Re: Draft resolution formalising Debian's Associated Project status

Ted,

> If however the SPI is responsible for making a judgement call about
> the murky nature of Debian politics, particularly since certain
> aspects of Debian's policies and procedures are not necessarily
> clearly defined (or at least subject to dispute leading to mailing
> list flames that go on and on for hundreds of messages) from a legal
> point of view, then SPI could get dragged into what could be a nasty,
> and potentially arbitrarily expensive legal adjucation procedure.

I'm not so worried about legal culpability (how would Debian sue SPI when SPI
provides Debian's legal help?). However, I *am* worried about making the
wrong decision, and pissing off the "winners" in a long-running Debian
dispute, and thus causing Debian members to distrust SPI and call for
pulling out. This is *directly* based on my experience with the Dunc-Tank
proposal.

I really don't think that MJ and Ian realize how opaque and chaotic Debian
politics are to outsiders.

--
Josh Berkus
Treasurer
Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
www.spi-inc.org