Re: Fwd: Draft of Proposal for the GNOME Foundation.

[Alan Cox <alan lxorguk ukuu org uk>]

> And you don't want them to be the same entity either, for reasons of
> logistics and self-defense, as you say.
> 
> Yeah, it's pretty clear that these have to be divided.

Let me then propose this model


Non Technical Side
------------------

One Gnome Foundation Per Appropriate Tax Regime and people willing to set it up
Each is bounded by local law for non profits
Each controls its own funds and spending in accordance to those rules and
	the wishes of its members.
Each has a mailing list and there is a global policy list between them
Each has an elected board drawn by vote from the members of its list in
	accordance with the policy of that country & global policy
The only technical influence it has is where it spends its money


Global policy is agreed by votes between the boards with 2/3rds majority.
That Global policy is a constitution. It covers only the most basic requirements
- free software, data protection, elections, voting.


Technical Side
--------------

An amorphous bunch of people who happen to follow the technical lists and
be on the main technical list get to elect a board of people who provide
policy and plan releases.

Technical meetings are hosted and organised by the non technical bodies

The technical board does not exist in any conventional sense. Its just a bunch
of people everyone thought would be good at the job.

The technical board guides standards and releases (I think sets is too
strong a word)

A mechanism should exist for policy documents that are equivalent to an RFC
and for the formation of ad-hoc groups to work on technical issues. I'd 
favour 'find 15 people who want to be on the mailing list' as a suitable
crieria

If it has to have a legal existance then we should seriously look at a 
flag of convenience location such as the British Virgin Islands.

Alan