Re: Boost Governance?

From: Edward Diener (eldiener_at_[hidden])
Date: 2021-05-06 17:38:31

On 5/6/2021 12:25 PM, René Ferdinand Rivera Morell via Boost wrote:
> A disclaimer: I write this solely as a Boost Library author. And not in any
> other capacity or representing any other interest.
> 
> It's now been at least a year since Boost switched from the Software
> Freedom Conservancy to the Boost Foundation for its governance
> organization. But have people noticed any difference? Did you know that
> switch happened? Did you know that they held an election for the Board of
> Directors and for the Officers? Do you know when that election happened? Do
> you know who got elected? Do you know how they were selected? Do you know
> what their responsibilities are? Do you know what their bylaws are? Do you
> know their financials?
> 
> More importantly: Did you answer "no" to any of those questions?
> 
> As a library author, I can say I definitely answered no to many of those
> questions. This is a problem. As authors, without asking, we should know
> those answers from the organization that governs our work. We should have
> input into how that organization governs. In other words, we deserve open
> and transparent governance; not the closed and opaque status quo.
> 

Without in any way discrediting the governance organization it has 
always seemed to me that what happens with Boost in general and 
individual Boost libraries/tools has always been because of the Boost 
developers/maintainers/supporters and those who take part in the Boost 
mailing lists and/or propose issues/PRs on Github, rather than any 
decision(s) made by the governance organization. That is probably the 
reason why I know practically nothing, or even care much, about the 
governance organization. Again this is not an attempt to discredit 
anyone in the governance organization but the simple fact that whatever 
they do hardly seems to matter on a practical level. Forgive my 
ignorance, but I am just trying to be honest about what I know or care 
to know.