[FFmpeg-devel] Democratization

[Niklas Haas]

On Wed, 29 Jan 2025 06:12:30 -1000 compn <ff at hawaiiantel.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Jan 2025 16:16:29 +0100, Niklas Haas wrote:
>
> > I think the most important crux of the problem is a fundamental disagreement
> > between Michael and the "community" (for lack of a better term) about the role
> > of the CC (and by extension, the GA). Michael is under the impression that they
> > (should) serve a mere advisory role, with Michael himself having final say in
> > matters both technical and non-technical. The "community", on the other hand,
> > seems to be under the impression that the CC/GA is supposed to have the final
> > say.
> >
> > I think that resolving this core dispute is the only way to quiet these non-stop
> > discussions, either by making it clear that the CC, TC and GA are merely advisory
> > with no actual power, or by Michael stepping down and handing control over
> > ffmpeg.org to the GA (via vote of new root admin).
>
> ffmpeg is ran by the community currently, and always has been.

It is run by a very, *very* vocal minority of the community.

> ffmpeg has never been ran by a vote. there have always been multiple
> people in charge of the ffmpeg server. i know, because i've been here
> for 20 years.
>
> we can see how badly something ran by GA vote works right now. with our
> own eyes. ffmpeg just had a vote for the CC and two developers
> immediately quit working in the CC. why did we just waste all that
> time with a vote then?

This is a fallacious argument because it rests on an empty hypothesis. The
CC has never had any actual power, ergo it is impossible to use it as an example
of what a community-led project would have looked like.

On the other hand, there are plenty of precedents out there in the wider
FOSS world that show that community-led projects can work just fine.

>
> michael is not a supervillain. saying its "michael vs the
> community" ? please stop with these personal statements against
> any individual developers in the project on this mailing list.

Michael is the current de-facto leader. It is literally impossible for me to
phrase it in any other way that does not unduly single him out as long as this
remains the status quo.

> if people are going to fork, then fork. ffmpeg has plenty of active and
> inactive forks. its not the end of the world. just a fork.

I thought we agreed that it's best to avoid this outcome if possible?

>
> i hope a certain vocal subset of people will stop blackmailing this
> project with the "if we dont get our way, we'll quit/fork" stuff. its
> not a friendly nor professional ultimatum.

At this point, I don't think it will stop until something changes.

>
> -compn
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