# HG changeset patch # User Kai Torben Ohlhus # Date 1653393207 -32400 # Node ID fbe0260e079a4d4f97e522d115cb33d2034e5139 # Parent f980608e25b124d5dd7e1beb57b6ce57a087dfe8 Create governance.md diff -r f980608e25b1 -r fbe0260e079a pages/governance.md --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/pages/governance.md Tue May 24 20:53:27 2022 +0900 @@ -0,0 +1,85 @@ +# Octave Governance + +This page should clarify about the various entities and actors around the GNU Octave programming language. + +## GNU Octave + +The GNU Octave project was initialized 1992 by **John W. Eaton** . +It consists of [some code](https://www.octave.org/hg/octave) +and a community of people who work on that code. +The most clear cut line that can be drawn is that there is a +[set of people](https://savannah.gnu.org/project/memberlist.php?group=octave) +who have commit access to the GNU Octave Savannah project: +there are currently 24 committers (10 active and 14 dormant). +This set of people doesn’t really define the project, however, +since there are many people who are prolific contributors to the GNU Octave +ecosystem but who do not have +“[commit bit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committer#Commit_bit).” +The communal nature of open-source makes it difficult to precisely define +where the GNU Octave project ends and the greater community begins, +which is exactly how we like it. + +Until the present day, +most final development decisions are made or agreed with by John W. Eaton. + +## Free Software Foundation (FSF) + +The FSF is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization +promoting computer user freedom. + +With the help of the FSF, both indivials and corporations have the opportunity to +[donate to the GNU Octave project](https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=10). +Despite the free usage of the FSF infrastructure for distributing +the GNU Octave source code. + +The GNU Octave project does not receive any direct or indirect +monetary fundings by the FSF. + +## Related Organizations With No Governance Role + +There are organizations that people sometimes mistakenly believe +have some kind of official control over the GNU Octave project. +This section details three of them, +but please note that neither has any official relationship +to the GNU Octave project, +nor any governance capacity with respect to the project. +Individuals who have some control over the project +and happen to belong to these organizations, +have that control as individuals and not as members of those organizations +and takes the separation of those roles quite seriously. + +### Octave Forge and Octave Packages + +**Octave Forge** is the former collection +of software packages, that can be easily installed and used in GNU Octave. +The Octave Sourceforge project was initiated in 2000 +and active development stopped in 2018. +New packages are not accepted, but existing packages are still maintained. +The project lists [56 members](https://sourceforge.net/p/octave/_members/) +(10 active and 46 dormant) maintaining existing Octave packages, +but not the source code of GNU Octave itself. + +**Octave Packages** is another +collection of Octave packages and intended as the successor of **Octave Forge**. +New packages are accepted here and the development is independent of GNU Octave itself. +Until today full support by Octave's package manager is not given, however, +it is a fully functional index for Octave packages. + +### GitHub Organization + +The GitHub Organization +was established around 2020. +It is a loose connection of currently +[27 members](https://github.com/orgs/gnu-octave/people) +(10 active and 14 dormant) +developing software intended to be used with GNU Octave, +but not the source code of GNU Octave itself. + +## Questions + +If you have questions about GNU Octave's governance structure, +please reach out via email to . + + +This page is inspired by the [JuliaLang project](https://julialang.org/governance/). +