[FFmpeg-devel] FFmpeg governance and accusations

[Niklas Haas]

On Thu, 02 Jan 2025 14:14:13 +0100 Nicolas George <george at nsup.org> wrote:
> Ronald S. Bultje (12024-12-31):
> > (I don't need or want to be a new dictator, but I do believe in more
> > community involvement in processes and decisions. CC/TC/GA are not perfect
> > but they're a step forward and they can hopefully be improved.)
>
> Hi.
>
> I disagree with you on this: the GA is a mistake, the fact that somebody
> could be elected to the CC mere days after insulting on the mailing-list
> is a strong illustration of that fact.
>
> Democracy is a human right for running a country because people need to
> live somewhere and their attachment to their country is deep and was
> forged before they had a say in it. It does not translate to a Libre
> Software project.
>

I think you overlook the deep ties and decades of involvement some of us
have with the open source multimedia scene, not to mention those whose day
job literally depends on the continued existence of FFmpeg.

It is not exactly trivial to just pack up and leave, which is a situation
not dissimilar to citizens living in a country.

> A Libre Software project is more akin to a sports team. It has a goal
> that is not just the welfare of its members. Anybody can try to join,
> can get more involved through efforts if they like what they find, or
> leave if they do not.

I am not sure this is the most appropriate analogy, as I think the vast
majority of software projects are not trying to "win", nor to achieve any
other kind of defined "goal"; and the few exceptions that do exist tend to
more closely resemble the organizational structure of a company.

>
> In a sports team, the coach decides the strategy and the role of each
> player. A good coach will of course listen to the advice of experienced
> players, but in the end the decision is theirs alone. New players do not
> get authority over the management of the team just because they played a
> few games or even scored a few points.
>
> And the coach is not a dictator, he is a leader.
>
> The principle of the general assembly is inherently flawed for several
> reasons that are really the same:
>
> - It gives the same power to somebody who fixed a few typos in the doc
>   and reindentd code as somebody who monitors the Trac reports for
>   complex bugs only they can understand and fix.
>
> - It gives the same power to people who maintain a small area of the
>   code, maybe optimizations for a specific arch, as to people who know
>   the whole project or a significant part of it in depth.
>
> - It gives the same power to people who are here for a few months or
>   years and will leave for another job as to people who have been here
>   for years and intend to stick around.

I think these flaws are valid but not particularly relevant to the current
situation.

The majority of e-mails involved in the recent discussions seem to come from
people who have also been involved in the community for a very long time;
as opposed to unjustly overrepresented "drive-by contributors".

>
> In practice, the GA system favors a policy where nothing new happens and
> people who are here to do a job benefit from free maintenance by the
> most experienced developers.
>
> Michael did an excellent job as a leader for years, and it only turns
> sour when a small faction get greedy and tries to oust him to take over.
> I look forward to him again being able to act as a leader without
> obstruction from them.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
>   Nicolas George
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