more akin to a sports team. It has a goal
that is not just the welfare of its members. Anybody can try to join,
can get more involved through efforts if they like what they find, or
leave if they do not.

In a sports team, the coach decides the strategy and the role of each
player. A good coach will of course listen to the advice of experienced
players, but in the end the decision is theirs alone. New players do not
get authority over the management of the team just because they played a
few games or even scored a few points.

And the coach is not a dictator, he is a leader.

The principle of the general assembly is inherently flawed for several
reasons that are really the same:

- It gives the same power to somebody who fixed a few typos in the doc
  and reindentd code as somebody who monitors the Trac reports for
  complex bugs only they can understand and fix.

- It gives the same power to people who maintain a small area of the
  code, maybe optimizations for a specific arch, as to people who know
  the whole project or a significant part of it in depth.

- It gives the same power to people who are here for a few months or
  years and will leave for another job as to people who have been here
  for years and intend to stick around.

In practice, the GA system favors a policy where nothing new happens and
people who are here to do a job benefit from free maintenance by the
most experienced developers.

Michael did an excellent job as a leader for years, and it only turns
sour when a small faction get greedy and tries to oust him to take over.
I look forward to him again being able to act as a leader without
obstruction from them.

Regards,

-- 
  Nicolas George