[Foundation-discuss] OpenAFS needs people

[Mark Vitale]

Dear OpenAFS Foundation members,

I am writing to you to pass on some thoughts recently exchanged in a recent=
 OpenAFS release team meeting.  My goal is to represent these thoughts accu=
rately and objectively, but of course I will err or forget some things, so =
I'm counting on others who were present to add to and/or correct what I say=
 here.

Participants included:
Stephan Weisand DESY
Ben Kaduk	Akamai
Daria Brashear	YFS
Jeff Altman	YFS
Mike Meffie	SNA
Mark Vitale	SNA
Jeff Hutzleman	CMU=20
(Participants, please forgive me if I've omitted anyone...)

Recently the OpenAFS community went through our well-defined process for no=
minating and electing a new co-chair for the OpenAFS standardization commit=
tee, Ben Kaduk.

Unfortunately, there are several additional OpenAFS roles that need to be f=
illed, but the process to fill them was handled by the now-disbanded Elders=
. =20

First of all, as the Foundation is already quite aware, the need for additi=
onal gatekeepers has been growing more apparent as Russ Allbery, Ken Dryer,=
 and most recently Daria Brashear have all stepped down.   Jeff Altman is t=
he last remaining gatekeeper.  Additional maintainers are Stephan Weisand (=
 1.6.x release manager) and Ben Kaduk (1.8.x release manager and de facto "=
gatekeeper"). =20

Some in the community have expressed the desire to rename the role "gatekee=
per" in an attempt to shed some the negative connotations associated with t=
hat word.  But whatever the role is called, we need additional people who a=
re able to review, approve, and merge new work into OpenAFS.

Another role is OpenAFS security officer.  Simon Wilkinson recently stepped=
 down as security officer, and the position is currently empty.  In my view=
 (I speak only for myself here, not for the other participants), filling th=
is position is even more critical than the need for more maintainers.  =20

So in both cases ( "gatekeepers" and security officer ), we urgently need t=
he Foundation to:
a) Establish a process for selecting these roles, including requirements, r=
esponsibilities, and any remuneration the Board is willing to provide.
b) Actually impement the process to select people to fill these roles as so=
on as possible.

I'll repeat my starting caveat:  although I'm trying to represent the colle=
ctive desires of the stakeholders at that recent release team meeting, plea=
se take this as merely a starting point in the conversation.  We are asking=
 the Foundation Leadership to take note of these urgent requests and accept=
 the responsibility to work with the community to address them quickly.

Thanks for all your good work so far, and thanks in advance for your effort=
s on our behalf.

Sincerely,
Mark Vitale
OpenAFS release team
 =