This FAQ attempts to address common questions and concerns around the Reproducible Build community's Code of Conduct. If you still have questions after reading it, please feel free to contact us.
We think the Reproducible Builds community is awesome. If you're familiar with the RB community, you'll probably notice that the Code basically matches what we already do. Think of this as documentation: we're taking implicit expectations about behavior and making them explicit.
We're doing this because the Reproducible Builds community has grown faster than any of us could have anticipated in 2014. This is on balance a very positive thing, but as we've grown past the point where it's possible to know the whole community we think it's very important to be clear about our values.
We know that the Reproducible Builds community is open, friendly, and welcoming. We want to make sure everyone else knows it too.
For the most part, we don't think it means large changes. We think that the text does a really good job describing the way the Reproducible Builds community already conducts itself. We expect that most people will simply continue to behave in the awesome way they have for years.
However, we do expect that people will abide by the spirit and words of the CoC when in "official" Reproducible Builds spaces. This code has been adopted by both the RB core team. That means that it'll apply both in community spaces and at Reproducible Builds events.
In practice, this means mailing lists (rb-general, etc.), the various
Reproducible Builds IRC channels (#reproducible-builds, etc.), bug tracking
and code review tools, and "official" Reproducible Builds events such as
our summits. In addition, violations of this code outside these spaces may
affect a person's ability to participate within them.
This Code of Conduct is all about how we interact as a community. It's about saying that the Reproducible Builds community will be open, friendly, and welcoming. The core issue is about ensuring the conversations we have are productive and inviting for all.
Real-life events, however, require a bit more care. Reproducible Builds wants to be sure that any events it funds have policies and procedures in place for handling harassment. It's especially important to us that real-life events take steps to protect the physical and mental security of their participants.
So the Reproducible Builds project will require that any events it funds or hosts have some sort of anti-harassment policy in place. The Reproducible Builds project thinks the Ada Initiative's template is pretty good, but we're open to alternatives.
Our intent is that anyone in the community can stand up for this code, and
direct people who're unaware to this document. If that doesn't work, or if you
need more help, you can contact conduct@reproducible-builds.org. For more
details please see our Reporting Guidelines
Sadly, not everyone knows this.
However, even if everyone was kind, everyone was compassionate, and everyone was familiar with codes of conduct it would still be incumbent upon our community to publish our own. Maintaining a code of conduct forces us to consider and articulate what kind of community we want to be, and serves as a constant reminder to put our best foot forward. But most importantly, it serves as a signpost to people looking to join our community that we feel these values are important.
You do — in your space. If you'd like to hang out in our spaces (as clarified above), we have some simple guidelines to follow. If you want to, for example, form a group where reproducible builds is discussed using language inappropriate for general channels then nobody's stopping you. We respect your right to establish whatever codes of conduct you want in the spaces that belong to you. Please honor this Code of Conduct in our spaces.