• SC = steering committee.
• Comments in [brackets] indicate an additional rationale.

PREAMBLE

The members of the GDB Steering Committee are the FSF-appointed maintainers of the GDB project. All Steering Committee decisions should be made with the intention of improving GDB, and according to the interests of the GNU project in general.

All SC members are expected to treat each other - and other GDB developers - with respect.

The SC has overall responsibility for GDB development as part of the GNU Project, but usually takes up only policy and high-level issues; the SC usually leaves most GDB development technical issues to the technical leads.

COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

• The SC consists of at least six people.
  [If too many SC members step down the SC has to look for replacements before further decisions can be made.]
• Less than 50% of the SC members should belong to any particular organization (employer, university, et cetera).
• A new committee member can be added by the FSF. The SC can recommend a new member to the FSF if all current SC members agree.
• A SC member must step down when all other SC members agree that he/she should, subject to approval by the FSF.
• Any SC member can leave the SC at any time, by simply sending a message to the private mailing list.
• The SC will only be active on demand.
  • A topic can be brought to the attention of the steering commitee by the current release manager or any committee member.
  • The committee can decide that a topic is not appropriate for the SC and will then not discuss it further.

DECISION MAKING AND VOTING

• Committee discussions and voting results are private.
  [The internal communication between committee members and their individual votes are private, the decision however, is not.]
• The SC can reach decisions through either consensus or voting.
  • If, after two weeks of discussion, a quorum of SC members have expressed support of a decision and no member has expressed dissent, then the decision is final. The issue is considered closed and the decision is announced.
  • Otherwise the issue is brought to a vote, by the procedure outlined under "Voting Procedure". If the issue is either passed or declined, then the issue is considered closed, and the decision is announced.
  • If no decision is reached by voting, the issue is dismissed, and the dismissal announced. Such issues can be brought to the attention of the committee again through the usual channels.
• For each question brought before the SC member, a convener is selected informally.
• The convener has no authority, but should remain available for the course of discussion and arbitrate questions about procedure.
• The convener (or their delegate) announces a SC decision to the community within a week after the committee reaches a decision.
• Voting Procedure
  • The vote is called by the convener for the question.
  • The Steering Committee can conduct official ballots and achieve quorum when at least two-thirds of the full committee votes.
  • Committee members who explicitly abstain or do not respond are not counted in that vote.
  • Issues under consideration are passed when two-thirds of those participating explicitly vote in favor of a measure or declined when two-thirds of those participating explicitly vote against it.
  • Official votes are conducted for at least one week, and no more than three weeks.
  • The individual vote of an SC member is not secret, but available to all SC members.
    [For example votes could be posted in a committee-private forum.]
  • Votes should be sent to the SC list, which is private but readable by all SC members, and may be changed while the vote continues.
  • The convener should post the vote results to the SC list.
• Changing these rules and procedures is done through the same voting process as described above.