Open Stack

On 01/06/2012 02:11 AM, Soren Hansen wrote:
> Every time the process has been explained, it's gone something like
> "RAX will publish some drafts, will accept feedback, and eventually
> the final documents will be published". That's not a democratic
> process. What if the feedback isn't unanimous? 

As Mark and others have said before, OpenStack is a meritocracy and its
community is organized so that it takes decisions based on 'lazy
consensus'.  I believe there is a strong incentive for RAX to accept
feedback while setting up the foundation: can you imagine the project
remaining as successful as it is now if RAX runs it by itself, without
HP, Dell, Cisco, Nebula, Piston and the like? That would defeat the
whole purpose of setting up a foundation.

What reason do you see for RAX not to build consensus among the community?

> No matter how good the intentions are inside of RAX, the best way for
> the community to accept the end result is for the community to own the
> process. My point is that as soon as the foundation is established,
> all these things might be rewritten completely anyways, 

I don't see why anybody would want to spend time creating a mission, a
structure, charters, rules, infrastructure and start over as soon as the
ink is dry. I would expect quite the contrary, instead: once the
foundation is setup it will have to start operating according to its
mission immediately, without further debate. That's why I believe there
is a strong incentive for RAX to lead this process in the most inclusive
way and with a very wide consensus from the community. I agree with you
and others that the process can be improved. Jim, Jonathan and Mark have
already apologized for not communicating enough to this list and they've
openly published a draft and deadlines for the next milestones.

As a long time and relevant member of this community I understand you
have some ideas of what the documents should look like so here is my
suggestion: write down your proposal, comment on the existing draft and
submit it to this list for discussion. I believe that you and everybody
else on this list have the chance to shape the foundation and make sure
OpenStack becomes the ubiquitous software for IaaS.

/stef