On Sun, Feb 16, 2003 at 01:00:34AM +0100, Joachim Breitner wrote: > The thing is: The debian structure is not very transparent.
What structure? :) Seriously, we've got a nominal "leader", but that's mostly irrelevent to most of us. The leader is there to resolve disputes that need an arbitrary resolution, and to play "figurehead" in public. Most of us just manage our packages, and we settle most issues through open public discussion. > I also heard something about a mysterious group called the > "FTP-Masters" and the "list-master" and so on. Hardly mysterious. Debian machines and services need administration. So, there are people who do admin work. They probably don't get enough credit for their hard work, but aside from that, who-and-what is mostly irrelevent. > Of course I could dive into mailinglists and docs deep in the > debian.org menu structure, but that is not really a good option. You > see the problem? No, I don't see the problem. Why do you care? Unless you have an unresolvable dispute with some other Debianers, you probably don't need to know or care who the "leader" is. And if you do have a dispute, I'm sure many people can point you at the "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" email address. If you have a problem with the ftp site or the mailing lists, people will gladly point you to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" or "[EMAIL PROTECTED]". As long as you can remember "debian-devel@lists.debian.org", you can probably get answers when and if you need them. We're here (or should be here) to make a good system, not to gain fame or glory. If I wanted fame and glory, I'd go hitch my wagon to ESR's self-aggrandising star, or join some political group like OSI, rather than dedicate my time to work on a system thats main claim to fame is that it "just works". I think the main point is that Debian the organization, like Debian the system, mostly just works. Hundreds of people work on packages, discuss how the packages should interact, and make a good system. That's it, that's the main "structure". Everything else is secondary, and making a big deal about some of the specialized roles that people play in the organization runs the danger of making those specialized roles seem more important than they are. Which in turn, could encourage people to "play politics", which is something I think we should actively discourage. There's enough of that already. :) cheers -- chris Waters | Pneumonoultra- osis is too long [EMAIL PROTECTED] | microscopicsilico- to fit into a single or [EMAIL PROTECTED] | volcaniconi- standalone haiku
