Board meeting, March 11th, 2003

Attending:

  • Ean Schuessler (presiding)
  • Branden Robinson
  • Ian Jackson
  • M. Drew Streib
  • Martin "Joey" Schulze
  • Wichert Akkerman

Absent with regrets:

  • Manoj Srivastava

Advisors present:

  • Bdale Garbee
  • Guido van Rossum

Invitees present:

  • Benjamin Mako Hill
  • Bill Allombert
  • Bruce Perens
  • Christophe Barbe
  • David B. Harris
  • David Graham
  • Enid Gabriella "Biella" Coleman
  • JP Sugarbroad
  • John Goerzen
  • Peter Palfrader
  • Pierre Machard

Agenda:

  1. New board members
  2. Clarification of the membership and mandate of the Membership Committee
  3. Scheduling of the next meeting
  4. Copyright assignments
  5. OpenOffice.org project membership
  6. New mailing list for SPI correspondence
  7. SPI funds with respect to Debian

Recorder: David B. Harris (contributing member)

New board members

As per the secretary's announcement (1), (2) Bruce Perens, John Goerzen, and Benjamin Mako Hill were elected to the SPI Board of Directors by the contributing membership of SPI.

Wichert Akkerman moved that the board accept the outcome of the vote and install those individuals as board members. Ian Jackson seconded.

Wichert AkkermanIn favour
Ian JacksonIn favour
Branden RobinsonIn favour
Ean SchuesslerIn favour
Drew StreibIn favour
Martin SchulzeAbstains

Motion carried. Bruce Perens, John Goerzen, and Benjamin Mako Hill were installed as new Board members.

Clarification of the membership and mandate of the Membership Committee

David Graham, a contributing member, asks for clarification on the membership of the Membership Committee.

Wichert Akkerman responded that Craig Small, Martin Michlmayr, and Peter Palfrader constitute the Membership Committee. Martin Michlmayr chairs the committee.

Ian Jackson moved that Martin Michlmayr be petitioned to create an area of the SPI web site detailing the Membership Committee's membership and mandate.

Wichert AkkermanIn favour
John GoerzenIn favour
Benj. Mako HillIn favour
Ian JacksonIn favour
Bruce PerensIn favour
Branden RobinsonIn favour
Ean SchuesslerIn favour
Drew StreibIn favour
Martin SchulzeAbstains

Motion carried.

Scheduling of the next meeting

Ean Schuessler suggested that the next meeting take place on Tuesday, 1 April, at 1900 UTC.

There were no objections; the next meeting will take place on Tuesday, 1 April, at 1900 UTC.

Copyright assignments

Since the contributing membership had not yet been petitioned for opinions, Ean Schuessler delayed the board's discussion of this item until such opinions had been garnered, via spi-general@lists.spi-inc.org.

OpenOffice.org project membership

Wichert Akkerman stated that there was some confusion on behalf of OpenOffice.org, who believed that the project listing on SPI's website was for general Free Software/Open Source projects.

Ean Schuessler asked Wichert Akkerman to respond to OpenOffice.org's email, explaining that the projects listed were SPI member projects, and that the list is not a Free Software/Open Source directory.

New mailing list for SPI correspondence

With respect to proposed resolution 2003-03-11.iwj.1, Ian Jackson opines that the SPI board-only mailing list is receiving too much traffic, and proposes that a new list be created.

Wichert AkkermanIn favour
John GoerzenIn favour
Ian JacksonIn favour
Bruce PerensIn favour
Branden RobinsonIn favour
Ean SchuesslerIn favour
Drew StreibIn favour
Benj. Mako HillAbstains
Martin SchulzeAbstains

Motion carries.

Another motion, 2003-02-25.iwj.1, was also voted on. Wichert Akkerman suggested that the results of 2003-03-11.iwj.1 be apparent before voting on another, more complicated, attempt be made at segregating various board mailing list traffic.

Ian JacksonIn favour
Wichert AkkermanAgainst
John GoerzenAgainst
Bruce PerensAgainst
Branden RobinsonAgainst
Ean SchuesslerAgainst
Martin SchulzeAbstains

The motion had quite obviously failed at this point, and no more votes were submitted.

SPI funds with respect to Debian

Bdale Garbee stated:

I have never been presented with a statement of Debian's financial health since my election as DPL. When I asked about Debian's balances after the treasurer's report in the board meeting of 7 Jan 2003, Branden indicated that some guidance from the board would be required due to confusion over how funds held by SPI needed to be split. I've seen no further action taken since that time, and now ask the board's advice on how to get from here to a point where the DPL can receive a concise statement of Debian's balances held by SPI.

Ean Schuessler suggested that, as a long-term solution, a finances committee should be created, of which the Debian Project Leader should be a member. However, he suggested that in the short term, Bdale discuss the finances with Branden Robinson over email.

Bdale agreed to do so.