OpenJDK Community Bylaws — DRAFT 10 (original) (raw)

The Governing Board manages the structure and operation of the OpenJDK Community.

The Governing Board consists of five Contributors:

• The Chair, appointed by Oracle;
• The Vice-Chair, appointed by IBM;
• The OpenJDK Lead, appointed by Oracle; and
• Two At-Large Members, nominated and elected as described below.

The Governing Board is, in part, a legislative body: It is empowered to revise these Bylaws to refine existing processes, to define new processes, and to dispose of processes that are no longer required. Any revision of these Bylaws must be approved by an Absolute Two-Thirds Majority of the Governing Board and then ratified by Two-Thirds Majority of OpenJDK Members.

The Governing Board is also, in part, a judiciary body: It is empowered to resolve any procedural disputes which may arise within the Community. Any procedural decision made by an individual, as described in these Bylaws, may be appealed to the Governing Board. If the Governing Board decides to hear an appeal then a proposed judgement must be approved by aSimple Majority vote.

The Governing Board is not an executive body: It has no direct authority over technical or release decisions. That authority is held, for any given Project, by that Project’s Lead, and in particular by the OpenJDK Lead for JDK Release Projects.

The Governing Board is a Group, with the Chair as its Lead. This allows the Governing Board to sponsor Projects. The usual rules for dissolving Groups, adding and removing Group Members, and selecting and removing Group Leads do not apply to the Governing Board.

Meetings The Governing Board shall meet at least once per calendar quarter, either in person or via teleconference. Meeting minutes will be posted publicly, after being reviewed and approved by the Governing Board.

The Governing Board may decide, by a Simple Majority vote, to hold a meeting or part of a meeting in Private Session, in which case the public meeting minutes will only record any votes that were taken.

The Governing Board may also decide, by a Simple Majority vote, to hold an Open Meeting to which all OpenJDK Members are invited.

Votes Governing Board votes may be conducted during meetings. A meeting of the Governing Board is considered quorate if a simple majority of its members are present; that is, more members are present than absent.

Votes may also be conducted asynchronously, via e-mail or similar mechanisms, in which case the voting period shall be seven calendar days unless otherwise stated in the call for votes, but in any case not less than 48 hours. In an asynchronous vote a majority of members must declare themselves present before the end of the voting period, even if they do not vote. An asynchronous vote is conducted transparently unless the Governing Board first votes, by a Simple Majority, to conduct it privately.

Observers The Governing Board may, by aSimple Majority vote, invite specific individuals to attend Governing Board meetings as Observers. Such individuals need not be OpenJDK Members. Observers are welcome to both listen and contribute to the conversation, but they do not have any voting rights. The Governing Board may remove an Observer by a Simple Majority vote.

Quarterly Reports Once per calendar quarter, and one week prior to that quarter’s scheduled meeting of the Governing Board, theOpenJDK Lead shall publish a written report summarizing recent activities in the Community. This report should include:

• A summary of notable recent activities of Groups and Projects, including noteworthy procedural decisions;
• A list of Projects that have made major state changes such as publishing a release, integrating into a JDK Release Project, or submitting or completing a JSR;
• A list of Projects that should, in the OpenJDK Lead’s opinion, be considered for inclusion in a future JDK Release Project and its corresponding Umbrella JSR;
• An assessment of the openness and transparency of the development process and its supporting infrastructure; and
• Statistics on committer activity, bug-fix rates, and Community growth.

Annual Review The Governing Board shall conduct an annual review of all of the Community’s Groups and Projects, dissolving any such that are determined to have become inactive.

At-Large Members The At-Large Members of the Governing Board are chosen by a vote of the OpenJDK Members. At-Large Members serve for a term of one calendar year, starting on the first day of April each year.

During a two-week nomination period any OpenJDK Member may nominate an individual who does not currently hold an appointed Governing Board seat to fill one of the At-Large seats. That individual need not already be an OpenJDK Member. An OpenJDK Member may make more than one such nomination.

During a two-week voting period, commencing shortly after the nomination period, the new At-Large Members are chosen from the set of nominees by a vote of all OpenJDK Members.

• If there are no more nominees than there are open seats then each nominee must be approved by a Simple Majority of voting Members. If any seat remains empty after this process then a new election will be held to fill it.
• If there are more nominees than there are open seats then the required number of At-Large Members will be selected from the nominees using the Single Transferable Vote method with the Meek algorithm.

If an At-Large Member resigns or departs mid-term, with at least two months remaining in the term, then a special election will be held to fill that seat for the remainder of the term.

Expansion and Contraction The Governing Board shall never consist of fewer than five individuals. It shall always include aChair, a Vice-Chair, an OpenJDK Lead, and at least twoAt-Large seats as described above.

The Governing Board may, by an Absolute Two-Thirds Majority vote, add or remove both appointed and At-Large Governing Board seats.

Technical Appeals Process If a Governing Board member objects in good faith to a technical or release decision made by theOpenJDK Lead then that decision may be appealed via the following process.

1. An objection to a decision made by the OpenJDK Lead must be raised no later than two weeks after that decision.
2. Within two weeks of the initial objection, the objecting Board member and the OpenJDK Lead will each nominate a neutral third-party technical expert to arbitrate the decision. Within two further weeks these two arbiters will together agree on a suitable third neutral expert to join them in creating an Arbitration Panel of three individuals. These experts need not be OpenJDK Members or even Participants.
3. Within two weeks of the selection of the Panel the objecting Board member will submit to the Panel and the OpenJDK Lead a written description, not to exceed 1,000 words, of the objection.
4. Within two weeks of the objecting Board member’s submission the OpenJDK Lead will submit to the Panel and the objecting Board member a written rebuttal, also not to exceed 1,000 words, describing the rationale behind the decision and the way in which it is reasonable.
5. Within two weeks of the OpenJDK Lead’s rebuttal the Panel will render a decision, made by an Absolute Simple Majority vote. The Panel may, during its deliberations, consider any other information it deems appropriate and may consult with other individuals as necessary.

Both the written submissions and the judgment of the Panel will be published as soon as they are available unless the Panel, on petition from the objecting Board member or the OpenJDK Lead, determines that publication is not in the best interest of the OpenJDK Community.

Only three unsuccessful appeals by any particular Governing Board member are permitted in any twelve-month period.