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openSUSE Contributors Encouraged to Get Involved in Board Election

The openSUSE Project reminded members yesterday that the application deadline for a seat on the openSUSE Board is drawing near. Contributors to openSUSE who wish to run for a board seat must first apply for openSUSE membership. openSUSE membership is also required to vote in the election, and contributors who are interested in voting are advised to apply for membership prior to September 24th, to ensure that they will be able to do so.

The openSUSE Board, in its present state, consists of openSUSE community members and contributors that were chosen by Novell. Along with its other duties, the initial Board needed to work out how the election process for future board members should be carried out. This election is the first that lets openSUSE members get involved, not only as voters, but as candidates.

Since this is the first member-elected Board, there have been a few special rules put in place to minimize bumps in the election process, and motivate and enable more members and contributors to take part in the voting.

The openSUSE Board consists of five seats. Two seats are held by openSUSE members with no Novell affiliation, the other two are held by openSUSE members who work with Novell. The fifth seat is held by the chairman, who will be appointed by Novell. The Board's primary focus is to be the point of contact for the community at large, to guide and support community rules and regulations, and relay community concerns and interests to Novell. It specifically does not deal with development issues or direction, as there are other community processes in place to handle those matters.

Those interested in becoming openSUSE members for voting or candidacy eligibility will need to highlight the ways in which they have contributed to the project. Contributions are defined fairly loosely, however, so as to not exclude (or favor) community members with a particular skillset.

The openSUSE Project is at an important point in its development process, considering the significant changes that were integrated in the 11.0 release earlier this year, version 11.1 taking shape for a December release, and the passing of the guard from an appointed board to a community-elected board. Having had an on/off relationship with the distribution over the past seven years, and rather mixed feelings about where the project was headed in the past two to three years, it finally feels to me as if openSUSE is starting to find its stride. Giving the community more points of contact, and letting them choose those contacts, seems to be another step in a positive direction.

The openSUSE Board election will be held in November.

• linux
• novell
• contributors
• opensuse
• community

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