FreeBSD Core Team

The FreeBSD Core Team would be the equivalent of a board of directors, if the FreeBSD Project were a company.

The FreeBSD Project is run by FreeBSD committers, or developers who have SVN commit access.^[1] The Core Team exists to provide direction and is responsible for setting goals for the FreeBSD Project and to provide mediation in the event of disputes, and also takes the final decision in case of disagreement between individuals and teams involved in the project.^[2] The Core Team is also responsible for selecting individuals for other teams related to the development and ongoing maintenance of FreeBSD, such as the Security Officer, the Release Engineering team, and the Port Manager team.^[1] Finally, the Core Team also vote on nominations for new committers. In the event of a breach of internal rules of conduct, it falls to the core team to decide on sanctions.^[2]

The FreeBSD Core Team is the equivalent of a similar body in the NetBSD Project called the Core Group.

Current members^[3]

• Gavin Atkinson
• David Chisnall
• Baptiste Daroussin
• Ed Maste
• George Neville-Neil
• Hiroki Sato
• Gleb Smirnoff
• Peter Wemm
• Robert Watson

History and Purpose

The FreeBSD Core Team began as an unofficial group of programmers, mainly consisting of those that initiated the FreeBSD Project itself.^[2] There were eleven members, and new members could only join through invitation.

As the FreeBSD project grew, so did the Core Team. By the year 2000, there were over 200 active committers, and the Core Team had expanded to 18 people. Some Core members were completely inactive, others far less active than many non-members, and there were even accusations of cronyism. The old, informal structure was no longer considered viable, and in early 2000 discussions were had regarding the future of the organisation.^[2] A set of bylaws were formulated by Jonathan Lemon, Warner Losh and Wes Peters.^[2] In a general vote by active committers on August 28, 2000, these bylaws passed by 117 votes to 5 against.

The FreeBSD Core Team is now an elected body comprising nine members from the pool of project developers with rights to directly change the Project repositories (committers). Committers are entitled to vote in Core elections if they have made at least one change to one of the Project's repositories in the past 12 months.

The first election took place in September 2000.^[4] Seventeen candidates stood for election, including eight of the existing Core Team. Five were re-elected, alongside four new members.^[4] Elections have taken place every two years since, the most recent election results being announced on July 9, 2014.^[3] Elections shall be held two years after the last vote, even if the previous election was early.^[5] Elections may be held early if the membership of the Core Team fall below seven,^[5] or if petitioned for by 1/3 of active developers.^[5] The bylaws may be changed by a 2/3 majority of committers if at least 50% of active committers participate in the vote.^[5]

The Core Team appoints a secretary at its own discretion. This non-voting position exists to provide a central point of contact between external parties and the group, for keeping track of the agenda, and for acting as the interface between Core and other internal groups such as the Account Creation team. The Core Team Secretary is also responsible for writing and distributing monthly status reports to the FreeBSD developer community.

Election Procedure

The election lasts for five weeks. During the first week, committers who wish to run for election announce their intention to do so. In the four weeks that follow the application period, active committers vote for up to nine candidates.^[1]

After the voting period closes, votes are counted. Ties are resolved by unambiguously elected candidates; for instance, if there is a tie for ninth place, the first eight decide which of the tied candidates will join the team.^[1] The results are announced within one week of the end of the voting period, and the newly elected team enters office one week after the announcement.^[1]

List of members

Name	2000[4]	2002[6]	2004[7]	2006[8]	2008[9]	2010[10]	2012[11]	2014[3]
Attilio Rao
Baptiste Daroussin
Brooks Davis
Colin Percival
David Chisnall
David Greenman
Doug Rabson
Ed Maste
Gavin Atkinson
George V. Neville-Neil
Giorgos Keramidas
Gleb Smirnoff
Greg Lehey
Hiroki Sato
John Baldwin
Jordan Hubbard
Jun Kuriyama
Konstantin Belousov
Kris Kennaway
Mark Murray
Martin Wilke
Mike Smith
Murray Stokely
Pav Lucistnik
Peter Wemm
Robert Watson
Satoshi Asami
Scott Long
Thomas Abthorpe
Warner Losh
Wes Peters
Wilko Bulte

See also

• FreeBSD
• Open-source software
• Free software

References

1. "A project model for the FreeBSD Project". Retrieved 5 July 2014.
2. Lehey, Greg (4 September 2002). "Two years in the trenches" (PDF). Retrieved 5 July 2014.
3. Pali, Gabor (9 July 2014). "[FreeBSD-Announce] New FreeBSD Core Team elected". FreeBSD Mail Archives. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
4. Hubbard, Jordan (17 October 2000). "New FreeBSD Core Team Elected". FreeBSD Mail Archives. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
5. "Core Bylaws". The FreeBSD Project. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
6. "2002 FreeBSD core team elections". FreeBSD Mail Archives. 27 June 2002. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
7. Stokely, Murray (13 July 2004). "[FreeBSD-Announce] 2004 FreeBSD core team elections". FreeBSD Mail Archives. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
8. Stokely, Murray (26 July 2006). "[FreeBSD-Announce] New FreeBSD Core Team elected". FreeBSD Mail Archives. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
9. Stokely, Murray (21 July 2008). "[FreeBSD-Announce] Core Team Election Results". FreeBSD Mail Archives. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
10. Paeps, Philip (14 July 2010). "[FreeBSD-Announce] New FreeBSD core team elected". FreeBSD Mail Archives. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
11. Atkinson, Gavin (11 July 2012). "[FreeBSD-Announce] New FreeBSD Core Team elected". FreeBSD Mail Archives. Retrieved 4 July 2014.

External links

• On being a Core Team member