r81 - /web/deps/dep0.mdwn

[zack at users.alioth.debian.org]

Author: zack
Date: Sun Jul 26 18:01:18 2009
New Revision: 81

URL: http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/dep/?sc=1&rev=81
Log:
stress that drivers receive no special power from DEP

Modified:
    web/deps/dep0.mdwn

Modified: web/deps/dep0.mdwn
URL: http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/dep/web/deps/dep0.mdwn?rev=81&op=diff
==============================================================================
--- web/deps/dep0.mdwn (original)
+++ web/deps/dep0.mdwn Sun Jul 26 18:01:18 2009
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@
 because it's difficult to know whether it adjusts to the consensus
 reached during the discussion period.
 
-As our normative documents rely on wide adoption of a practice before
+Our normative documents rely on wide adoption of a practice before
 documenting it, and adopters can be reluctant to make use of it before a
-clear indication that a practice has some consensus behind it, this
+clear indication that a practice has some consensus behind it. This
 creates a hard to break loop that this process hopes to alleviate, by
 providing a mechanism to reflect the status of each proposal, including
 whether it has reached consensus or not.
@@ -175,8 +175,8 @@
   explicitly acknowledge so
 * there are no modifications to a DEP in DRAFT state for 6 months or
   more
-* there is no consensus that the implementation of a DEP in CANDIDATE
-  state is working satisfactorily
+* there is no consensus either on the draft text or on the fact that
+  the implementation is working satisfactorily
 
 #### ACCEPTED -> OBSOLETE: no longer relevant
 
@@ -190,27 +190,32 @@
 
 In one of these states, no further actions are needed.
 
+It is recommended that DEPs in one of these states carry a reason
+describing why they have moved to such a state.
+
 
 What the drivers should do
 --------------------------
 
-The additional, hopefully small, burden of the DEP process falls on the
-shoulders of its drivers. They have to take care of all the practical
-work of writing and maintaining the draft, so that everyone else can
-just continue discussing things over e-mail as before.  Driver's burden
-can be summarized as:
-
-* Write the draft.
-* Update the draft during discussion.
+The only additional burden of the DEP process falls on the shoulders of its
+drivers. They have to take care of all the practical work of writing
+and maintaining the text, so that everyone else can just continue
+discussing things as before.  Driver's burden can be summarized as:
+
+* Write the draft text and update it during discussion.
 * Determine when (rough) consensus in discussion has been reached.
 * Implement, or find volunteers to implement.
 * Determine when consensus of implementation success has been reached,
   when the testing of the available implementation has been satisfactory.
 * Update the DEP with progress updates at suitable intervals, until the
-  DEP has been accepted.
+  DEP has been accepted (or rejected).
 
 If the drivers go missing in action, other people may step in and
 courteously take over the driving position.
+
+**Note**: the drivers can of course participate in the discussion as
+everybody else, but have no special authority to impose their ideas to
+others. <q>DEP gives pencils, not hammers.</q>
 
 
 Format and content
@@ -231,6 +236,9 @@
 * Abstract: a short paragraph (formatted as the long Description in
   debian/control)
 
+(Additionally, REJECTED DEPs can carry a "Reason:" field describing
+why they were rejected.)
+
 The rest of the file is free form. If the DEP is kept in a wiki, using
 its markup syntax is, of course, a good idea.
 
@@ -251,7 +259,7 @@
 
 The DEP must have a license that is DFSG free. You may choose the
 license freely, but the "Expat" license is recommended. The
-official URL for it is http://www.jclark.com/xml/copying.txt and
+official URL for it is <http://www.jclark.com/xml/copying.txt> and
 the license text is:
 
     Copyright (c) <year>  <your names>
@@ -275,10 +283,11 @@
     TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
     SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
-The justification for this recommendation is that this license is the
-most permissive of the well-known licenses. By using this license, it is
-easy to copy parts of the DEP to other places, such as documentation for
-Debian development or embedded in individual packages.
+The justification for this recommendation is that this license is one
+of the most permissive of the well-known licenses. By using this
+license, it is easy to copy parts of the DEP to other places, such as
+documentation for Debian development or embedded in individual
+packages.
 
 
 
@@ -345,13 +354,14 @@
 -------
 
 * 2009-07-26:
-  [ Stefano Zacchiroli ]
+  [ Zack, Dato, Lars]
   * Re-word state description: describe separately states and
     transitions.
   * Rename "DROPPED" status to "REJECTED"; inhibit "resurrection" of
     REJECTED DEPs.
-  [ Stefano Zacchiroli, Lars Wirzenius ]
   * mention that dep.debian.net is the central archival place
+  * stress that DEPs give no special powers to drivers, in the "driver
+    role" section
 
 * 2008-06-12:
   [ Lars Wirzenius ]