Apache Voting Process

Who is permitted to vote is, to some extent, a community-specific thing. However, the basic rule is that committers have binding votes, and all others are either discouraged from voting (to keep the noise down) or else have their votes considered of an indicative or advisory nature only.

That's the general rule. In actual fact, things tend to be a little looser, and procedural votes from non-committers are sometimes considered binding if the voter has acquired enough merit and respect in the community. Only votes by committers are considered binding on code-modification issues, however.

In some cases and communities, the exercise of a vote carries some responsibilities that may not be immediately obvious. For example, in some cases a favourable vote carries the implied message 'I approve and I'm willing to help.' Also, an unfavourable vote may imply that 'I disapprove, but I have an alternative and will help with that alternative.'

The tacit implications of voting should be spelt out in the community's guidelines. However, in no case may someone's vote be considered invalid if the implied commitment doesn't appear to be met; a vote is a formal expression of opinion, not of commitment.

If the R-T-C policy is in effect, a positive vote carries the very strong implied message, 'I have tested this patch myself, and found it good.' Similarly, a negative vote usually means that the patch was tested and found to be not-good, although the veto (for such it is in this case) may be based on other technical grounds.

The voting process in Apache may seem more than a little weird if you've never encountered it before. Votes are represented as numbers between -1 and +1, with '-1' meaning 'no' and '+1' meaning 'yes.'

The in-between values are indicative of how strongly the voting individual feels. Here are some examples of fractional votes and ways in which they might be intended and interpreted:

• +0: 'I don't feel strongly about it, but I'm okey with this.'
• -0: 'I won't get in the way, but I'd rather we didn't do this.'
• -0.5: 'I don't like this idea, but I can't find any rational justification for my feelings.'
• ++1: 'Wow! I like this! Let's do it!'
• -0.9: 'I really don't like this, but I'm not going to stand in the way if everyone else wants to go ahead with it.'
• +0.9: 'This is a cool idea and i like it, but I don't have time/the skills necessary to help out.'

Votes should generally be permitted to run for at least 72 hours to provide an opportunity for all concerned persons to participate regardless of their geographic locations.

Votes on Code Modification

Procedural Votes or Opinion Polls

Votes on Package Releases

A code-modification proposal may be stopped dead in its tracks by a -1 vote by a qualified voter. This constitutes a veto, and it cannot be overruled nor overridden by anyone. Vetos stand until and unless withdrawn by their casters.

To prevent vetos from being used capriciously, they must be accompanied by a technical justification showing why the change is bad (opens a security exposure, negatively affects performance, etc.). A veto without a justification is invalid and has no weight.