Developer Only Discussion List

[Unet <unet AT sourcemage.org>]

Hi all,

I think most of you know that I'm not an email fanatic, and that I
rarely step up, because I always felt that the most important thing to
do was to keep our distro going, without paying much attention to the
"social disorders" that are unavoidable in workgroups.

However, this is exactly that feeling that drives me now.

We already went through several crisis, from the traumatic birth of
SourceMage, to the lack of time/will/energy we mostly all been through.
Things up to know have been working up quite well, but I do fear times
ahead, on the eve of releasing a _very_ important version, will be even
harder.

I do not wish this email to be anything else than it is - an expression
of my personal feelings on the current situation.

> On Sunday, 07 March 2004 at 1400 GMT I will be holding my last Source Mage 
> admin meeting as Project Lead. 
> 
> I will start the admin meeting this Sunday by announcing who the new 
> Project 
> Lead will be, pass the Staff of Power over to him/her and resign my 
> position 
> effective immediately.

It is your choice, that we all can comprehend, that you wish to end your
leadership on the project. I do also understand that the latest vote for
holding back 1.0 was not what you wished, and it may have had an
influence on your decision (as, obviously, the "real life" had).

But I do think you're making a mistake that puts the SMGL team in a
uncomfortable position. Moreover, annoucing a new project lead without
_any_ concertation at all is not really conceivable, and it is, in my
point of view, not acceptable at all. AFAIK we're not in Haiti. We all
stated that we believed in a democratic process, and it is by this
process that you have been chosen for project lead, a task you
brilliantly performed, _almost_ to its conclusion.

> 
> In the last few months there has been some decisions made behind the scenes 
> which involved the Team Leads and myself to appoint a replacement. The 
> replacement has been informed, has agreed and is ready to take charge.

Again, this is not acceptable. Decisions as important as this one should
be made public, not 6 days before the deadline, and most certainly not
with a "ready-made" solution. I do not want to be in a situation where
people are coopted by few (call that an oligarchy). This has nothing to
do with the persons involved, but rather in the concept of it. If we are
trying "not to hide problems" (as stated in our social contract, but for
technical problems), let's try not to hide solutions :)

What I really think is that this meeting should be the moment when we
will have to _vote_ for someone to take the project lead. I do not care
about whether the issue of the vote will give the same result as your
arrangements - as stated above, this is not the point. I will feel (and
hopefully some people too) much more at ease after a vote than a
designation. 
 
> 
> Further changes will be announced by him/her at the meeting so I would 
> request 
> as many of the developers as possible to make this meeting. There will most 
> likely be a need for some decision making that is easier to facilitate with 
> live voices than with mailinglist voting.

I think there will be a lot of developers there. Lots of things to
discuss on the technical side besides this situation.

> 
> I am not quitting due to lack of interest. I have been doing this for over 
> a 
> year now and believe it is time to allow others to rise from the ranks. 
> This 
> is not a project that stagnate due to lack of dynamic leadership, so I hope 
> to achieve with this move. Furthermore, I will be starting a new job as of 
> 01 
> April 2004 (really, no joke) and I am expecting my first child at the end 
> of 
> June 2004, so there is a need to take a step back due to oncoming time 
> constraints.

Have a good time with your child and family, I know it's
time/resource/everything-consuming :)

> 
> I have enjoyed working with you all, hope to continue working on Source 
> Mage 
> (no I am not leaving) and one day hope to live to see the 1.0 release 
> happen. 

We all enjoyed working under your direction, and at least, I _sincerely_
did (Wow that feels strange using past...). All what I said above was
not directed against you, but I really needed to express my feelings
about all this.

Salut l'ami !

Kevin 'Unet' Dahan