Debian Technical Committee

The Technical Committee is established by the Debian Constitution, section 6. It is the body which makes the final decision on technical disputes in the Debian project.

How to refer a question to the committee

  1. Before referring a decision to the Technical Committee, you should try to resolve it yourself. Engage in a constructive discussion and try to understand the other person's point of view. If, after discussion, you've identified a technical question which you can't agree on, you can put it to the committee:
  2. Write up a summary of the disagreement, preferably agreeing it with your opponent, and send it to the bug tracking system as a new bug, against the pseudo-package tech-ctte. In your summary mention any relevant existing bug numbers and mailing list archive urls.
  3. Send an email to all relevant parties inviting them to subscribe to the bug. If there are existing bug(s) open about the issue, set the new tech-ctte bug to block them (but if you don't know how to do this, don't worry - we will do it for you.)
  4. The committee will discuss your question in the tech-ctte bug. We will generally not CC discussion to individual participants, unless we invite them into the conversation to ask them a specific question. Everyone who is interested in the issue should subscribe to the bug using the BTS.
  5. The committee will aim to make a decision as soon as possible. In practice this process is likely to take many weeks, or perhaps longer. If the question is particularly urgent please say so.
  6. Sometimes, one side or other is convinced, during the committee's deliberations, by the merit of the other side's arguments. This is a good thing! If it happens, the committee need not make a formal decision, and the bug report can be closed, or reassigned, as appropriate.

Some caveats about contacting the committee

Membership

The current membership of the committee is documented on the Debian Organizational Structure page.

Archives and status

The committee mailing list is archived.

Questions pending decision can be reviewed in the bug tracking system.

VCS repository

The TC sometimes uses its shared git repository for collaboration.

Formal technical decisions, including recommendations and advice

The decision history sections are not necessarily up to date. (Older questions and decisions can be viewed in the bug tracking system.)

NB that decisions from before the 1st of April 2002 are not yet recorded here.

Formal nontechnical and procedural decisions

NB that decisions from before the 31st of January 2002 are not yet recorded here.

Retired members

Thanks to the following people who have served on the committee in the past: