changeset 284:fbe0260e079a

Create governance.md
author Kai Torben Ohlhus <k.ohlhus@gmail.com>
date Tue, 24 May 2022 20:53:27 +0900
parents f980608e25b1
children a5375989d0bc
files pages/governance.md
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+# 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** <jwe@octave.org>.
+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 <https://www.fsf.org/> 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** <https://octave.sourceforge.io/> 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** <https://gnu-octave.github.io/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 <https://github.com/gnu-octave/>
+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 <jwe@octave.org>.
+
+
+This page is inspired by the [JuliaLang project](https://julialang.org/governance/).
+