14 DAY TRIAL // The Linux Foundation made some changes to by-laws, and that stirred things in the Linux community. The organization has issued a statement now addressing the concerns.
The modifications made to the by-laws of The Linux Foundations were underlined by Matthew Garrett, in an article that also touched on possible motives for the changes. He pointed towards Karen Sandler, who is the Executive Director of the Software Freedom Conservancy. We chose not to take that part of the Matthew's article since they are conjecture and can't be verified.
This is the exact point made by Jim Zemlin, the executive director for The Linux Foundation, who wrote a response to the Matthew Garrett article and accusations. The important thing to note here is that it took The Linux Foundation a good while to respond and that the answers provided are not for the questions being asked.
Personal attack but by-laws changes remain
Without pointing the finger at Mathew Garret, Jim Zemlin said that this attack was unwarranted and that people who participate in social media conversations should really respond to this kind of behavior.
"What is not healthy is the type of 'flame wars' that too often erupt in developer communities. Sadly, it appears that is now occurring, and that the conversation relating to an LF governance change has devolved into personal, inappropriate and offensive remarks directed against some members of our community… The LF has never condoned, and will never condone, this type of behavior," Jim Zemlin said.
He also dedicated a good part of this blog entry to the initiating problem. The Linux Foundation was accused that it removed the option of the individual paying members to elect members from the community. While the discussions about the motives are vague, the discussion about the changes are to the point.
Despite covering this at length, Jim Zemlin didn't actually provide an answer. He said that the current Larry Augustin and Bdale Garbee individual At-Large Directors were being kept in the board and that the kernel developers would continue to appoint a director.
The problem is a particular phrase used, which states that "the LF Board may also choose to add additional individuals from the growing communities we now serve."
If we read between the lines, we can deduce that there is no guarantee that future At-Large Directors will be from the community, if the LF board doesn't make this choice, which takes us back to the discussion started by Mathew Garret.