Re: [pgsql-advocacy] Decision Process WAS: Increased company involvement

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruce Momjian [mailto:pgman@candle.pha.pa.us]
> Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 3:33 PM
> To: Dave Held
> Cc: PostgreSQL advocacy; PostgreSQL-development
> Subject: Re: [pgsql-advocacy] [HACKERS] Decision Process WAS:
> Increased
> company involvement
>
> [...]
> Here is a new FAQ entry:
>
>     <H3><A name="1.13">1.13</A>) Who controls PostgreSQL?<BR>
>
>     <P>If you are looking for a PostgreSQL gatekeeper,
>     central committee, or controlling company, give up, because
>     none exists.  We do have a core committee and CVS committers,
>     but these groups are more for administrative purposes then
>     control.  The project is directed by the open community of
>     developers and users of PostgreSQL.  Everyone is welcome to
>     subscribe and take part in the discussions.  (See the
>     <a href="http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs.FAQ_DEV.html">
>     Developer's FAQ</A> for information on how to get
>     involved in PostgreSQL development.)</P>
>
> Adjustments?

"...are more for administrative purposes [then->than] control..."

<p>Because PostgreSQL is a monolithic product, all of its features
must work together in tight harmony.  It is in the interests of
the PostgreSQL community that new features be integrated in a way
that preserves this harmony.  Thus, new feature proposals are
scrutinized and debated by the community to ensure that changes
have sufficient technical merit.  Be prepared to defend your
proposal, and don't assume that a privately developed contribution
will automatically be accepted by the PostgreSQL community.  To
maximize the chance of success in proposing a change, consider
these suggestions:

* Propose your change/feature publicly - OSS is about community,
    and a collection of contributors working independently without
    communication is not a community; this avoids duplication of
    effort and promotes collaboration/cooperation among parties
    that have a common interest
* Research your proposal to see if it has already been discussed
    on the mailing list
* Research your proposed solution to make sure it is the best of
    breed - database technology is a very active subject of
    academic research, and it is possible, if not likely, that
    someone has written a paper on the topic
* Engage the community by participating in discussions and patch
    reviews - your credibility as a contributor depends on your
    willingness to contribute to the community in non-coding
    ways as well
</p>

I realize that this runs a bit far afield from the original
question of "Who controls PostgreSQL?", but I think it addresses
the points that someone who asks this question is likely to
want to know.  It also tackles the contribution question from
a higher level than the dev-faq.  Obviously, the bullet points
would be formatted as a list or some other appropriate HTML
construct.  And as a minor point, it would be nice if the
website validated to XHTML-strict, although XHTML-transitional
would be a good compromise.

__
David B. Held
Software Engineer/Array Services Group
200 14th Ave. East,  Sartell, MN 56377
320.534.3637 320.253.7800 800.752.8129