[vote] Update OpenWrt rules - IMPORTANT VOTE

[Hauke Mehrtens]

Hi Rich,

I agree with you mail.

The OpenWrt project has serious problems of getting the quorum to get a 
vote passed. This also blocks us from adding new committers to the 
project. We also need more new people in because priorities of older 
committers are changing and they do other stuff and not so much OpenWrt 
any more. Without getting new people in, the OpenWrt project will slowly 
die.

Hauke

On 10/24/25 21:07, Rich Brown wrote:
> To my fellow OpenWrt’ers...
> 
> THIS IS A IMPORTANT VOTE. The Rules currently list 42 voting members. To change the current rules, we need 28 or more positive votes (2/3 of the current active voters.)
> 
> We know that many of those 42 people (perhaps as many as 8) are no longer active/participating. This makes it more important than ever for you to cast a vote.
> 
> Please read the new rules, and compare to the old. I believe the new rules preserve the procedures and sense of community of the original rules. The major change is to be explicit about moving active members to inactive status (to preserve a voting quorum) when they are no longer participating. Many thanks.
> 
> Rich
> 
> PS re: Modifications to this proposal... We are voting on the exact language stated below. If you advocate for further changes, I recommend you vote Yes on this language. Once the proposal passes, we will have a smaller quorum for further rule changes. You can then submit your proposal
> 
> On Oct 23, 2025, at 15:40, Hauke Mehrtens <hauke at hauke-m.de> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I propose to replace the current OpenWrt rules to the below version.
>> This is an official vote. The vote should conclude on 27th November 2025.
>>
>> These are the old rules: https://openwrt.org/rules
>>
>> This vote follows the old rules. It needs a two third approval rate among all OpenWrt project members to get accepted.
>>
>>
>> Voting page: https://openwrt.org/voting/2025-10-23-rule-update
>>
>> Hauke
>>
>> ----------
>> # Proposed OpenWrt Rules - June 2025
>>
>> _**Membership**_
>>
>> * The roles within the OpenWrt project are:
>>   active members, inactive members, and non-members.
>>   There is no core developer group or any other
>>   group of specially privileged members.
>> * Members may voluntarily switch between active and inactive status at
>>   any time.
>> * If a member appears not to be participating in project matters,
>>   any active member may request that the non-participating
>>   member switch to inactive status.
>>   This request must be sent by email to the person concerned,
>>   with the openwrt-adm mailing list in CC.
>>   If the person either agrees or does not respond within 30 days,
>>   they will be moved to inactive status.
>> * Frequent contributors may become members after a simple approval.
>>   Project members are free to propose suitable candidates.
>>
>> _**Commit access**_
>>
>> * Active members can request commit access to all repositories.
>> * The commit credentials of inactive members can be revoked.
>>   They will be restored upon their return to active status.
>>
>> _**Voting**_
>>
>> * All active members have the right to vote and are encouraged
>>   to liberally exercise this voting right in order to
>>   maintain a broad consensus on project matters.
>> * To propose changes to project matters or the overall development
>>   direction, a formal proposal must be sent to the openwrt-adm mailing
>>   list.
>>   The proposal must clearly describe the suggested changes
>>   and include a specific deadline for when the voting period will end.
>>   A simple approval is required.
>> * All active members who participate in the new vote or voted in the
>>   past 6 months before the new vote was started are considered active
>>   voters.
>>   If less than 3 votes occurred in the past 6 months the last 3 votes
>>   are considered to determine the active voters.
>> * For a simple approval, the proposal must achieve a two-thirds majority
>>   among the active members who participate in the vote.
>>   Additionally, it must receive approval from at least 50% of the active
>>   voters, regardless of whether they participated in the vote.
>> * For a change to these rules, a 75% majority among the active members
>>   who participate in the vote must approve,
>>   as well as 50% approval from the active voters.
>> * Neutral votes are considered half-approvals.
>> * Any votes and decisions will be made public on the project website.
>>
>> _**Infrastructure**_
>>
>> * Project infrastructure should be outsourced to FOSS community operated
>>   services whenever possible in order to allow members
>>   to focus on actual development efforts.
>> * Any infrastructure that is operated by the project
>>   itself shall be administered by at least three different people
>>   to reduce the likelihood of the project getting locked out
>>   due to administrators being unreachable.
>> * Responsible administrators for the various services shall be
>>   documented publicly.
>>
>> _**Other rules**_
>>
>> * The project will not offer individual email accounts
>>   under its project domain for privacy and equality reasons.
>> * Be nice to each other (formerly known as "Rule 12")
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> openwrt-adm mailing list
>> openwrt-adm at lists.openwrt.org
>> https://lists.openwrt.org/mailman/listinfo/openwrt-adm
> 
> 
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