[Servercert-wg] Document Versioning

Ryan Sleevi sleevi at google.com
Tue Aug 20 12:46:51 MST 2019


On Tue, Aug 20, 2019 at 3:39 PM Dimitris Zacharopoulos (HARICA) <
dzacharo at harica.gr> wrote:

> Sure. It arbitrarily changes an existing pattern.
>

I wouldn't say "Trying to follow the Bylaws" is arbitrary.


> Both the BRs and the EV Guidelines have a certain pattern which is being
> followed. I would expect that the next BRs have version 1.6.6 and the next
> EV Guidelines have 1.7.1. Instead, the ballot, as proposed in the red-line,
> moves all versions to "1.8". I think this might create confusion to the
> consumers of the Guidelines, wondering where the "other versions" went.
>

We've skipped versions before.


> The risk I am trying to avoid is a possible future ballot (again, fully
> compatible with our Bylaws) that proposes -for example- version "100". I
> believe ballot SC22, as written, will set a bad precedent setting the
> version of the Guideline, and I would like to avoid that if possible.
>

I agree. And that's why it's important to change the Bylaws if you'd like
to prevent that.


> Again, we're in agreement that the Forum Bylaws can be amended to allow
> flexibility in areas that the Chartered Working Group designates. That work
> has not been done, however, and is not permitted by our Bylaws today, so
> it's unclear if you're suggesting that you believe it better that we
> disregard our Bylaws until "someone" (unclear who) proposes changes to the
> Bylaws. With Ballot SC22, I am trying to follow our Bylaws, as written,
> unless and until someone who feels strongly against that - e.g. because
> they believe it might mess up the versioning (despite our Bylaws including
> provisions to prevent that) proposes changes our Bylaws.
>
>
> The Bylaws are silent about the versions of Guidelines so I am not certain
> about which provisions you are referring to. I assume you mean the
> provisions for parallel ballots but that doesn't prevent a proposer to pick
> any number for a Guideline.
>

The version of the Guidelines are *part of* the Guidelines. For better or
worse, the Guidelines have their version baked into the document. If they
weren't part of the document - and say, just part of a link to the document
- the Chair would certainly have that discretion. But we're talking about
actual text within the Final Guidelines or Final Maintenance Guidelines,
and the only way recognized by our Bylaws to change that is through a
Ballot.

You're absolutely correct that it doesn't prevent the proposer from picking
any number. Nothing in our Bylaws prevents that, short of voting for or
against a Ballot. But the only way our Bylaws recognize to change the text
of our Guidelines is through a Ballot.
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