When creating a benevolent dictator governance document, projects need to ensure that it provides the necessary information about the roles of the project lead and the other contributors, clearly indicating how newcomers can contribute and how their contributions will be recognised. And of course, founders start out with a sort of automatic seniority, which can often be enough to make benevolent dictatorship appear the path of least resistance for all concerned. At the other end of the ‘control’ spectrum is the meritocratic governance model, in which participants gain influence over a project in recognition of their contributions. Those seeking support should recognise that all support activity within the project is voluntary and is therefore provided as and when time allows. November 6, 2019 Sebastien Julliand (Sponsored Content) Not every software project can have an all-knowing benevolent dictator looking through every line of code, and even all projects could have such a person to oversee the quality of the code, there is no reason to not automate as much of this very important code review job as is possible. To become a contributor, a community member simply has to perform one or more actions that are beneficial to the project. Benevolent Dictatorship is a common form of governance in free and open source software, where it often takes the form of "benevolent dictator for life" (BDFL). Next page.

@osswatch They participate in those discussions themselves, but as regular developers, often deferring to an area maintainer who has more expertise. As a general rule, if it's simply obvious to everyone who should be the BD, then that's the way to go. Committers are contributors who have made several valuable contributions to the project and are now relied upon to both write code directly to the repository and screen the contributions of others.

However, there are notable differences between the two models, particularly with regard to how decision-making within the community is carried out. It requires diplomacy and community building skills, in-depth technical knowledge of all aspects of the project, and exceptional levels of commitment and dedication. Benevolent dictator for life (BDFL) is a title given to a small number of open-source software development leaders, typically project founders who retain the final say in disputes or arguments within the community. That is, the community actively contributes to the day-to-day maintenance of the project, but the general strategic line is drawn by the benevolent dictator. Perhaps the most commonly cited example of the benevolent dictator model is the Linux Kernel project, which is run under the direct decision-making leadership of Linus Torvalds. is used and improve our service.

4.2. The phrase originated in 1995 with reference to Guido van Rossum, creator of the Python programming language. However, as the Linux Kernel project illustrates, it can be very effective.

Being a BD requires a combination of traits. Whether your project should have a benevolent dictator, or would run better with some less centralized system, largely depends on who is available to fill the role. resources > Committers have no authority over the overall direction of the project. Ce nom est un jeu de mots entre dictateur bienveillant et président à vie.

In the early stages of a discussion, one should not express opinions and conclusions with so much certainty that others feel like it's pointless to dissent. This project is led by a benevolent dictator and managed by the community. The project lead’s role is a difficult one: they set the strategic objectives of the project and communicate these clearly to the community. A BD can fork a project just as easily as anyone else, and some have occasionally done so, when they felt that the direction they wanted to take the project was different from where the majority of other developers wanted to go. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License briefing notes > When this begins to happen, they gradually adopt the role of committer, as described above.

The benevolent dictator model is exactly what it sounds like: final decision-making authority rests with one person, who by virtue of personality and experience, is expected to use it wisely. Perhaps the most commonly cited example of the benevolent dictator model is the Linux Kernel project, which is run under the direct decision-making leadership of Linus Torvalds.

It is common for the benevolent dictator to be a founder of the project, but this is more a correlation than a cause.

It is therefore no surprise that both benevolent dictators and management committees of meritocratic projects exercise their decision-making power through loyalty rather than legality. This support is provided as a way of growing the community. The developer mailing list is the most appropriate place for a contributor to ask for help when making their first contribution. Benevolent dictator governance model Benevolent dictator governance model, by This is considered advantageous because it allows the BDFL to … For information about the purpose of governance models, or for a discussion of the benefits of one model over another, please see our introductory document on governance models. For instance, a contributor might be active on the project mailing list and issue tracker, or might supply patches. It is a committer’s job to ensure that the lead is aware of the community’s needs and collective objectives, and to help develop or elicit appropriate contributions to the project. In section 2 we provide a template for projects wishing to adopt the benevolent dictator model and create their own governance document. She must be skilled enough to work on the code herself, and to understand and comment on any change under consideration, but that's all.

. In turn, it is the community’s job to guide the decisions of the benevolent dictator through active engagement and contribution. The ability to add or remove people's commit passwords on one particular server affects only the copy of the project that resides on that server. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Licensing and Patents, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds, http://producingoss.com/html-chunk/social-infrastructure.html#benevolent-dictator-qualifications, Essential tools for running a community-led project, Template for a benevolent dictator governance document, Intellectual property rights (IPR), licensing and patents, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, supporting new users (current users often provide the most effective new user support), informing developers of project strengths and weaknesses from a new user’s perspective, providing moral support (a ‘thank you’ goes a long way). In case of disagreement, they have the last word. Benevolent Dictators.

However, because the community always has the ability to fork, this person is fully answerable to the community.

Contributors engage with the project through communication tools, such as email lists, and via reports and patches attached to issues in the issue tracker, as detailed in our community tools document.
Therefore, benevolent dictators commonly do not dictate much. They are the most important members of the community: without them, the project would have no purpose. A a social scientist with an interest in the social dynamics of open communities, Gabriel was formerly the Community Development Manager at OSS Watch. A benevolent dictator may allow for some civil liberties or democratic decision-making to exist, such as through public referenda or elected representatives with limited power, and often makes preparations for a transition to genuine democracy during or after their term. Users are community members who have a need for the project. It requires diplomacy and community building skills, in-depth technical knowledge of all aspects of the project, and exceptional levels of commitment and dedication. Contributors are community members who either have no desire to become committers, or have not yet been given the opportunity by the benevolent dictator.

Gabriel Hanganu

document, or any OSS Watch activity, please send it to: info@oss-watch.ac.uk. and

At Vavato we are building a development team from scratch to further the development of our auction platform, initially built by a 3rd party agency.
The All-Knowing, Benevolent Dictator Of Code.

Although "benevolent dictator" (or BD) is the standard term for this role, it would be better to think of it as "community-approved arbitrator" or "judge". Software . Instead, they let things work themselves out through discussion and experimentation whenever possible.



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, last updated 7 November 2013. Prolonged abuse of that power, whether by the BD or someone else, would simply lead to development moving to a different server.

It is common for community members to propose features or make changes to a project's code, which are submitted to the BDFL for ultimate approval. and Ross Gardler

Because of forkability, it does not matter whether the benevolent dictator has root (system administrator privileges) on the project's main servers or not. They all know that members are free to take the code and create alternative projects. Common user activities include (but are not limited to): Users who continue to engage with the project and its community will often find themselves becoming more and more involved. Generally, benevolent dictators do not actually make all the decisions, or even most of the decisions.

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However, they do have the ear of the project lead.

They also have to understand the community as a whole and strive to satisfy as many conflicting needs as possible, while ensuring that the project survives in the long term. Although "benevolent dictator" (or BD) is the standard term for this role, it would be better to think of it as "community-approved arbitrator" or "judge".". Gabriel Hanganu

However, for those willing to engage with the project on its own terms, and willing to help support other users, the community support channels are ideal. People sometimes talk of server control as though it were the ultimate source of power in a project, but in fact99. The BD position is neither acquired nor held by virtue of intimidating coding skills. Users should be encouraged to participate in the life of the project and the community as much as possible. The benevolent dictator governance structure is not an easy one to manage and requires a very special person in the role of the project lead.

Being a benevolent dictator is not an easy job. If you want to find out more about any of these topics, we're the people to ask. In fact, this ability to fork is very important to the health of open source communities, as it ensures that those involved in project governance strive to make the right decisions for the community, rather than for a single individual or company.