Public SourceMage Discussion List

[Jeremy Blosser <jblosser-smgl AT firinn.org>]

On Apr 19, Eric Sandall [eric AT sandall.us] wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:33:39 -0500
> Jeremy Blosser <jblosser-smgl AT firinn.org> wrote:
> > For my part I have no real interest in outsourcing this.  It's too
> > important and if we get screwed at some point, we likely find we
> > don't own anything about ourselves.
> > 
> > There's not much overhead in doing it ourselves to be saved, and even
> > if they're all angels they're going to create overhead for us that's
> > likely to be at least equal to whatever is saved.
> 
> How far are we on the work to become our own 501(c)3? What's left to
> do?

We need to approve bylaws; a draft is below, we can start the discussion of
this at the meeting and go from there with them.  Included in that is some
cleaning of the three policy documents included by reference (social
contract, developer organization, voting policy).

We need to fill the other officer positions listed in the bylaws (secretary
and treasurer).  We need to pick a state and file paperwork there.



=================================



Source Mage GNU/Linux
Bylaws

ARTICLE I - Name

The name of the organization shall be "Source Mage GNU/Linux",
abbreviated as "Source Mage" or "SMGL".

ARTICLE II - Purpose

The purpose of Source Mage GNU/Linux is to return control to System
Administrators that the wizards and maintainers of modern distributions
have steadily chipped away.  We will accomplish this goal within the
bounds of our Social Contract, herein included by reference.

ARTICLE III - Members

The membership of SMGL is defined as those individuals with commit
access to the Project's source code repositories, hereinafter
"developers".  New developers may be added at any time and given
repository commit access by any Lead Developer.

Developer rights, responsibilities, and participation requirements are
further described in the Project Developer Policy, herein included by
reference.

ARTICLE IV - Officers

Section 1. Officers

The officers of SMGL shall consist of as many individuals as may be
elected by and from among the Project developers, hereinafter "Lead
Developers".  In addition, from among the Lead Developers shall be
elected a Project Lead, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and Component Leads
over the various primary Project Components: installer ("Cauldron"),
packages ("Grimoire"), package manager ("Sorcery"), and documentation
("Tome").

Section 2. Duties

a. Project Lead: The Project Lead shall:

1. be the presiding officer over all meetings of the Project developers
or Lead Developers;
2. have primary responsibility for and daily authority over the
operation of the Project as a whole, subject to the outcome of any Lead
Developer votes relative to same.

b. Secretary: The Secretary shall:

1. record and make available the minutes and attendance records of all
meetings of the Project developers or Lead Developers;
2. have primary responsibility for maintaining and publishing on the
Project's web site the record of developer members of the Project, their
email addresses, and their GPG key fingerprints;
3. record and publish the results of all elections and votes; 
4. maintain the record of Lead Developers participating in votes, for
the purposes of ensuring participation requirements are met.

c. Treasurer: The Treasurer shall:

1. be the custodian of all funds held by SMGL;
2. release funds promptly for purposes specified by Lead Developer votes
requiring same;
2. provide a report at all regular meetings of disbursements and receipts;
3. be responsible for filing with any appropriate government authorities
all statements and reports required by law for the operation of the
organization.

d. Component Leads: The Component Leads shall:

1. have primary responsibility for and daily authority over the
operation of their Project Component, subject to the outcome of any Lead
Developer votes relative to same.

Section 3. Requirements and Election Process

Lead Developer participation requirements and method and time of
election are further described in the Project Developer Policy and
Project Voting Policy, herein included by reference.

Section 4. Assistants

All Officers may name those Assistants they wish from among the
developers or Lead Developers to aid with any duty or set of duties
under their authority, as described in the Project Developer Policy.

ARTICLE V - Meetings

Section 1. Meeting Time

a. Regular Meetings:

Regular meetings of SMGL developers shall be held at the call of the
Project Lead, no more than once every quarter and no less than once
every six months.

b. Special Meetings:

Special meetings of SMGL developers or Lead Developers shall be held for
a given purpose at the call of the Project Lead or as ordered by vote of
a majority of Lead Developers.

Section 2. Meeting Place and Method

Unless otherwise specified in the call, all meetings shall be held
virtually in the #sourcemage-admin channel on the Freenode IRC network.
Meetings may be held in other venues both physically and virtually as
long as below advance notice and quorum requirements are met, subject to
prohibition by majority vote of the Lead Developers.

Section 3. Quorum

a. The quorum for hearing and adopting reports and hearing testimony at
any meeting of developers or Lead Developers shall be those members
present.

b. The quorum for all other action and votes shall be as specified in
the Project Voting Policy.

Section 4. Meeting Agenda

a. Regular Meetings:

The agenda for regular meetings shall include:

- Call to order

- Roll call

- Secretary report of previous meeting's minutes

- Treasurer's report

- Report by each of the Component Leads or their designee

- Old business

- New business

- Adjourn

All reports except for the Secretary's may alternately be submitted in
writing to the Project's primary email discussion list at any point
prior to the point they are to be delivered.

Without objection, the Secretary's report may be omitted if the minutes
are made available on the Project's web site two weeks prior to the
meeting.

b. Special Meetings:

The agenda for special meetings shall be limited to the purpose
specified in the call.

Section 5. Open Meetings

All developer and Lead Developer meetings shall be open to all
developers and the public.

Notice of the time and location of all meetings shall be given via the
Project's primary email list.  In the case of regular meetings, at least
2 weeks' notice shall be given.  In the case of special meetings, at
least 1 weeks' notice shall be given.  In the case of Executive Board
meetings described below, immediate notice shall be given.

ARTICLE VI - The Executive Board

Section 1. Composition

The Project Lead, Secretary, Treasurer, and Component Leads shall
compose the Executive Board.

Section 2. Duties and Powers

The Executive Board shall have power to act only in situations where
action is required and a special meeting of the Lead Developers cannot
be called with adequate notice and a voting quorum cannot be otherwise
reached.  Immediately after any meeting of the Executive Board where
action is taken, a special Lead Developer meeting must be called for the
purpose of reviewing and approving or reversing said action.

Section 3. Quorum and Proxies

Quorum for any action of the Executive Board shall consist of two of
three of the Project Lead, Secretary and Treasurer; and a majority of
the Component Leads.

The Assistants of any of the above shall be empowered to act as proxies
for the Lead they assist, with that Lead's standing or special
permission as communicated in writing to the Project Lead or Secretary.

Section 4. Voting

All votes of the Executive Board require a 2/3rd majority to pass.

Votes cast by the Executive Board shall be by roll call and must be
reported in the call of the special Lead Developer meeting described
above.

ARTICLE VII - Committees

Section 1. Project Lead's Ex-Officio Committee Membership

The Project Lead or his designated Assistant shall be ex-officio a
member of all committees.

Section 2. Project Components

The four Project Components--installer ("Cauldron"), packages
("Grimoire"), package manager ("Sorcery"), and documentation
("Tome")--shall act as standing committees responsible for maintaining
their areas of the Project.  Subject to any overriding vote by the Lead
Developers, the Component Leads shall serve as the presiding officers
over their components and meetings of same, shall set their own policies
regarding voting and quorums, and shall have authority to add and remove
developers to and from their Components.

Section 3. Other Committees

Such other committees, standing or special, shall by appointed by the
Project Lead and ratified by majority vote of the Lead Developers as the
Project shall from time to time deem necessary to carry on its work.

ARTICLE VIII - Parliamentary Authority

The rules contained in the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order
Newly Revised shall govern the Project in all cases to which they are
applicable andin which they are not inconsistent with any applicable
State or Federal Law, these bylaws, or any special rules of order the
Project may adopt.

ARTICLE IX - Amendment of Bylaws

These bylaws and the supplemental policies herein included by reference
may be amended at any time by a three-fourths vote of Lead Developers,
using the voting method described in the Project Voting Policy.

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