On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:14:40 -0500, Theodore Ts'o <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
> On Tue, Feb 24, 2004 at 01:42:23PM -0600, Debian Project Secretary > wrote: >> >> General Resolution: Status of the non-free section Text: The actual >> text of the GR is: >> >> The next release of Debian will not be accompanied by a non-free >> section; there will be no more stable releases of the non-free >> section. The Debian project will cease active support of the >> non-free section. Clause 5 of the social contract is repealed. >> >> Since this modifies the Social Contract, thsi requires a 3:1 >> majority to pass. >> >> >> Amendment Anthony Towns [EMAIL PROTECTED] Amendment Text The actual >> text of the amendment is: Propose that the Debian project resolve >> that: >> >> Acknowledging that some of our users continue to require the use of >> programs that don't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines, >> we reaffirm our commitment to providing the contrib and non-free >> areas in our archive for packaged versions of such software, and to >> providing the use of our infrastructure (such as our bug-tracking >> system and mailing lists) to help with the maintenance of non-free >> software packages. > Umm.... this is very confusing. Are we expected to cast votes for > both the amendment and the general resolution at the same time? Yes. > Whether or not the Amendment carries is going to make an extreme and > material different as to how I would vote on the General Resolution, Umm, why? Vote for the amendment over the default option and the original resolution, if that is how you feel. > since the Amendmend effectively changes the sense of the Resolution > by 180 degrees. Quite. So only one of the two may win. > If we are forced to cast both votes at the same time, someone who > wants to keep non-free and who votes aye to both the Amendment and > the Resolution may find themselves inadvertently voting to ditch I suggest you read up on our voting mechanisms. To that hypothetical person, I would say vote the original proposal below the default, and the amendment above the default optio. > non-free. On the flip side, someone who wants to jettison non-free > could vote aye to the Resolution and nay to the amendment, could if > the amendment carries, inadvertently end up voting to keep non-free, > which would not be their intent. This really demonstrates a profound ignorance of our voting process; please read up on the new mechanisms at http://www.debian.org/devel/constitution We delayed this vote for nearly four years so that we could get a voting process that can handle exactly this conundrum. > As someone who would like to see non-free be kept, I suppose the > valid strategy, assume we are forced to vote on both the amendment > and the resolution at the same time, would be vote "nay" to the > resolution, and "aye" to the amendment, since if the resolution > fails, the status quo would prevail, and the votes on the amendment > could be used to provide a moral mandate one way or another about > how DD's feel on this issue. This is wrong. The amendment can succed on its own, even if the resolution falls. > This seems like a fairly convulting situation, however, and being > forced to vote on both seems to require a certain amount of gaming > one's vote, which is in my opinion, undesirable. Wrong again. Would you please read up on condortcet before continuing with this rant? manoj -- cause when love is gone, there's always justice. and when justice is gone, there's always force. and when force is gone, there's always mom. laurie anderson Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/> 1024R/C7261095 print CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E 1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C