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Historical version of the Constitution for the Debian Project (v1.2)
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Version 1.2 ratified on October 29th, 2003. Supersedes Version 1.1
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ratified on June 21st, 2003, which itself supersedes Version 1.0
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ratified on December 2nd, 1998. Superseded by version 1.3, ratified on
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September 24th, 2006. That was superceded by the current version, 1.4
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ratified on October 7th, 2007.
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The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made
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common cause to create a free operating system.
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This document describes the organisational structure for formal
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decision-making in the Project. It does not describe the goals of the
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Project or how it achieves them, or contain any policies except those
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directly related to the decision-making process.
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2. Decision-making bodies and individuals
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Each decision in the Project is made by one or more of the following:
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1. The Developers, by way of General Resolution or an election;
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2. The Project Leader;
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3. The Technical Committee and/or its Chairman;
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4. The individual Developer working on a particular task;
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5. Delegates appointed by the Project Leader for specific tasks;
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6. The Project Secretary.
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Most of the remainder of this document will outline the powers of these
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bodies, their composition and appointment, and the procedure for their
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decision-making. The powers of a person or body may be subject to
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review and/or limitation by others; in this case the reviewing body or
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person's entry will state this. In the list above, a person or body is
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usually listed before any people or bodies whose decisions they can
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overrule or who they (help) appoint - but not everyone listed earlier
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can overrule everyone listed later.
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1. Nothing in this constitution imposes an obligation on anyone to do
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work for the Project. A person who does not want to do a task which
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has been delegated or assigned to them does not need to do it.
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However, they must not actively work against these rules and
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decisions properly made under them.
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2. A person may hold several posts, except that the Project Leader,
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Project Secretary and the Chairman of the Technical Committee must
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be distinct, and that the Leader cannot appoint themselves as their
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3. A person may leave the Project or resign from a particular post
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they hold, at any time, by stating so publicly.
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3. Individual Developers
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An individual Developer may
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1. make any technical or nontechnical decision with regard to their
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2. propose or sponsor draft General Resolutions;
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3. propose themselves as a Project Leader candidate in elections;
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4. vote on General Resolutions and in Leadership elections.
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3.2. Composition and appointment
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1. Developers are volunteers who agree to further the aims of the
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Project insofar as they participate in it, and who maintain
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package(s) for the Project or do other work which the Project
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Leader's Delegate(s) consider worthwhile.
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2. The Project Leader's Delegate(s) may choose not to admit new
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Developers, or expel existing Developers. If the Developers feel
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that the Delegates are abusing their authority they can of course
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override the decision by way of General Resolution - see �4.1(3),
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Developers may make these decisions as they see fit.
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4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election
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Together, the Developers may:
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1. Appoint or recall the Project Leader.
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2. Amend this constitution, provided they agree with a 3:1 majority.
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3. Override any decision by the Project Leader or a Delegate.
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4. Override any decision by the Technical Committee, provided they
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agree with a 2:1 majority.
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5. Issue, supersede and withdraw nontechnical policy documents and
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These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
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relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
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policies such as the free software licence terms that Debian
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They may also include position statements about issues of the day.
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1. A Foundation Document is a document or statement regarded as
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critical to the Project's mission and purposes.
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2. The Foundation Documents are the works entitled "Debian Social
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Contract" and "Debian Free Software Guidelines".
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3. A Foundation Document requires a 3:1 majority for its
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supersession. New Foundation Documents are issued and existing
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ones withdrawn by amending the list of Foundation Documents in
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6. Together with the Project Leader and SPI, make decisions about
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property held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See �9.1.)
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1. The Developers follow the Standard Resolution Procedure, below. A
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resolution or amendment is introduced if proposed by any Developer
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and sponsored by at least K other Developers, or if proposed by the
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Project Leader or the Technical Committee.
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2. Delaying a decision by the Project Leader or their Delegate:
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1. If the Project Leader or their Delegate, or the Technical
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Committee, has made a decision, then Developers can override
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them by passing a resolution to do so; see �4.1(3).
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2. If such a resolution is sponsored by at least 2K Developers,
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or if it is proposed by the Technical Committee, the
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resolution puts the decision immediately on hold (provided
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that resolution itself says so).
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3. If the original decision was to change a discussion period or
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a voting period, or the resolution is to override the
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Technical Committee, then only K Developers need to sponsor
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the resolution to be able to put the decision immediately on
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4. If the decision is put on hold, an immediate vote is held to
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determine whether the decision will stand until the full vote
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on the decision is made or whether the implementation of the
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original decision will be delayed until then. There is no
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quorum for this immediate procedural vote.
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5. If the Project Leader (or the Delegate) withdraws the original
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decision, the vote becomes moot, and is no longer conducted.
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3. Votes are taken by the Project Secretary. Votes, tallies, and
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results are not revealed during the voting period; after the vote
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the Project Secretary lists all the votes cast. The voting period
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is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up to 1 week by the Project
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4. The minimum discussion period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up
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to 1 week by the Project Leader. The Project Leader has a casting
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vote. There is a quorum of 3Q.
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5. Proposals, sponsors, amendments, calls for votes and other formal
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actions are made by announcement on a publicly-readable electronic
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mailing list designated by the Project Leader's Delegate(s); any
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Developer may post there.
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6. Votes are cast by email in a manner suitable to the Secretary. The
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Secretary determines for each poll whether voters can change their
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7. Q is half of the square root of the number of current Developers. K
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is Q or 5, whichever is the smaller. Q and K need not be integers
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The Project Leader may:
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1. Appoint Delegates or delegate decisions to the Technical Committee.
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The Leader may define an area of ongoing responsibility or a
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specific decision and hand it over to another Developer or to the
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Once a particular decision has been delegated and made the Project
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Leader may not withdraw that delegation; however, they may withdraw
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an ongoing delegation of particular area of responsibility.
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2. Lend authority to other Developers.
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The Project Leader may make statements of support for points of
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view or for other members of the project, when asked or otherwise;
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these statements have force if and only if the Leader would be
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empowered to make the decision in question.
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3. Make any decision which requires urgent action.
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This does not apply to decisions which have only become gradually
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urgent through lack of relevant action, unless there is a fixed
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4. Make any decision for whom noone else has responsibility.
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5. Propose draft General Resolutions and amendments.
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6. Together with the Technical Committee, appoint new members to the
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Committee. (See �6.2.)
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7. Use a casting vote when Developers vote.
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The Project Leader also has a normal vote in such ballots.
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8. Vary the discussion period for Developers' votes (as above).
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9. Lead discussions amongst Developers.
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The Project Leader should attempt to participate in discussions
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amongst the Developers in a helpful way which seeks to bring the
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discussion to bear on the key issues at hand. The Project Leader
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should not use the Leadership position to promote their own
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10. Together with SPI, make decisions affecting property held in trust
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for purposes related to Debian. (See �9.1.)
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1. The Project Leader is elected by the Developers.
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2. The election begins nine weeks before the leadership post becomes
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vacant, or (if it is too late already) immediately.
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3. For the following three weeks any Developer may nominate themselves
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as a candidate Project Leader.
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4. For three weeks after that no more candidates may be nominated;
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candidates should use this time for campaigning (to make their
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identities and positions known). If there are no candidates at the
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end of the nomination period then the nomination period is extended
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for three further weeks, repeatedly if necessary.
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5. The next three weeks are the polling period during which Developers
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may cast their votes. Votes in leadership elections are kept
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secret, even after the election is finished.
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6. The options on the ballot will be those candidates who have
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nominated themselves and have not yet withdrawn, plus None Of The
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Above. If None Of The Above wins the election then the election
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procedure is repeated, many times if necessary.
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7. The decision will be made using the method specified in section
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�A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure. The quorum is the same
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as for a General Resolution (�4.2) and the default option is "None
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8. The Project Leader serves for one year from their election.
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The Project Leader should attempt to make decisions which are
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consistent with the consensus of the opinions of the Developers.
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Where practical the Project Leader should informally solicit the views
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The Project Leader should avoid overemphasizing their own point of view
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when making decisions in their capacity as Leader.
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6. Technical committee
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The Technical Committee may:
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1. Decide on any matter of technical policy.
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This includes the contents of the technical policy manuals,
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developers' reference materials, example packages and the behaviour
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of non-experimental package building tools. (In each case the usual
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maintainer of the relevant software or documentation makes
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decisions initially, however; see 6.3(5).)
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2. Decide any technical matter where Developers' jurisdictions
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In cases where Developers need to implement compatible technical
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policies or stances (for example, if they disagree about the
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priorities of conflicting packages, or about ownership of a command
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name, or about which package is responsible for a bug that both
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maintainers agree is a bug, or about who should be the maintainer
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for a package) the technical committee may decide the matter.
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3. Make a decision when asked to do so.
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Any person or body may delegate a decision of their own to the
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Technical Committee, or seek advice from it.
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4. Overrule a Developer (requires a 3:1 majority).
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The Technical Committee may ask a Developer to take a particular
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technical course of action even if the Developer does not wish to;
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this requires a 3:1 majority. For example, the Committee may
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determine that a complaint made by the submitter of a bug is
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justified and that the submitter's proposed solution should be
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The Technical Committee may make formal announcements about its
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views on any matter. Individual members may of course make informal
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statements about their views and about the likely views of the
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6. Together with the Project Leader, appoint new members to itself or
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remove existing members. (See �6.2.)
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7. Appoint the Chairman of the Technical Committee.
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The Chairman is elected by the Committee from its members. All
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members of the committee are automatically nominated; the committee
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votes starting one week before the post will become vacant (or
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immediately, if it is already too late). The members may vote by
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public acclamation for any fellow committee member, including
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themselves; there is no default option. The vote finishes when all
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the members have voted, or when the voting period has ended. The
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result is determined using the method specified in section A.6 of
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the Standard Resolution Procedure.
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8. The Chairman can stand in for the Leader, together with the
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As detailed in �7.1(2), the Chairman of the Technical Committee and
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the Project Secretary may together stand in for the Leader if there
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1. The Technical Committee consists of up to 8 Developers, and should
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usually have at least 4 members.
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2. When there are fewer than 8 members the Technical Committee may
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recommend new member(s) to the Project Leader, who may choose
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(individually) to appoint them or not.
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3. When there are 5 members or fewer the Technical Committee may
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appoint new member(s) until the number of members reaches 6.
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4. When there have been 5 members or fewer for at least one week the
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Project Leader may appoint new member(s) until the number of
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members reaches 6, at intervals of at least one week per
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5. If the Technical Committee and the Project Leader agree they may
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remove or replace an existing member of the Technical Committee.
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1. The Technical Committee uses the Standard Resolution Procedure.
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A draft resolution or amendment may be proposed by any member of
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the Technical Committee. There is no minimum discussion period; the
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voting period lasts for up to one week, or until the outcome is no
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longer in doubt. Members may change their votes. There is a quorum
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2. Details regarding voting
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The Chairman has a casting vote. When the Technical Committee votes
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whether to override a Developer who also happens to be a member of
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the Committee, that member may not vote (unless they are the
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Chairman, in which case they may use only their casting vote).
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3. Public discussion and decision-making.
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Discussion, draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by members
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of the committee, are made public on the Technical Committee public
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discussion list. There is no separate secretary for the Committee.
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4. Confidentiality of appointments.
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The Technical Committee may hold confidential discussions via
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private email or a private mailing list or other means to discuss
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appointments to the Committee. However, votes on appointments must
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5. No detailed design work.
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The Technical Committee does not engage in design of new proposals
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and policies. Such design work should be carried out by individuals
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privately or together and discussed in ordinary technical policy
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The Technical Committee restricts itself to choosing from or
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adopting compromises between solutions and decisions which have
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been proposed and reasonably thoroughly discussed elsewhere.
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Individual members of the technical committee may of course
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participate on their own behalf in any aspect of design and policy
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6. Technical Committee makes decisions only as last resort.
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The Technical Committee does not make a technical decision until
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efforts to resolve it via consensus have been tried and failed,
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unless it has been asked to make a decision by the person or body
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who would normally be responsible for it.
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7. The Project Secretary
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1. Takes votes amongst the Developers, and determines the number and
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identity of Developers, whenever this is required by the
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2. Can stand in for the Leader, together with the Chairman of the
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If there is no Project Leader then the Chairman of the Technical
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Committee and the Project Secretary may by joint agreement make
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decisions if they consider it imperative to do so.
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3. Adjudicates any disputes about interpretation of the constitution.
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4. May delegate part or all of their authority to someone else, or
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withdraw such a delegation at any time.
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The Project Secretary is appointed by the Project Leader and the
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current Project Secretary.
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If the Project Leader and the current Project Secretary cannot agree on
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a new appointment they must ask the board of SPI (see �9.1.) to appoint
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If there is no Project Secretary or the current Secretary is
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unavailable and has not delegated authority for a decision then the
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decision may be made or delegated by the Chairman of the Technical
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Committee, as Acting Secretary.
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The Project Secretary's term of office is 1 year, at which point they
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or another Secretary must be (re)appointed.
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The Project Secretary should make decisions which are fair and
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reasonable, and preferably consistent with the consensus of the
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When acting together to stand in for an absent Project Leader the
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Chairman of the Technical Committee and the Project Secretary should
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make decisions only when absolutely necessary and only when consistent
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with the consensus of the Developers.
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8. The Project Leader's Delegates
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The Project Leader's Delegates:
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1. have powers delegated to them by the Project Leader;
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2. may make certain decisions which the Leader may not make directly,
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including approving or expelling Developers or designating people
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as Developers who do not maintain packages. This is to avoid
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concentration of power, particularly over membership as a
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Developer, in the hands of the Project Leader.
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The Delegates are appointed by the Project Leader and may be replaced
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by the Leader at the Leader's discretion. The Project Leader may not
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make the position as a Delegate conditional on particular decisions by
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the Delegate, nor may they override a decision made by a Delegate once
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Delegates may make decisions as they see fit, but should attempt to
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implement good technical decisions and/or follow consensus opinion.
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9. Software in the Public Interest
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SPI and Debian are separate organisations who share some goals. Debian
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is grateful for the legal support framework offered by SPI. Debian's
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Developers are currently members of SPI by virtue of their status as
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1. SPI has no authority regarding Debian's technical or nontechnical
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decisions, except that no decision by Debian with respect to any
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property held by SPI shall require SPI to act outside its legal
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authority, and that Debian's constitution may occasionally use SPI
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as a decision body of last resort.
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2. Debian claims no authority over SPI other than that over the use of
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certain of SPI's property, as described below, though Debian
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Developers may be granted authority within SPI by SPI's rules.
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3. Debian Developers are not agents or employees of SPI, or of each
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other or of persons in authority in the Debian Project. A person
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acting as a Developer does so as an individual, on their own
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9.2. Management of property for purposes related to Debian
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Since Debian has no authority to hold money or property, any donations
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for the Debian Project must be made to SPI, which manages such affairs.
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SPI have made the following undertakings:
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1. SPI will hold money, trademarks and other tangible and intangible
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property and manage other affairs for purposes related to Debian.
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2. Such property will be accounted for separately and held in trust
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for those purposes, decided on by Debian and SPI according to this
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3. SPI will not dispose of or use property held in trust for Debian
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without approval from Debian, which may be granted by the Project
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Leader or by General Resolution of the Developers.
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4. SPI will consider using or disposing of property held in trust for
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Debian when asked to do so by the Project Leader.
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5. SPI will use or dispose of property held in trust for Debian when
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asked to do so by a General Resolution of the Developers, provided
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that this is compatible with SPI's legal authority.
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6. SPI will notify the Developers by electronic mail to a Debian
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Project mailing list when it uses or disposes of property held in
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A. Standard Resolution Procedure
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These rules apply to communal decision-making by committees and
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plebiscites, where stated above.
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The formal procedure begins when a draft resolution is proposed and
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sponsored, as required.
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A.1. Discussion and Amendment
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1. Following the proposal, the resolution may be discussed. Amendments
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may be made formal by being proposed and sponsored according to the
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requirements for a new resolution, or directly by the proposer of
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the original resolution.
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2. A formal amendment may be accepted by the resolution's proposer, in
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which case the formal resolution draft is immediately changed to
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3. If a formal amendment is not accepted, or one of the sponsors of
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the resolution does not agree with the acceptance by the proposer
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of a formal amendment, the amendment remains as an amendment and
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4. If an amendment accepted by the original proposer is not to the
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liking of others, they may propose another amendment to reverse the
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earlier change (again, they must meet the requirements for proposer
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5. The proposer of a resolution may suggest changes to the wordings of
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amendments; these take effect if the proposer of the amendment
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agrees and none of the sponsors object. In this case the changed
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amendments will be voted on instead of the originals.
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6. The proposer of a resolution may make changes to correct minor
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errors (for example, typographical errors or inconsistencies) or
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changes which do not alter the meaning, providing noone objects
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within 24 hours. In this case the minimum discussion period is not
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A.2. Calling for a vote
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1. The proposer or a sponsor of a motion or an amendment may call for
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a vote, providing that the minimum discussion period (if any) has
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2. The proposer or any sponsor of a resolution may call for a vote on
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that resolution and all related amendments.
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3. The person who calls for a vote states what they believe the
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wordings of the resolution and any relevant amendments are, and
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consequently what form the ballot should take. However, the final
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decision on the form of ballot(s) is the Secretary's - see 7.1(1),
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4. The minimum discussion period is counted from the time the last
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formal amendment was accepted, or since the whole resolution was
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proposed if no amendments have been proposed and accepted.
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A.3. Voting procedure
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1. Each resolution and its related amendments is voted on in a single
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ballot that includes an option for the original resolution, each
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amendment, and the default option (where applicable).
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2. The default option must not have any supermajority requirements.
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Options which do not have an explicit supermajority requirement
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have a 1:1 majority requirement.
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3. The votes are counted according to the rules in A.6. The default
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option is "Further Discussion", unless specified otherwise.
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4. In cases of doubt the Project Secretary shall decide on matters of
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A.4. Withdrawing resolutions or unaccepted amendments
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The proposer of a resolution or unaccepted amendment may withdraw it.
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In this case new proposers may come forward keep it alive, in which
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case the first person to do so becomes the new proposer and any others
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become sponsors if they aren't sponsors already.
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A sponsor of a resolution or amendment (unless it has been accepted)
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If the withdrawal of the proposer and/or sponsors means that a
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resolution has no proposer or not enough sponsors it will not be voted
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on unless this is rectified before the resolution expires.
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If a proposed resolution has not been discussed, amended, voted on or
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otherwise dealt with for 4 weeks the secretary may issue a statement
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that the issue is being withdrawn. If none of the sponsors of any of
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the proposals object within a week, the issue is withdrawn.
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The secretary may also include suggestions on how to proceed, if
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1. Each voter's ballot ranks the options being voted on. Not all
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options need be ranked. Ranked options are considered preferred to
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all unranked options. Voters may rank options equally. Unranked
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options are considered to be ranked equally with one another.
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Details of how ballots may be filled out will be included in the
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2. If the ballot has a quorum requirement R any options other than the
546
default option which do not receive at least R votes ranking that
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option above the default option are dropped from consideration.
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3. Any (non-default) option which does not defeat the default option
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by its required majority ratio is dropped from consideration.
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1. Given two options A and B, V(A,B) is the number of voters who
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prefer option A over option B.
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2. An option A defeats the default option D by a majority ratio
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N, if V(A,D) is strictly greater than N * V(D,A).
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3. If a supermajority of S:1 is required for A, its majority
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ratio is S; otherwise, its majority ratio is 1.
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4. From the list of undropped options, we generate a list of pairwise
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1. An option A defeats an option B, if V(A,B) is strictly greater
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5. From the list of [undropped] pairwise defeats, we generate a set of
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1. An option A transitively defeats an option C if A defeats C or
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if there is some other option B where A defeats B AND B
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transitively defeats C.
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6. We construct the Schwartz set from the set of transitive defeats.
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1. An option A is in the Schwartz set if for all options B,
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either A transitively defeats B, or B does not transitively
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7. If there are defeats between options in the Schwartz set, we drop
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the weakest such defeats from the list of pairwise defeats, and
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1. A defeat (A,X) is weaker than a defeat (B,Y) if V(A,X) is less
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than V(B,Y). Also, (A,X) is weaker than (B,Y) if V(A,X) is
574
equal to V(B,Y) and V(X,A) is greater than V(Y,B).
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2. A weakest defeat is a defeat that has no other defeat weaker
576
than it. There may be more than one such defeat.
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8. If there are no defeats within the Schwartz set, then the winner is
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chosen from the options in the Schwartz set. If there is only one
579
such option, it is the winner. If there are multiple options, the
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elector with the casting vote chooses which of those options wins.
582
Note: Options which the voters rank above the default option are
583
options they find acceptable. Options ranked below the default options
584
are options they find unacceptable.
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When the Standard Resolution Procedure is to be used, the text which
587
refers to it must specify what is sufficient to have a draft resolution
588
proposed and/or sponsored, what the minimum discussion period is, and
589
what the voting period is. It must also specify any supermajority
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and/or the quorum (and default option) to be used.
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B. Use of language and typography
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The present indicative ("is", for example) means that the statement is
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a rule in this constitution. "ay" or "can" indicates that the person or
596
body has discretion. "Should" means that it would be considered a good
597
thing if the sentence were obeyed, but it is not binding. Text marked
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as a citation, such as this, is rationale and does not form part of the
599
constitution. It may be used only to aid interpretation in cases of