PlanetaryPy is governed by the members of the Technical Committee (TC).
PlanetaryPy is a community effort to develop a core package for planetary science in Python and foster interoperability between Python planetary science packages.
The PlanetaryPy TC responsibilities include:
- Technical direction
- Setting release dates.
- Release quality standards.
- Project governance and process (including this policy)
- Contribution policy
- GitHub repository hosting
- Conduct guidelines
- Maintaining the list of additional Collaborators
For the current list of TC members, see the member list.
TC seats are not time-limited. There is no fixed size of the TC. However, the expected target is between 3 and 12, to ensure adequate coverage of important areas of expertise, balanced with the ability to make decisions efficiently.
There is no specific set of requirements or qualifications for TC membership beyond these rules.
The TC may add additional members by consensus. If there are any objections to adding any individual member, an attempt should be made to resolve those objections following the Consensus Seeking Process.
A TC member may be removed from by voluntary resignation, or by consensus of all other members.
Changes to TC membership should be posted in the agenda, and may be suggested as any other agenda item (see "Meetings" below).
If an addition or removal is proposed during a meeting, and the full TC is not in attendance to participate, then the addition or removal is added to the agenda for the subsequent meeting. This is to ensure that all members are given the opportunity to participate in all membership decisions. If a TC member is unable to attend a meeting where a planned membership decision is being made, then their consent is assumed.
No more than half of the TC members may be affiliated with the same employer. If removal or resignation of a TC member, or a change of employment by a member, creates a situation where more than half of the membership shares an employer, then the situation must be immediately remedied by the resignation or removal of one or more TC members affiliated with the over-represented employer(s).
The PlanetaryPy GitHub repository is maintained by the TC and additional Collaborators who are added on an ongoing basis.
Individuals making significant and valuable contributions are made Collaborators and given commit-access. These individuals are identified by the TC and their addition as Collaborators is discussed during the TC meeting.
Individuals who have made significant contributions and who wish to be considered for commit-access may create an issue or contact a TC member directly. It is not necessary to wait for a TC member to nominate the individual.
Collaborators may opt to escalate discussion about significant or controversial modifications to PlanetaryPy as a whole by assigning the agenda tag to a pull request or issue. The TC should serve as the final arbiter where required.
The TC meets approximately monthly via an online video teleconference service. A designated moderator approved by the TC runs the meeting. Meeting notes should be published after each meeting.
Items are added to the agenda that are considered contentious or are modifications of governance, contribution policy, TC membership, or release process.
The intention of the agenda is not to approve or review all patches; that should happen continuously on GitHub and be handled by the larger group of Collaborators.
Any community member or contributor can ask that something be added to the next meeting's agenda by logging a GitHub Issue. Any Collaborator, TC member, or the moderator can add the item to the agenda by adding the agenda tag to the issue.
The creation of the meeting agenda is a continuous process that happens via pull requests on github (with or without agenda tags).
The TC may invite persons or representatives from outside of the TC to participate in a non-voting capacity.
The moderator is responsible for summarizing the discussion of each agenda item and sends it as a pull request after the meeting.
The TC follows a Consensus Seeking decision-making model.
When an agenda item has appeared to reach a consensus the moderator will ask, "Does anyone object?" as a final call for dissent from the consensus.
If an agenda item cannot reach a consensus a TC member can make a motion for either a closing vote or a vote to table the issue to the next meeting. A majority of the TC must vote for the motion or else the discussion will continue.
Note that changes to TC membership require consensus. If there are any objections to adding or removing individual members, an effort must be made to resolve those objections. If consensus cannot be reached, a vote may be called following the process above.