Re: [Gnumed-devel] CVS guidelines (or: governance of gnumed)

[Ian Haywood]

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 21:31:40 +0100
Sebastian Hilbert <address@hidden> wrote:

> To all !!!!! developers,
> 
> Today something happened that never should have.
> Large pieces of code were moved into the main trunk without informing the 
> project admins and/or this list.
I agree is this a bad idea, although a I am loathe to "cast the first stone"
(one will find plenty of empty log entries under my name in CVS!)

(As an aside: I am also guilty of  spaces/tabs admixture, probably as a 
resultof my editor. (Emacs)
I am happy to change: what editors to people suggest?)

I agree with Hilmar gnumed is too early in its development to have a 
Linux-style process. What we need to get to that stage is:
1. a "benelovent dictator" or at least "presidium" to co-ordinate things 
2. a clearly established codebase with documented internal APIs
3. a clear design endpoint

Prior to 2. Torvalds worked largely in isolation. The *BSDs started in the 
pre-internet era with Berkeley students working largely face-to-face.
( and again with the AT&T codebase to work with) Both initally had commerical 
Unices to aim for.

Horst is the logical choice for a Linus type role, but AFAIK he is  too busy. 
So I would propose a "gnumed junta"

1. Karsten: backend database schemas, bootstrapping of same
2. Myself: middleware layer
3. Syan: wxPython frontend
4. Sebastian: packaging

All major commits on these areas must either be by this person or with their 
approval. 
I am trying not to be prescriptive or exclusionary here: volunteers for other 
domains/alternative divisions are welcome
naturally we should still discuss major design decisions on this list.

Ian

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