8000 RFC Governance Document (#12878) · xhluca/scikit-learn@ae9bae2 · GitHub
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RFC Governance Document (scikit-learn#12878)
* add governance doc * add links to docs * minor formatting, more links * Update doc/governance.rst fix broken link Co-Authored-By: amueller <t3kcit@gmail.com> * Apply suggestions from code review Co-Authored-By: amueller <t3kcit@gmail.com> * reframed with call for vote. I think this is good. * make it easier to call a vote. * Update doc/governance.rst rephrasing Co-Authored-By: amueller <t3kcit@gmail.com> * link governance from the about page instead on documentation.rst
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‎doc/about.rst

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.. _citing-scikit-learn:
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Governance
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----------
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The decision making process and governance structure of scikit-learn is laid
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out in the `governance document <governance>`_.
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Citing scikit-learn
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-------------------
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‎doc/governance.rst

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.. _governance:
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===========================================
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Scikit-learn governance and decision-making
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===========================================
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The purpose of this document is to formalize the governance process used by the
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scikit-learn project, to clarify how decisions are made and how the various
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elements of our community interact.
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This document establishes a decision-making structure that takes into account
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feedback from all members of the community and strives to find consensus, while
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avoiding any deadlocks.
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This is a meritocratic, consensus-based community project. Anyone with an
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interest in the project can join the community, contribute to the project
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design and participate in the decision making process. This document describes
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how that participation takes place and how to set about earning merit within
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the project community.
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Roles And Responsibilities
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==========================
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Contributors
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------------
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Contributors are community members who contribute in concrete ways to the
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project. Anyone can become a contributor, and contributions can take many forms
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– not only code – as detailed in the `contributors guide <contributing>`_.
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Core developers
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---------------
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Core developers are community members who have shown that they are dedicated to
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the continued development of the project through ongoing engagement with the
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community. They have shown they can be trusted to maintain Scikit-learn with
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care. Being a core developer allows contributors to more easily carry on
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with their project related activities by giving them direct access to the
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project’s repository and is represented as being an organization member on the
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scikit-learn `GitHub organization <https://github.com/orgs/scikit-learn/people>`_.
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Core developers are expected to review code
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contributions, can merge approved pull requests, can cast votes for and against
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merging a pull-request, and can be involved in deciding major changes to the
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API.
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New core developers can be nominated by any existing core developers. Once they
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have been nominated, there will be a vote by the current core developers.
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Voting on new core developers is one of the few activities that takes place on
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the project's private management list. While it is expected that most votes
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will be unanimous, a two-thirds majority of the cast votes is enough. The vote
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needs to be open for at least 1 week.
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Core developers that have not contributed to the project (commits or GitHub
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comments) in the past 12 months will be asked if they want to become emeritus
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core developers and recant their commit and voting rights until they become
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active again. The list of core developers, active and emeritus (with dates at
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which they became active) is public on the scikit-learn website.
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Technical Committee
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-------------------
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The Technical Committee (TC) members are core developers who have additional
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responsibilities to ensure the smooth running of the project. TC members are expected to
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participate in strategic planning, and approve changes to the governance model.
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The purpose of the TC is to ensure a smooth progress from the big-picture
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perspective. Indeed changes that impact the full project require a synthetic
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analysis and a consensus that is both explicit and informed. In cases that the
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core developer community (which includes the TC members) fails to reach such a
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consensus in the required time frame, the TC is the entity to resolve the
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issue.
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Membership of the TC is by nomination by a core developer. A nomination will
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result in discussion which cannot take more than a month and then a vote by
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the core developers which will stay open for a week. TC membership votes are
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subject to a two-third majority of all cast votes as well as a simple majority
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approval of all the current TC members. TC members who do not actively engage
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with the TC duties are expected to resign.
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The initial Technical Committee of scikit-learn consists of :user:`Alexandre Gramfort <agramfort>`,
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:user:`Olivier Grisel <ogrisel>`, :user:`Andreas Müller <amueller>`, :user:`Joel Nothman <jnothman>`,
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:user:`Hanmin Qin <qinhanmin2014>`, :user:`Gaël Varoquaux <GaelVaroquaux>`, and
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:user:`Roman Yurchak <rth>`.
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Decision Making Process
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=======================
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Decisions about the future of the project are made through discussion with all
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members of the community. All non-sensitive project management discussion takes
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place on the project contributors’ `mailing list <mailto:scikit-learn@python.org>`_
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and the `issue tracker <https://github.com/scikit-learn/scikit-learn/issues>`_.
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Occasionally, sensitive discussion occurs on a private list.
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Scikit-learn uses a "consensus seeking" process for making decisions. The group
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tries to find a resolution that has no open objections among core developers.
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At any point during the discussion, any core-developer can call for a vote, which will
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conclude one month from the call for the vote. Any vote must be backed by a
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`SLEP <slep>`. If no option can gather two thirds of the votes cast, the
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decision is escalated to the TC, which in turn will use consensus seeking with
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the fallback option of a simple majority vote if no consensus can be found
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within a month. This is what we hereafter may refer to as “the decision making
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process”.
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Decisions (in addition to adding core developers and TC membership as above)
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are made according to the following rules:
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* **Minor Documentation changes**, such as typo fixes, or addition / correction of a
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sentence, but no change of the scikit-learn.org landing page or the “about”
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page: Requires +1 by a core developer, no -1 by a core developer (lazy
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consensus), happens on the issue or pull request page. Core developers are
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expected to give “reasonable time” to others to give their opinion on the pull
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request if they’re not confident others would agree.
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* **Code changes and major documentation changes**
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require +1 by two core developers, no -1 by a core developer (lazy
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consensus), happens on the issue of pull-request page.
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* **Changes to the API principles and changes to dependencies or supported
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versions** happen via a :ref:`slep` and follows the decision-making process outlined above.
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* **Changes to the governance model** use the same decision process outlined above.
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If a veto -1 vote is cast on a lazy consensus, the proposer can appeal to the
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community and core developers and the change can be approved or rejected using
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the decision making procedure outlined above.
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.. _slep:
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Enhancement proposals (SLEPs)
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==============================
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For all votes, a proposal must have been made public and discussed before the
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vote. Such proposal must be a consolidated document, in the form of a
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‘Scikit-Learn Enhancement Proposal’ (SLEP), rather than a long discussion on an
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issue. A SLEP must be submitted as a pull-request to
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`scikit-learn/enhancement_proposals <https://github.com/scikit-learn/enhancement_proposals/>`_
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using the `SLEP template <https://github.com/scikit-learn/enhancement_proposals/blob/master/slep_template.rst>`_.

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