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* governance.md: improve text
author Kai T. Ohlhus <k.ohlhus@gmail.com>
date Tue, 31 May 2022 01:45:26 +0900
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1 ---
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2 layout: page
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3 title: Governance
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4 icon: <i class="fas fa-landmark"></i>
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5 footer: true
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6 permalink: governance
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7 ---
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9 This page should clarify about the various entities and actors around the GNU Octave programming language.
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10
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11 ### GNU Octave
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12
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13 The **GNU Octave** project was initialized 1992 by
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14 [John W. Eaton &lt;jwe@octave.org&gt;](mailto:jwe@octave.org).
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15 It consists of a
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16 [software source code repository](https://www.octave.org/hg/octave)
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17 and a community of people who work on that code.
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18 The most clear cut line that can be drawn is that there is a
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19 [set of people](https://savannah.gnu.org/project/memberlist.php?group=octave)
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20 who have commit access to the source code repository:
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21 there are currently 24 committers (10 active and 14 dormant).
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22 This set of people doesn’t really define the entire project.
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23 Additionally, there are many people who are prolific contributors
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24 to the GNU Octave ecosystem but who do not have
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25 “[commit bit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committer#Commit_bit).”
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26 The communal nature of open-source makes it difficult to precisely define
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27 where the GNU Octave project ends and the greater community begins,
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28 which is exactly how we like it.
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29 Finally,
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30 most development and donation spending decisions are made by or agreed with
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31 John W. Eaton.
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32
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33 ### Free Software Foundation (FSF)
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34
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35 The FSF <https://www.fsf.org/> is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
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36 promoting computer user freedom.
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37 With the help of the FSF,
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38 both individuals and corporations have the opportunity to
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39 [donate to the GNU Octave project](https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=10).
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40
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41 Despite the free usage of the FSF infrastructure for distributing
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42 the GNU Octave source code,
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43 the Octave project does not receive any direct or indirect
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44 monetary funding by the FSF.
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46 ### Related organizations with no governance role
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47
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48 There are organizations that people sometimes mistakenly believe
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49 have some kind of official control over the GNU Octave project.
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50 This section details three of them,
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51 but please note that they have neither any official relationship
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52 nor any governance capacity with the GNU Octave project.
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53
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54 #### Octave Forge and Octave Packages
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55
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56 **Octave Forge** <https://octave.sourceforge.io/> is the former collection
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57 of software packages, that can be easily installed and used with GNU Octave.
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58 The Octave SourceForge project was initiated in 2000
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59 and active development stopped in 2018.
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60 New packages are not accepted, but existing packages are still maintained.
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61 The project lists [56 members](https://sourceforge.net/p/octave/_members/)
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62 (10 active and 46 dormant) maintaining existing Octave packages,
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63 but not the source code of GNU Octave itself.
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64
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65 **Octave Packages** <https://gnu-octave.github.io/packages/> is another
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66 collection of Octave packages and intended successor of **Octave Forge**.
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67 New packages are accepted here and the development of Octave packages
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68 is independent of GNU Octave itself.
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70 #### GitHub Organization
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72 The GitHub Organization <https://github.com/gnu-octave/>
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73 was established around 2020.
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74 It is a loose connection of currently
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75 [27 members](https://github.com/orgs/gnu-octave/people)
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76 (10 active and 17 dormant)
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77 developing software intended to be used with GNU Octave
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78 (including **Octave Packages**),
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79 but not the source code of GNU Octave itself.
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81 ### Questions
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82
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83 If you have any questions about GNU Octave's governance structure,
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84 please reach out via email to [John W. Eaton &lt;jwe@octave.org&gt;](mailto:jwe@octave.org).
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87 This page is inspired by the [JuliaLang project](https://julialang.org/governance/).