PERLGOV(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLGOV(1)
NAME
perlgov - Perl Rules of Governance
PREAMBLE
We are forming a system of governance for development of the Perl
programming language.
The scope of governance includes the language definition, its
implementation, its test suite, its documentation, and the policies and
procedures by which it is developed and maintained.
The system of governance includes definitions of the groups that will
make decisions, the rules by which these groups are formed and changed,
and the enumerated powers and constraints on the activities of these
governing groups.
In forming a system of governance, we seek to achieve the following
goals:
• We want a system that is functional. That means the governing
groups may decide to undertake large changes, or they may decide to
act conservatively, but they will act with intent and clear
communication rather than fail to reach decisions when needed.
• We want a system that is trusted. That means that a reasonable
contributor to Perl might disagree with decisions made by the
governing groups, but will accept that they were made in good faith
in consultation with relevant communities outside the governing
groups.
• We want a system that is sustainable. That means it has provisions
to self-modify, including ways of adding new members to the
governing groups, ways to survive members becoming inactive, and
ways of amending the rules of governance themselves if needed.
• We want a system that is transparent. That means that it will
prefer policies that manage ordinary matters in public, and it will
prefer secrecy in a limited number of situations.
• We want a system that is respectful. That means that it will
establish standards of civil discourse that allow for healthy
disagreement but avoid rancor and hostility in the community for
which it is responsible.
Mandate
Perl language governance shall work to:
• Maintain the quality, stability, and continuity of the Perl language
and interpreter
• Guide the evolution of the Perl language and interpreter
• Establish and oversee the policies, procedures, systems, and
mechanisms that enable a community of contributors to the Perl
language and interpreter
• Encourage discussion and consensus among contributors as
preferential to formal decision making by governance groups
• Facilitate communication between contributors and external
stakeholders in the broader Perl ecosystem
Definitions
This document describes three roles involved in governance:
"Core Team"
"Steering Council"
"Vote Administrator"
A section on each follows.
The Core Team
The Core Team are a group of trusted volunteers involved in the ongoing
development of the Perl language and interpreter. They are not required
to be language developers or committers.
References to specific votes are explained in the "Rules for Voting"
section.
Powers
In addition to their contributions to the Perl language, the Core Team
sets the rules of Perl governance, decides who participates in what role
in governance, and delegates substantial decision making power to the
Steering Council.
Specifically:
• They elect the Steering Council and have the power to remove
Steering Council members.
• In concert with the Steering Council, they manage Core Team
membership.
• In concert with the Steering Council, they have the power to modify
the Perl Rules of Governance.
The Core Team do not have any authority over parts of the Perl ecosystem
unrelated to developing and releasing the language itself. These
include, but are not limited to:
• The Perl Foundation
• CPAN administration and CPAN authors
• perl.org, metacpan.org, and other community-maintained websites and
services
• Perl conferences and events, except those organized directly by the
Core Team
• Perl-related intellectual property legally owned by third-parties,
except as allowed by applicable licenses or agreements
Membership
The initial Core Team members will be specified when this document is
first ratified.
Any Core Team member may nominate someone to be added to the Core Team
by sending the nomination to the Steering Council. The Steering Council
must approve or reject the nomination. If approved, the Steering
Council will organize a Membership Change Vote to ratify the addition.
Core Team members should demonstrate:
• A solid track record of being constructive and helpful
• Significant contributions to the project's goals, in any form
• Willingness to dedicate some time to improving Perl
Contributions are not limited to code. Here is an incomplete list of
areas where contributions may be considered for joining the Core Team:
• Working on community management and outreach
• Providing support on mailing lists, IRC, or other forums
• Triaging tickets
• Writing patches (code, docs, or tests)
• Reviewing patches (code, docs, or tests)
• Participating in design discussions
• Providing expertise in a particular domain (security, i18n, etc.)
• Managing Perl infrastructure (websites, CI, documentation, etc.)
• Maintaining significant projects in the Perl ecosystem
• Creating visual designs
Core Team membership acknowledges sustained and valuable efforts that
align well with the philosophy and the goals of the Perl project.
Core Team members are expected to act as role models for the community
and custodians of the project, on behalf of the community and all those
who rely on Perl.
Term
Core Team members serve until they are removed.
Removal
Core Team Members may resign their position at any time.
In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to remove someone from
the Core Team against their will, such as for flagrant or repeated
violations of a Code of Conduct. Any Core Team member may send a recall
request to the Steering Council naming the individual to be removed.
The Steering Council must approve or reject the recall request. If
approved, the Steering Council will organize a Membership Change vote to
ratify the removal.
If the removed member is also on the Steering Council, then they are
removed from the Steering Council as well.
Inactivity
Core Team members who have stopped contributing are encouraged to
declare themselves "inactive". Inactive members do not nominate or vote.
Inactive members may declare themselves active at any time, except when
a vote has been proposed and is not concluded. Eligibility to nominate
or vote will be determined by the Vote Administrator.
To record and honor their contributions, inactive Core Team members will
continue to be listed alongside active members.
No Confidence in the Steering Council
The Core Team may remove either a single Steering Council member or the
entire Steering Council via a No Confidence Vote.
A No Confidence Vote is triggered when a Core Team member calls for one
publicly on an appropriate project communication channel, and another
Core Team member seconds the proposal.
If a No Confidence Vote removes all Steering Council members, the Vote
Administrator of the No Confidence Vote will then administer an election
to select a new Steering Council.
Amending Perl Rules of Governance
Any Core Team member may propose amending the Perl Rules of Governance
by sending a proposal to the Steering Council. The Steering Council
must decide to approve or reject the proposal. If approved, the
Steering Council will organize an Amendment Vote.
Rules for Voting
Membership Change, Amendment, and No Confidence Votes require 2/3 of
participating votes from Core Team members to pass.
A Vote Administrator must be selected following the rules in the "Vote
Administrator" section.
The vote occurs in two steps:
1. The Vote Administrator describes the proposal being voted upon. The
Core Team then may discuss the matter in advance of voting.
2. Active Core Team members vote in favor or against the proposal.
Voting is performed anonymously.
For a Membership Change Vote, each phase will last one week. For
Amendment and No Confidence Votes, each phase will last two weeks.
The Steering Council
The Steering Council is a 3-person committee, elected by the Core Team.
Candidates are not required to be members of the Core Team. Non-member
candidates are added to the Core Team if elected as if by a Membership
Change Vote.
References to specific elections are explained in the "Rules for
Elections" section.
Powers
The Steering Council has broad authority to make decisions about the
development of the Perl language, the interpreter, and all other
components, systems and processes that result in new releases of the
language interpreter.
For example, it can:
• Manage the schedule and process for shipping new releases
• Establish procedures for proposing, discussing and deciding upon
changes to the language
• Delegate power to individuals on or outside the Steering Council
Decisions of the Steering Council will be made by majority vote of non-
vacant seats on the council.
The Steering Council should look for ways to use these powers as little
as possible. Instead of voting, it's better to seek consensus. Instead
of ruling on individual cases, it's better to define standards and
processes that apply to all cases.
As with the Core Team, the Steering Council does not have any authority
over parts of the Perl ecosystem unrelated to developing and releasing
the language itself.
The Steering Council does not have the power to modify the Perl Rules of
Governance, except as provided in the section "Amending Perl Rules of
Governance".
Term
A new Steering Council will be chosen by a Term Election after each
stable feature release (that is, change to "PERL_REVISION" or
"PERL_VERSION") or after two years, whichever comes first. The Term
Election will be organized within two weeks of the triggering event. The
council members will serve until the completion of the next Term
Election unless they are removed.
Removal
Steering Council members may resign their position at any time.
Whenever there are vacancies on the Steering Council, the council will
organize a Special Election within one week after the vacancy occurs.
If the entire Steering Council is ever vacant, a Term Election will be
held instead.
The Steering Council may defer the Special Election for up to twelve
weeks. Their intent to do so must be publicly stated to the Core Team.
If any active Core Team member objects within one week, the Special
Election must be organized within two weeks. At any time, the Steering
Council may choose to cancel the deferment and immediately commence
organizing a Special Election.
If a Steering Council member is deceased, or drops out of touch and
cannot be contacted for a month or longer, then the rest of the council
may vote to declare their seat vacant. If an absent member returns
after such a declaration is made, they are not reinstated automatically,
but may run in the Special Election to fill the vacancy.
Otherwise, Steering Council members may only be removed before the end
of their term through a No Confidence Vote by the Core Team.
Rules for Elections
Term and Special Election are ranked-choice votes to construct an
ordered list of candidates to fill vacancies in the Steering Council.
A Vote Administrator must be selected following the rules in the "Vote
Administrator" section.
Both Term and Special Elections occur in two stages:
1. Candidates advertise their interest in serving. Candidates must be
nominated by an active Core Team member. Self-nominations are
allowed. Nominated candidates may share a statement about their
candidacy with the Core Team.
2. If there are no more candidates than open seats, no vote is
required. The candidates will be declared to have won when the
nomination period ends.
Otherwise, active Core Team Members vote by ranking all candidates.
Voting is performed anonymously. After voting is complete,
candidates are ranked using the Condorcet Internet Voting Service's
proportional representation mode. If a tie occurs, it may be
resolved by mutual agreement among the tied candidates, or else the
tie will be resolved through random selection by the Vote
Administrator.
Anyone voted off the Core Team is not eligible to be a candidate for
Steering Council unless re-instated to the Core Team.
For a Term Election, each phase will last two weeks. At the end of the
second phase, the top three ranked candidates are elected as the new
Steering Council.
For a Special Election, each phase will last one week. At the end of
the second phase, vacancies are filled from the ordered list of
candidates until no vacancies remain.
The election of the first Steering Council will be a Term Election.
Ricardo Signes will be the Vote Administrator for the initial Term
Election unless he is a candidate, in which case he will select a non-
candidate administrator to replace him.
The Vote Administrator
Every election or vote requires a Vote Administrator who manages
communication, collection of secret ballots, and all other necessary
activities to complete the voting process.
Unless otherwise specified, the Steering Council selects the Vote
Administrator.
A Vote Administrator must not be a member of the Steering Council nor a
candidate or subject of the vote. A Vote Administrator may be a member
of the Core Team and, if so, may cast a vote while also serving as
administrator. If the Vote Administrator becomes a candidate during an
election vote, they will appoint a non-candidate replacement.
If the entire Steering Council is vacant or is the subject of a No
Confidence Vote, then the Core Team will select a Vote Administrator by
consensus. If consensus cannot be reached within one week, the
President of The Perl Foundation will select a Vote Administrator.
Steering Council and Core Team Members
The list below names the members of the Steering Council and Core Team
responsible for creating the release of perl with which this document
shipped.
Remember, though that if you're reading the copy of this document that
was installed with perl, it's very likely out of date. Because every
new stable feature release triggers an election, you're better off
looking at the most up to date copy of this document
<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/blob/blead/pod/perlgov.pod>, in the blead
branch of Perl's git repository. Because it's git, you can also see how
the membership has changed over time.
Steering Council Members
• Graham Knop
• Paul Evans
• Philippe Bruhat
Core Team Members
The current members of the Perl Core Team are:
Active Members
Chad Granum <exodist7@gmail.com>
Chris 'BinGOs' Williams <chris@bingosnet.co.uk>
Craig Berry <craigberry@mac.com>
Dagfinn Ilmari Mannsåker <ilmari@ilmari.org>
David Mitchell <davem@iabyn.com>
Graham Knop <haarg@haarg.org>
H. Merijn Brand <perl5@tux.freedom.nl>
Hugo van der Sanden <hv@crypt.org>
James E Keenan <jkeenan@cpan.org>
Karen Etheridge <ether@cpan.org>
Karl Williamson <khw@cpan.org>
Leon Timmermans <fawaka@gmail.com>
Matthew Horsfall <wolfsage@gmail.com>
Max Maischein <cpan@corion.net>
Neil Bowers <neilb@neilb.org>
Nicholas Clark <nick@ccl4.org>
Nicolas R <atoomic@cpan.org>
Paul "LeoNerd" Evans <leonerd@leonerd.org.uk>
Philippe "BooK" Bruhat <book@cpan.org>
Ricardo Signes <rjbs@semiotic.systems>
Steve Hay <steve.m.hay@googlemail.com>
Stuart Mackintosh <stuart@perlfoundation.org>
Todd Rinaldo <toddr@cpanel.net>
Tony Cook <tony@develop-help.com>
Yves Orton <demerphq@gmail.com>
Inactive Members
Abhijit Menon-Sen <ams@toroid.org>
Andy Dougherty <doughera@lafayette.edu>
David Golden <xdg@xdg.me>
Jan Dubois <jan@jandubois.com>
Jason McIntosh <jmac@jmac.org>
Jesse Vincent <jesse@fsck.com>
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