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PSF Meeting Minutes for July 14, 2008

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The Python Software Foundation
Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors

July 14, 2008

A regular meeting of the Python Software Foundation ("PSF") Board of Directors was held over Internet Relay Chat beginning at 16:00 UTC, 14 July 2008. Steve Holden presided at the meeting. David Goodger prepared these minutes.

1   Attendance

The following members of the Board of Directors were present at the meeting: Brett Cannon, David Goodger, Raymond Hettinger, Steve Holden, Martin von Löwis, Tim Peters, and James Tauber. Also in attendance was Kurt Kaiser (Treasurer).

2   Minutes of Past Meetings

The 16 June 2008 Board meeting minutes were approved by a vote of 7-0-0 (in favor – opposed – abstentions).

3   Status of Past Action Items

(Pending action items appear like this.)

3.1   Carried Forward

The following are action items carried forward from the 16 June 2008 meeting, as highlighted in the minutes (Section 3, Status of Past Action Items):

  1. Originally from October 2005, Section 4, Public Support Committee: D. Goodger will pursue web page and installer donation link ideas.

    Status: carried forward.

  2. Originally from June 2006, Section 6, PSF Records: The Board agreed to assemble the existing records in one place, have them scanned, and enter them into the PSF data repository. D. Goodger will coordinate this work and maintain the records.

    Status: carried forward.

  3. Originally from August 2006, Section 10: T. Peters will ask the advice of Larry Rosen regarding concerns with the contributor agreement.

    Status: carried forward.

  4. Originally from December 2006, Section 4, Jython Contributor Agreements: D. Goodger will write to the Jython contributors and ask them to sign contributor agreement forms, in combination with item 2 above (transferred from A. Kuchling).

    Status: carried forward.

  5. Originally from March 2007, Section 18, Bylaw Change Survey: S. Holden will call for a separate discussion of changes to the bylaws [with S. Deibel's help].

    S. Holden reported that he has begun discussions with Stephan Deibel, and that they plan to use the new PSF issue tracker to follow up on this.

    Status: done.

  6. Originally from May 2007, Section 7, PyCon Uno (Italy): D. Goodger will look into making PSF banners.

    Status: carried forward.

  7. Originally from 10 March 2008, Section 10, Python Certification: S. Holden will rework the proposal with Van Lindberg and Tennessee Leeuwenburg as a discussion document to be posted to the members' list, as the Board considers the members' views essential.

    A "certification" mailing list was set up, a draft of the proposal is on the private PSF wiki, and there has been some discussion.

    Status: done.

  8. Originally from 14 April 2008, Section 5, Treasurer's Report: S. Holden will assist K. Kaiser with accounts receivable reminders.

    Prior to the meeting K. Kaiser sent a status report to the Board mailing list.

    Status: in progress.

  9. Originally from 14 April 2008, Section 7, PyCon Asset Record-Keeping: D. Goodger will update the assets file in PSF CVS with the details of the laptops and VGA2USB boxes purchased for PyCon 2008.

    Status: carried forward.

  10. Originally from 14 April 2008, Section 8, PSF Awards Program: S. Holden will have PSF Community Award certificates designed.

    Status: carried forward.

  11. Originally from 14 April 2008, Section 12, Sponsor Membership Issues: S. Holden will contact ILM to request a new sponsor membership application.

    Status: carried forward.

  12. Originally from 14 April 2008, Section 12, Sponsor Membership Issues: D. Goodger will update the member information in members.xls (sponsors & nominated members) & sponsor-addrs.txt, in PSF CVS.

    Status: in progress.

  13. Originally from 14 April 2008, Section 12, Sponsor Membership Issues: S. Holden will contact OSAF and inquire about their outstanding 2007 PSF sponsor invoice.

    Status: carried forward.

  14. Originally from 12 May 2008, Section 12, Choice of PSF Logo: D. Goodger will prepare logos for the PSF, based on the Python logo graphic with the text "Python Software Foundation".

    Status: carried forward.

3.2   New from June 16

These action items originated at the 16 June 2008 Board meeting on IRC.

  1. Section 4, Sponsor Member Application: PropertySold.ca: Once sponsor dues have been received, D. Goodger will list PropertySold.ca as a pending sponsor member on the web site.

    The accounts receivable report showed that sponsor dues have been received.

    Status: carried forward.

  2. Section 5, PSF Staffing Plan: D. Goodger will send the staffing plan to the members for discussion.

    Email sent 2008-06-16.

    Status: done.

  3. Section 6.1, Treasurer's Report: K. Kaiser will submit an expanded report to psf-members.

    Status: carried forward.

  4. Section 6.2, Treasurer's Report: D. Goodger will follow up regarding the PyCon transaction analysis.

    Status: carried forward.

  5. Section 6.3, Treasurer's Report: D. Goodger will ensure that documentation for unpaid PyCon tutorials is found and provided.

    Status: carried forward.

  6. Section 6.4, Treasurer's Report: 4. D. Goodger will send all remaining PyCon checks to K. Kaiser for deposit.

    Status: carried forward.

  7. Section 6.5, Treasurer's Report: D. Godoger will provide K. Kaiser with PyCon financial aid documentation.

    Status: carried forward.

  8. Section 6.6, Treasurer's Report: D. Goodger will provide K. Kaiser with PyCon expense and cash reports.

    Status: carried forward.

  9. Section 6.7, Treasurer's Report: D. Goodger will follow up regarding unpaid PyCon sponsorships.

    Status: carried forward.

  10. Section 6.8, Treasurer's Report: D. Goodger will follow up regarding unpaid PyCon registrations.

    Status: carried forward.

  11. Section 7, PyOhio Support: S. Holden will send email to Catherine Devlin of PyOhio saying we'd be open to proposals.

    Status: done.

  12. Section 8, SciPy Support: S. Holden will write to Travis Vaught about the PSF's sponsorship of SciPy 2008. Holden will inquire about the responsible organization, request a W-9 form, and note that the administration of the funding is up to SciPy.

    Status: done.

  13. Section 9, EuroPython Support: S. Holden will ask EuroPython to send an invoice for a 2008 silver sponsorship.

    Status: done.

  14. Section 10, Formalizing the Trademarks Committee: J. Tauber and D. Goodger will formulate a resolution for the formation of a Trademarks Committee.

    Status: carried forward.

  15. Section 11, PSF Awards Program: Nominations?: D. Goodger will ask the members for nominations for the PSF Awards Program.

    Email sent 2008-07-09.

    Status: done.

4   New Servers for python.org

S. Holden asked the status of the new servers approved in June. M. von Löwis replied that they are ordered, and an invoice has been received. K. Kaiser reported that funds were wired last week.

5   PSF Issue Tracker & Wiki

M. von Löwis noted that both a wiki and an issue tracker have been set up. S. Holden asked everyone to create an account on the wiki, for it to be useful as a communication mechanism.

6   PyOhio Support

The PyOhio organizers have requested funds for a pizza lunch.

RESOLVED, that the PSF provides $300 to PyOhio.

Approved 7-0-0.

7   Nominations for PSF Community Awards

Two nominations were received:

RESOLVED, that Georg Brandl is awarded a PSF Community Award.

Approved 7-0-0.

RESOLVED, that Brett Cannon is awarded a PSF Community Award.

Approved 6-0-1.

The award details will follow http://www.python.org/community/awards/psf-awards/.

D. Goodger suggested that since the Directors decide these awards, current Directors should be declared ineligible in future. R. Hettinger disagreed, noting that abstaining from the vote is sufficient. S. Holden recommended that nominations for Directors not originate from the Board. The consensus was not to declare Directors ineligible.

8   ZEUUX Cooperation

The Board received a request from Bill Xu, founder of the ZEUUX Free Software Community in Beijing, China (http://www.zeuux.org/about/about.html). Xu requested that the PSF become a ZEUXX partner. The meaning of "partner" was discussed.

RESOLVED, that ZEUUX be listed as a partner organisation on python.org, and that they be given permission to list the PSF as their partner.

Approved 4-2-1.

  1. S. Holden will reply to Bill Xu of ZEUUX regarding PSF cooperation.
  2. S. Holden will include an affiliation program in the bylaws revision discussion.
  3. M. von Löwis will ask the python.org maintainers to add a page ("informally affiliated" or equivalent), and will suggest the wording.

9   Policy on Draft Minutes

The Board agreed with R. Hettinger's recommendation: initially send the draft minutes to the Board by email, allow 7 days for revisions, then make them public (publish to python.org and announce to psf-members), with final approval at the next Board meeting.

10   Support Request from Jornadas Regionales de Software Libre

Facundo Batista requested that the PSF sponsor 8th Jornadas Regionales de Software Libre in Argentina, in order to provide funding for R. Hettinger to give a keynote speech there. R. Hettinger recused himself from the discussion.

D. Goodger expressed discomfort with the amount, and the approach of the request. The PSF sponsored last year's "Python en Santa Fe" meeting with $500. Given the size of the conference (1500+ expected), they ought to be able to get commercial sponsors.

S. Holden expressed reservations funding a Director's travel, but noted that Hettinger's popularity as a speaker was likely the cause. http://jornadas.cafelug.org.ar/8/en/home.php lists several significant sponsors.

T. Peters noted, "But it's not just a Python conference -- sounds like it's more like OSCON. ... [It] doesn't sound like they're asking for general support, they're asking specifically to fund travel for a speaker."

S. Holden: "In other words, the funds will be used to raise Python's visibility within the overall conference."

K. Kaiser suggested that the PSF could reimburse a Director's travel directly if it supports the PSF.

RESOLVED, that Raymond Hettinger be reimbursed for travel expenses to the Jornadas Regionals de Software Libres 2008, up to $3000.

Approved 3-1-3.

S. Holden will inform Facundo Batista of the PSF's travel funding for the Jornadas Regionales de Software Libre.

11   Pending Sponsor Subscription to PSF-Members?

D. Goodger noted that a pending sponsor member subscribed to the PSF-members mailing list (their request is being held for moderation), and asked if pending sponsor members should be permitted to subscribe. The Board consensus was to ask the members.

D. Goodger will ask the PSF members whether pending sponsor members should be permitted to subscribe to the psf-members mailing list.

12   Infrastructure Committee Report

B. Cannon reported that M. von Löwis set up issue trackers for the PSF and for the security team.

13   PyCon Report

D. Goodger reported that there are some replies to the 2010 RFPs, but they haven't been analyzed yet. The planned decision deadline is 1 August; the actualy decision may not meet the deadline but should be made in a timely fashion.

R. Hettinger asked if there is a viable non-staff option on the table (e.g. outsource to conference specialists). D. Goodger replied that there is not.

For 2009, there are no other outstanding issues.

D. Goodger noted that he may need help finding the next chairperson for PyCon.

14   Adjournment

S. Holden adjourned the meeting at 17:07 UTC.