Resolution 2001-04-26.nl: Charter for the Open Source Committee

This resolution is superseded by 2023-04-06.jln.1.

April 26th, 2001

A charter is hereby granted for the formation and operation of a committee within the guidelines and objectives stated herein. The committee shall operate in the best interest of the free software community and is responsible to the board of directors and to the membership of the organization.

Preamble

The Open Source term was established as a marketing term for free software (i.e., software which all people may freely use, study, modify, and share). SPI was founded to assist, support and defend the creation of free software. The Open Source definition is rooted in the definition of free software used by the Debian Project, an SPI member organization. The Open Source name is a central element to the SPI mission because it is a recognized term both among developers and businesses. SPI is committed to using its influence and resources to help ensure that the Open Source name represents the tenets and beliefs of the communities from which it grew.

Purpose of the Committee

It is the responsibility of this committee to manage the Open Source term to best promote free software. The committee is hereby granted the power to develop communications and marketing initiatives to raise industry and community awareness for open software.

Operating Guidelines

The committee shall operate openly in the view of the public whenever possible, but may, at the discretion of the committee members, operate privately from time to time if this is deemed necessary.

Subject to the approval of the board, the committee shall make reasonable procedures for transacting its business (including delegating it to other members of the organization). The committee should set up appropriate and reasonable guidelines for its operation and decisions as soon as possible.

The committee will have only limited powers until it has developed a governing policy and selected a board to direct its actions. It will be granted the following "Interim Powers" in order to facilitate the creation of the committee.

Interim Powers

The committee shall have the following powers while the membership and operating guidelines of the committee are being defined:

  1. The committee may solicit members of the free software community for membership on the board.

  2. The committee may announce its presence to other individuals or organizations to discuss potential policy options and committee membership.

  3. The committee may request information services from the projects committee, to be granted at their discretion.

When the committee has finalized its operating policy and organization these will be submitted to the SPI board of directors for final approval.

Membership and Organization

This committee will be run by an interim committee that will fulfill the task of soliciting the formal committee. This working committee will use the "Interim Powers" outlined above for that task. Upon finalization of the formal committee and operating policy the interim committee will be dissolved and replaced with the formal committee.