Re: [gentoo-project] Gentoo Council nominee 2018/19 questions

[Aaron Bauman <bman@gentoo.org>]

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On Tuesday, June 26, 2018 3:12:49 AM EDT Michał Górny wrote:
> W dniu wto, 26.06.2018 o godzinie 09∶11 +0200, użytkownik Michał Górny
> 
> napisał:
> > To improve readability of the thread, I'll ask my question in reply to
> > myself ;-).
> 
> And I'd like to ask the inevitable question: what do you think should be
> the roles of Gentoo Council and Trustees appropriately?

The Gentoo Council is responsible for the technical direction of the 
distribution.  This can be viewed as ambiguous by the term "global" being used 
to define what the council is, but I would offer that this is speaking to 
global issues within the scope of projects and the reorganization that occured 
within GLEP 39.  It did not intend to infringe upon the responsibilities nor 
role of the Gentoo Foundation.

The Gentoo Foundation, including the officers and trustees which comprise it, 
are legally and financially responsible to the distribution.  As noted in the 
by-laws, the Foundation is held liable from a legal perspective for matters 
occuring within the distribution.  This is seen not only in the by-laws within 
the rights to indemnifcation, but is driven by American law of incorporated 
entities. As such, I find it most important to consider why we ought to ensure 
these responsibilities are delineated appropriately.

As current officers of the Foundation and council members have expressed, it may 
be wise to dissolve the foundation as it exists today in the form an 
incorporation within the state of New Mexico.  This would be done in favor of 
something such as SPI (Software in the Public interest) or another 
organization willing to legally and financially represent Gentoo as a 
distribution.  This does not *absolve* the distribution from any current 
responsibilities now though.  We must organize and communicate our intention 
as a distribution to deal with all legal and financial matters.

My opinion is to dissolve the Foundation as it exists today in favor of an 
organization that specializes in the types of matters we do not.  This is 
*not* targeting any current officers or trustees within the Foundation, but 
factually stating that they do not contain the required credentials or 
expertise to handle such matters.  Staffing such positions from a demographic of 
computer scientists, programmers, etc is not a wise choice.  I want to clarify 
that this is not targeting the aptitude of such individuals to excel given 
time and task constraints were removed. 

Let the experts handle such matters and let us focus on making a spectacular 
distribution.

-Aaron

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