General Resolution: Status of the non-free section

Time Line

Proposal and amendment January, 2004 February 21st, 2004
Discussion Period: Sunday, February 22nd 23:59:59 UTC, 2004 Sunday, March 7th, 23:59:59 UTC, 2004
Voting Period Sunday, March 7th, 23:59:59 UTC, 2004 Sunday, March 21st, 23:59:59 UTC, 2004

Proposer

Andrew Suffield [asuffield@debian.org]

Seconds

  1. Scott James Remnant [keybuk@debian.org]
  2. Kyle McMartin [kyle@debian.org]
  3. Clint Adams [schizo@debian.org]
  4. Tore Anderson [tore@debian.org]
  5. Branden Robinson [branden@debian.org]
  6. Chad C. Walstrom [chewie@debian.org]
  7. Jochen Voss [voss@debian.org]

Text

The actual text of the GR is: 

 The next release of Debian will not be accompanied by a non-free
 section; there will be no more stable releases of the non-free
 section. The Debian project will cease active support of the
 non-free section. Clause 5 of the social contract is repealed.

Since this modifies the Social Contract, this requires a 3:1 majority to pass.

Amendment Proposer

Anthony Towns [ajt@debian.org]

Amendment Seconds

  1. Stephen Stafford [bagpuss@debian.org]
  2. Sean 'Shaleh' Perry [shaleh@debian.org]
  3. Sven Luther [luther@debian.org]
  4. Graham Wilson [graham@debian.org]
  5. Martin Buck [mbuck@debian.org]
  6. Greg Norris [adric@debian.org]
  7. Joerg Jaspert [joerg@debian.org]
  8. Bdale Garbee [bdale@debian.org]
  9. Scott James Remnant [keybuk@debian.org]
  10. Andreas Barth [aba@debian.org]
  11. Craig Sanders [cas@debian.org]
  12. Hamish Moffatt [hamish@debian.org]

Amendment Text

The actual text of the amendment is: 

I propose that the Debian project resolve that:

Acknowledging that some of our users continue to require the use of
programs that don't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines, we
reaffirm our commitment to providing the contrib and non-free areas in
our archive for packaged versions of such software, and to providing the
use of our infrastructure (such as our bug-tracking system and mailing
lists) to help with the maintenance of non-free software packages.

The Rationale for the amendment is also available.
This amendment only requires a simple majority to pass.

Quorum

With 908 developers, we have: 

 Current Developer Count = 908
 Q ( sqrt(#devel) / 2 ) = 15.0665191733194
 K min(5, Q )           = 5
 Quorum  (3 x Q )       = 45.1995575199581

Both Options passed Quorum requirements.

Option 1 Reached quorum: 199> 45.1995575199581
Option 2 Reached quorum: 304> 45.1995575199581

Data and Statistics

Some statistics are being gathered about ballots and acknowledgements periodically during the voting period. Additionally, the list of people who have voted is available. The tally sheet is also present.

Majority Requirement

Option 1 requires a 3:1 majority, since it modifies the Social contract, a foundation document. 

Dropping Option 1 because of Majority.  0.765 (199/260) <= 3
Option 2 passes Majority.               1.949 (304/156)> 1

Outcome

The winner is: Option 2 Choice 2: Re-affirm support for non-free

The Beat Matrix
  Option 1 Option 2 Default
Option 1   169 199
Option 2 303   304
Default 260 156  

Option 2 defeats Option 1 by ( 303 - 169) = 134 votes.
Option 3 defeats Option 1 by ( 260 - 199) = 61 votes.
Option 2 defeats Option 3 by ( 304 - 156) = 148 votes.

Manoj Srivastava