Joining SPI

Hello, my name is Thomas S Hatch,

I am a Community Developer (Trusted User) for the Arch Linux project and
have been asked by the project leader, Aaron Griffin, to look into Arch
Linux joining SPI.

Arch Linux is a large Linux distribution made up of over 50 developers and
has a thriving community and user base.

Right now we are looking into the best way to accept financial contributions
and SPI appears to be a great choice.

If I can, I would like to ask a few questions:

1. Would Arch Linux be eligible to join SPI?
2. Could we be considered in conflict with Debian since we are both Linux
distributions (Hopefully we can improve cross distribution collaboration!)?
3. My understanding is that money is held and managed by SPI and then we
would request it, is there a document on the process?
4. As far as I can tell joining is simply the act of being voted in and an
application, what else is required and is there a document on it?

I am still reading through the mailing lists for information and I will have
more questions, but I greatly appreciate your answers. Thank you for your
time and I hope that Arch can become a contributer to SPI and continue to
further the interests of open source software.

- Thomas S Hatch
- Arch Linux Trusted User
- https://github.com/thatch45

On 05/05/2011 10:10 AM, Thomas S Hatch wrote:
> Hello, my name is Thomas S Hatch,
>
> I am a Community Developer (Trusted User) for the Arch Linux project and
> have been asked by the project leader, Aaron Griffin, to look into Arch
> Linux joining SPI.
>
> Arch Linux is a large Linux distribution made up of over 50 developers
> and has a thriving community and user base.
>
> Right now we are looking into the best way to accept financial
> contributions and SPI appears to be a great choice.
>
> If I can, I would like to ask a few questions:
>
> 1. Would Arch Linux be eligible to join SPI?

I don't see why not.

> 2. Could we be considered in conflict with Debian since we are both
> Linux distributions (Hopefully we can improve cross distribution
> collaboration!)?

I don't see a conflict. This is Open Source.

> 3. My understanding is that money is held and managed by SPI and then we
> would request it, is there a document on the process?

I will defer to the treasurer on this.

> 4. As far as I can tell joining is simply the act of being voted in and
> an application, what else is required and is there a document on it?

http://www.spi-inc.org/projects/associated-project-howto/

Sincerely,

Joshua D. Drake

--
Command Prompt, Inc. - http://www.commandprompt.com/
PostgreSQL Support, Training, Professional Services and Developement
Organizers of the PostgreSQL Conference -
http://www.postgresqlconference.org/
@cmdpromptinc - @postgresconf - 509-416-6579

On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 11:25 AM, Joshua D. Drake <jd(at)commandprompt(dot)com>wrote:

> On 05/05/2011 10:10 AM, Thomas S Hatch wrote:
>
>> Hello, my name is Thomas S Hatch,
>>
>> I am a Community Developer (Trusted User) for the Arch Linux project and
>> have been asked by the project leader, Aaron Griffin, to look into Arch
>> Linux joining SPI.
>>
>> Arch Linux is a large Linux distribution made up of over 50 developers
>> and has a thriving community and user base.
>>
>> Right now we are looking into the best way to accept financial
>> contributions and SPI appears to be a great choice.
>>
>> If I can, I would like to ask a few questions:
>>
>> 1. Would Arch Linux be eligible to join SPI?
>>
>
> I don't see why not.
>
>
> 2. Could we be considered in conflict with Debian since we are both
>> Linux distributions (Hopefully we can improve cross distribution
>> collaboration!)?
>>
>
> I don't see a conflict. This is Open Source.
>
>
> 3. My understanding is that money is held and managed by SPI and then we
>> would request it, is there a document on the process?
>>
>
> I will defer to the treasurer on this.
>
>
> 4. As far as I can tell joining is simply the act of being voted in and
>> an application, what else is required and is there a document on it?
>>
>
> http://www.spi-inc.org/projects/associated-project-howto/
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Joshua D. Drake
>
> --
> Command Prompt, Inc. - http://www.commandprompt.com/
> PostgreSQL Support, Training, Professional Services and Developement
> Organizers of the PostgreSQL Conference -
> http://www.postgresqlconference.org/
> @cmdpromptinc - @postgresconf - 509-416-6579
> _______________________________________________
> Spi-general mailing list
> Spi-general(at)lists(dot)spi-inc(dot)org
> http://lists.spi-inc.org/listinfo/spi-general
>

Wonderful! We would be excited to be able to collaborate with Debian where
possible.

I will go over the howto and contact the treasurer, Thank you!

-Thomas S Hatch

On Thu, 5 May 2011 11:10:45 -0600, Thomas S Hatch <thatch45(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> 1. Would Arch Linux be eligible to join SPI?

Yes.

> 2. Could we be considered in conflict with Debian since we are both Linux
> distributions (Hopefully we can improve cross distribution
> collaboration!)?

No. We have no problem with multiple potentially competing projects in
a given area .. we already support more than one Linux distribution,
both OpenOffice and LibreOffice, etc.

> 3. My understanding is that money is held and managed by SPI and then we
> would request it, is there a document on the process?

I'll let our Treasurer answer financial process questions.

> 4. As far as I can tell joining is simply the act of being voted in and an
> application, what else is required and is there a document on it?

http://www.spi-inc.org/projects/associated-project-howto/

Also, if you haven't already found it, feel free to come find us on our
IRC channel #spi on irc.oftc.net, several of us are there often enough
to make it a plausible place to get near-real-time answers to questions
like these.

Bdale

Thomas S Hatch wrote:
> 3. My understanding is that money is held and managed by SPI and then
> we would request it, is there a document on the process?

SPI is recognized by the United States Internal Revenue Service as a
501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. As such, there are certain rules and
regulations SPI must follow. These rules and regulations include
prohibiting benefiting private interests or individuals (although
individuals may be reimbursed for legitimate expenses) as well as
prohibiting political and legislative activities.

For the most part, SPI Associated Projects incur expenses and are
reimbursed for those expenses after showing documentation of the expense
(for example, a receipt).

Michael Schultheiss
Treasurer, Software in the Public Interest, Inc.

--
----------------------------
Michael Schultheiss
E-mail: schultmc(at)spi-inc(dot)org

Thomas S Hatch wrote: [...]
> I am a Community Developer (Trusted User) for the Arch Linux project and
> have been asked by the project leader, Aaron Griffin, to look into Arch
> Linux joining SPI. [...]

I think you mean Arch Linux becoming an associated project.
Individual contributors join SPI. Projects are not members as such.
I'm sure board members will post links to the various formalities.

Good luck!
--
MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op.
Webmaster, Debian Developer, Past Koha RM, statistician, former lecturer.
In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
Available for hire for various work through http://www.software.coop/

Thank you for your replies! I think that my questions have been answered. I
will be getting back in touch, most likely in the form of an application
once we clear out our end.

Thanks again, and I look forward to working with you all!

-Thomas S Hatch

It is time for me to pass the reigns on this topic over to the Arch Linux
Project Leader, Aaron Griffin, who should I tell him to contact so that Arch
can become an associated project? The howto specifies that
the liaison should contact a board member.

Thanks again, and on behalf of the Arch Linux Project, we look forward to
working with you!

-Thomas S Hatch

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 13:49:20 -0600, Thomas S Hatch wrote:

> It is time for me to pass the reigns on this topic over to the Arch Linux
> Project Leader, Aaron Griffin, who should I tell him to contact so that Arch
> can become an associated project? The howto specifies that
> the liaison should contact a board member.
>
A mail to board(at)spi-inc(dot)org should work.

Cheers,
Julien

On Tue, 10 May 2011 13:49:20 -0600, Thomas S Hatch <thatch45(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> It is time for me to pass the reigns on this topic over to the Arch Linux
> Project Leader, Aaron Griffin, who should I tell him to contact so that Arch
> can become an associated project? The howto specifies that
> the liaison should contact a board member.

I'll be happy to work with him on this.

Bdale

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 01:49:20PM -0600, Thomas S Hatch wrote:
> It is time for me to pass the reigns on this topic over to the Arch Linux
> Project Leader, Aaron Griffin, who should I tell him to contact so that Arch
> can become an associated project? The howto specifies that
> the liaison should contact a board member.
>
> Thanks again, and on behalf of the Arch Linux Project, we look forward to
> working with you!

And so do I, because so far you are the first person to spell 'liaison' correctly.
Good start!

Cheers,
Bill.