---
# System prepended metadata

title: CentOS Project Governance

---

# CentOS Project Governance

The CentOS Project has two main levels of governance - The Board of Directors ("The Board"), and Special Interest Groups (SIGs).

The Board is responsible for the governance and administration of the project as a whole, and the overall vision and direction of the project.

SIGs are responsible for technical work, and the direction of that work.

## Board of Directors

The Board of Directors structure and policy is defined in https://hackmd.io/eJ7-yI0oRny1HJ88rDe7DQ (*Link to published doc once it's there*)

## Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups are discussed in https://hackmd.io/nvUbZqkVTXuNmSn-SSnBag (*Link to docs once published*)

## Voting and Consensus

The voting system used by all SIGs and the Board of Directors uses a consensus-based decision model except where noted.

Except where noted, decisions require 3 yes votes (+1) and no objections (-1’s) and, except as noted below, votes should be left open for at least 72 hours. Any Board member may cast a vote in any SIG vote and it is considered binding (counted against the vote). If a vote is held on a public list (e.g., to test the broader consensus of a group) only the votes of the Board members for Board votes or SIG committers or Board members for SIG votes are considered binding. All other votes are just considered as valuable data in the decision process. Board business may be conducted on a private or public list, whichever is more appropriate for the issue at hand.

All -1s votes require reason/explanation; -1’s with no substantiation may be overturned.

A SIG, or other group/committee, that consistently has a significant number of -1 votes, especially from a single person, indicates an issue that should be brought to the attention of the Board , as it may be an indicator of a dysfunctional SIG and may adversely impact the meritocracy.

### When to call a vote

Votes need to be called for all substantial business, including creation of SIGs, amendments to policy, changes to governance, or election of directors. Votes need to be left open for a reasonable period (not less than 72 hours) if members of the Board are not available to participate in the vote; provided that for votes/matters that have been deemed time or business critical by Red Hat, voting must be held open until the Liaison has voted.

### Lazy Consensus

Lazy consensus (which is a version of unanimous consent, or Silence Procedure) may be used for non-substantial business. Lazy consensus is defined as asking for objections as opposed to calling for a vote. Any objection to lazy consensus is considered the same as a -1 on a vote. There is no minimum +1 vote requirement.

## Amendment of Project Governance

The CentOS community may propose to the Board and/or the Board may propose its own changes to the governance and/or the merit criteria, to account for, among other things, confusion or inadequacies. These changes must be discussed transparently, in the larger community, and the feedback of the community shall be considered in adopting any changes.

This document, once agreed to by the Board, shall be stored in git or other revision control system so that changes to it can be versioned and tracked, with the reasons for those changes.
