[FFmpeg-devel] Democratization

[Vittorio Giovara]

On Thu, Jan 2, 2025 at 9:17 AM Michael Niedermayer <michael at niedermayer.cc>
wrote:

> Hi all
>
> I was working in the last few days a little on drafting a democratization
> process
>
> Heres the current draft: (very preliminary and will certainly change alot)
> also I still need to find out, if more than 3 developer actually care
> about this
>
> But either way, this is intended to be an open and public process not a
> process behind closed doors
>
> Iam posting this mainly to show that i have not been ignoring the call for
> democratization
> (originally wanted to wait longer so its more fleshed out before posting
> but well, posting
>  now, maybe it makes some people happier)
>
> Summary:
>     People will have shares proportional to their contribution to FFmpeg.
>     The voting power will depend on how recent the last commit was. And
> the main
>     author will have a veto right and a 2/3 majority will be needed for
> "Constitutional" changes.
>     Persistent trolls can be excluded from becoming shareholders.
>     As new contributions are made, new shares will be created. This will
> happen on a quarterly base.
>
> Shares:
>     1 commit in           git master branch ==  1 shares
>     1 fixed ticket in trac                  ==
>     1 mail in ffmpeg-devel                  ==
>
> Time Multiplier:
>     Provides an incentive to return and contribute again,
>     favors recently active contributors
>
> Majority
>     Constitutional changes require 2/3 majority
>
> Veto-holder
>     There is one veto holder, they can block decissions that
>     would cause harm to FFmpeg. The veto holder must always
>     have named a successor. In case the chain of successors
>     breaks. The available person with most authored commits in git master
>     becomes the new veto holder.
>
> thx
>

Micheal, you're trying to solve a personal problem with technology and that
is never a good thing. Also please consider what kind of reputation we are
providing for this community, do you think a n-th thread discussing
democratization will attract more or less developers? After all the drama
and bickering on the mailing list in the previous months?

Democracy means sometimes accepting a decision you're not agreeing with,
and sometimes letting your friends be punished because they violated the
rules. If what you wrote in [0] is true and you really want people to work
on ffmpeg in peace, then let the established democratic tools we have
perform their duty.

https://lists.ffmpeg.org//pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2024-December/338053.html
-- 
Vittorio