Groups

A Group is a collection of Participants who engage in open conversation about a common interest. That interest may be in the creation, enhancement, or maintenance of a specific body of code or it may lie in other areas, e.g., quality or documentation.

Groups are meant to capture the slowly-evolving social structure of the Community. They are usually longer-lived than Projects and therefore more difficult to create and dissolve. Generally speaking, a new Group should be proposed only after it has become clear that an existing nontrivial set of regular Participants who are already collaborating together would benefit from its creation. These are not meant to be lightweight "interest groups".

A Group may have web content, independent of any Project, which is writable by all of the Group's Members. A Group also has one or more mailing lists. A Group does not have file repositories of its own but it may sponsor Projects, which do.

The Bylaws define several ways for the Community to expand via Groups. A step-by-step guide is provided here for the following common cases:

Nominating a Contributor to be a Group Member
Nominating a Committer or Group Member to be an OpenJDK Member
Proposing a New Group
Nominating an OpenJDK Member who is a Group Member to be Group Lead

This page is a summary and interpretation of the Bylaws. If there is a conflict between this page and the Bylaws then the Bylaws are considered authoritative.

Nominating a Contributor to be a Group Member

Any Member of a Group may nominate a Contributor to Membership in that Group. Group membership is one route to becoming an OpenJDK Member.

As a rough guide, a Contributor should be regularly active in a Group or its sponsored Projects for at least a year before being nominated to be a Group Member.

Step 1: Nominate

Send a call-for-votes to the Group's OpenJDK mailing list. The voting method for approval is Lazy Consensus and only current Group Members are eligible to vote.

To: <OpenJDK group mailing list>
Subject: CFV: New <group name> Group Member: <full name>

I hereby nominate <full name> to Membership in the <group name>
Group.

<contributor description>

Votes are due by <deadline>.

Only current Members of the <group name> Group [1] are eligible
to vote on this nomination.  Votes must be cast in the open by
replying to this mailing list

For Lazy Consensus voting instructions, see [2].

<nominator>

[1] https://openjdk.org/census
[2] https://openjdk.org/groups/#member-vote

Where the following substitutions are made in the message:

<OpenJDK group mailing list>: The primary OpenJDK mailing list for the group.
<full name>: The full name of the nominated Contributor (not e-mail address, OpenJDK name, etc.).
<group name>: The short name for the Group as listed on the left side-bar of the main OpenJDK page.
<contributor description>: Describe the nominee's past contributions to the Group, and any relevant qualifications.
<deadline>: Insert a date and time, with time zone, two weeks after the call-for-votes is sent.
<nominator>: Nominating Group Member's name.

Step 2: Vote

Group Members vote by replying to the proposal with the first line of the message body in the following form:

Vote: <vote>

where <vote> is one of yes, veto, or abstain. A justification for the vote may be provided on subsequent lines, and is required in order for a veto vote to be valid. Multiple votes are allowed but only the most recent vote will be counted. Votes must be cast in the open, on the mailing list to which the call-for-votes was originally sent; votes sent as private replies will not be counted.

The following is a minimum affirmative reply.

To: <OpenJDK group mailing list>
Subject: Re: CFV: New <group name> Group Member: <full name>

Vote: yes

Step 3: Announce Result

Once all Group Members have voted or the deadline has passed then the result must be announced to the mailing list where the call-for-votes and voting took place. If the announcement is approval then it must also be sent to the registrar. The registrar will contact the new Member to obtain additional information, if necessary, and will update the Census.

This is a typical announcement of approval:

To: <OpenJDK mailing list>
CC: registrar at openjdk dot org
Subject: Result: New <group name> Group Member: <full name>

The vote for <full name> [1] is now closed.

Yes: <number of "yes" votes>
Veto: 0
Abstain: <number of "abstain" votes>

According to the Bylaws definition of Lazy Consensus, this is
sufficient to approve the nomination.

<nominator>

[1] https://mail.openjdk.org/<reference to original CFV>

Where the following substitutions are made in the message:

<reference to original CFV>: Find the original call-for-votes in the OpenJDK mail archives and provide a link to it.

Nominating a Committer or Group Member to be an OpenJDK Member

Any OpenJDK Member may nominate any Group Member or Project Committer to be an OpenJDK Member. OpenJDK Members may vote on new Project proposals and participate in various Governing Board-related activities, such as voting on revisions of the Bylaws, attending open meetings, and nominating and voting for At-Large members.

As a rough guide, a candidate should be a Member of at least one Group, or a Reviewer or Project Lead of at least one Project, and make regular and significant contributions to that Group or Project for at least one year before being nominated to be an OpenJDK Member.

The nomination and voting process for new OpenJDK Members is the same as above, except that the voting method is Three-Vote Consensus.

Proposing a New Group

Any OpenJDK Member may propose the creation of a new Group.

Step 0: Discuss [optional]

It is strongly recommended that any proposal for a new Group be discussed publicly before being sent to the Governing Board. Send an e-mail describing the motivation, scope, goals, initial Lead, and suggested initial Members of the proposed Group to the general discussion list. The proposing OpenJDK Member should be an active participant in any subsequent discussion and should refine the proposal as necessary in response to comments.

The header for the Group proposal e-mail is as follows:

To: discuss at openjdk dot org
Subject: Group Proposal: <group name>

Where <group name> is the suggested short name of the Group as it would appear on the left side-bar of the main OpenJDK page.

Step 1: Propose

Send an e-mail to the OpenJDK Lead containing the Group name, description, initial Lead name and qualifications, and suggested initial Members. The OpenJDK Lead (or designate) will send a combined motion to create the Group and appoint its initial Lead to the Governing Board. The voting method is Simple Majority and only current Governing Board Members are eligible to vote.

The format for the combined motion is as follows:

To: gb-discuss at openjdk dot org
Subject: CFV: New Group: <group name>

On behalf of <proposer> I hereby propose creation of the
<group name> Group with <lead name> as the initial Lead.

<group description>

<lead description>

<list of suggested initial members>

Only current Governing Board Members[1] are eligible to vote on
this motion.  Votes must be cast in the open by replying to this
mailing list.

For Simple Majority voting instructions, see [2].

<OpenJDK Lead>

[1] https://openjdk.org/census#gb
[2] https://openjdk.org/groups/#new-group-vote

Where the following substitutions are made in the message:

<group name>: The name of the proposed Group as it would appear on the left side-bar of the main OpenJDK page.
<group description>: Describe the Group's motivation, scope, and goals.
<lead name>: The full name of the proposed Group Lead (not e-mail address, OpenJDK name, etc.)
<lead description>: Describe the proposed Lead's relevant qualifications.
<list of suggested initial group members>: Provide the full names (not e-mail address, OpenJDK name, etc.) of people which the prospective Group Lead may choose to appoint as initial Members.
<proposer>: The name of the OpenJDK Member proposing the creation of the new Group.
<deadline>: Insert a date and time, with time zone, two weeks after the call-for-votes is sent.

The Bylaws specify separate votes on the creation of a new Group and the appointment of its initial Lead. Any Board Member may therefore request that the two motions be voted upon independently, though this is not expected to be the common case.

Step 2: Vote

Governing Board Members vote by replying to the proposal with the first line of the message body in the following form:

Vote: <vote>

where <vote> is one of yes, no, or abstain. A reason for the vote may be provided on subsequent lines but is not required, even for a no. Multiple votes are allowed but only the most recent vote will be counted. Votes must be cast in the open; votes sent as private replies will not be counted.

The following is a minimum affirmative reply:

To: gb-discuss at openjdk dot org
Subject: Re: CFV: New Group: <group name>

Vote: yes

Step 3: Announce Results

Once all Governing Board Members have voted or the deadline has passed, the OpenJDK Lead will send results to the announcement list. If the announcements are of approval then they must also be sent to the registrar.

This is a typical announcement of approval:

To: announce at openjdk dot org
CC: registrar at openjdk dot org
Subject: Result: New Group: <group name>

Voting on the <group name> Group with initial Lead <lead name> [1]
is now closed.

Yes: <number of "yes" votes>
No: <number of "no" votes>
Abstain: <number of "abstain" votes>

According to the Bylaws definition of Simple Majority, this is
sufficient to approve the new Group and its initial Lead.

<OpenJDK Lead>

[1] https://mail.openjdk.org/<reference to original CFV>

Where the following substitutions are made in the message:

<reference to original CFV>: Find the original call-for-votes in the OpenJDK mail archives and provide a link to it.

Step 4: Appoint

The registrar will send an e-mail questionnaire to the new Group Lead to collect any information necessary to launch the Group on OpenJDK. In addition to information for web pages and mailing list(s) the Lead will be asked to select the initial Group Members. The registrar will issue registration invitations as necessary and will update the Census.

Nominating an OpenJDK Member who is a Group Member to be Group Lead

Any OpenJDK Member may nominate any OpenJDK Member who is a Member of a particular Group to be that Group's new Lead.

As a rough guide, a candidate should be regularly active in the Group for at least a year before being nominated to be the Lead. They should be recognized for their technical breadth and leadership skills.

Step 1: Nominate

Send a call-for-votes to the Group's OpenJDK mailing list. The voting method for approval is Simple Majority and only current Group Members are eligible to vote.

To: <OpenJDK group mailing list>
Subject: CFV: New <group name> Group Lead: <full name>

I hereby nominate <full name> to <group name> Group Lead [1].

<Group/OpenJDK Member description>

Votes are due by <deadline>.

Only current Members of the <group name> Group [2] are eligible to
vote on this nomination.  Votes must be cast in the open by
replying to this mailing list.

For Simple Majority voting instructions, see [3].

<nominator>

[1]: https://openjdk.org/bylaws#group-lead
[2]: https://openjdk.org/census
[3]: https://openjdk.org/groups#lead-vote

Where the following substitutions are made in the message:

<OpenJDK group mailing list>: The primary OpenJDK mailing list for the Group.
<full name>: The full name of the nominated Group/OpenJDK Member (not e-mail address, OpenJDK name, etc.).
<group name>: The short name for the Group as listed on the left side-bar of the main OpenJDK page.
<Group/OpenJDK Member description>: Describe the nominee's past contributions to the Group, and any relevant qualifications.
<deadline>: Insert a date and time, with time zone, two weeks after the call-for-votes is sent.
<nominator>: Nominating OpenJDK Member's name.

Step 2: Vote to Approve by Group Members

Group Members vote by replying to the proposal with the first line of the message body in the following form:

Vote: <vote>

where <vote> is either yes, no, or abstain. A justification for the vote may be provided on subsequent lines, and is not required, even for a no. Multiple votes are allowed but only the most recent vote will be counted. Votes must be cast in the open, on the mailing list to which the call-for-votes was originally sent; votes sent as private replies will not be counted.

The following is a minimum affirmative reply.

To: <OpenJDK group mailing list>
Subject: Re: CFV: New <group name> Group Lead: <full name>

Vote: yes

Step 3: Announce Approval Results

This is a typical announcement of approval:

To: <OpenJDK group mailing list>, <OpenJDK Lead>
Subject: Result: New <group name> Group Lead: <full name>

Voting for <group name> Group Lead <lead name> [1] is now closed.

Yes: <number of "yes" votes>
No: <number of "no" votes>
Abstain: <number of "abstain" votes>

According to the Bylaws definition of Simple Majority, this is
sufficient to approve the new Group Lead.  The OpenJDK Lead will
ask the Governing Board to ratify this nomination.

<nominator>

[1] https://mail.openjdk.org/<reference to original CFV>

Where the following substitutions are made in the message:

<OpenJDK Lead>: The OpenJDK Lead is also the Group Lead of the OpenJDK Members Group.
<reference to original CFV>: Find the original call-for-votes in the OpenJDK mail archives and provide a link to it.

Step 4: Ratify and Announce Results

The nomination and voting process for the Governing Board to ratify a the new Group Lead is the same as above. Sending the results of approval to the OpenJDK Lead is sufficient to trigger the appropriate Governing Board vote. If the ratification announcement is of approval, it will be sent to the Group in addition to the announcement list.

Last update: 2023/08/15