bdfl.md (3097B)
1 # A note from Hare's BDFL 2 3 Hi! My name is Drew DeVault. I am the original author and designer of the Hare 4 programming language, and, with the mandate of the Hare community, I am the 5 project's benevolent dictator for life (BDFL). 6 7 The Hare project has grown a lot since I started working on it, and today there 8 are many talented people who work on the project at all levels, including those 9 coding in the trenches, in leadership positions, setting cultural norms, and 10 maintaining various subsystems or co-maintaining the project as a whole. For the 11 most part, the project runs smoothly thanks to their efforts and does not 12 require me to tread on too many toes. 13 14 In my role as the BDFL, I aim to offer the project a number of helpful 15 resources, such as: 16 17 - Overseeing the fiduciary responsibilities of the project 18 - Setting (and clarifying) the broader vision and direction for the project 19 - Organizing participants and empowering them to roles for which they are suited 20 - Planning long-term priorities and design goals 21 - Mediating conflicts in the community 22 - Providing the last word when consensus cannot be reached 23 24 I also have the burden of doing the nasty work when necessary: if required I may 25 exercise my power to remove difficult parties from the community, revoke 26 permissions of participants if necessary, or put my foot down on a proposal that 27 does not align with the project vision. 28 29 I am endowed with the last word, but I aim not to use it when it can be avoided. 30 I am a very busy person, and the project's scope exceeds my ability to manage it 31 alone. As such, it delights me when the community steps up to take on 32 responsibilities at every level. I try not to impose my will on the project too 33 much -- it's better if my role as the BDFL is a tool that the community chooses 34 to use when necessary. 35 36 If my resources are required to see something through, I have some specific 37 appeals regarding how community members can best utilize my attention. I cannot 38 keep up with most of the IRC discussions and a substantial fraction of the 39 mailing lists, but I will endeavour to participate when my presence is directly 40 requested. 41 42 If you require simple admin tasks, that only I am able to perform (e.g. spending 43 money on something, updating harelang.org DNS, managing contributor permissions 44 on SourceHut, etc), send me an email directly (sir@cmpwn.com) and I'll try to 45 get it done within a day or two. 46 47 Otherwise, you can get my attention on a discussion by Cc'ing me directly on an 48 email or mentioning my name (ddevault) on IRC.\* You can also reach out to me 49 privately via email or IRC if you have something specific to discuss or request. 50 The latency on such requests may be annoying, but please be patient and I will 51 strive to answer in the timeliest manner possible. 52 53 \* If you mention me on IRC please include a small summary of what you need in 54 the same message as my handle, so that I can still grasp the situation if I am 55 away from IRC for a few hours and the backlog fills up. 56 57 That's all! Thanks for participating in the Hare community, and thanks for your 58 trust. Have fun out there!