GOVERNANCE.md: explains how this project is run

Closes #2657

2 files changed, 89 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/docs/GOVERNANCE.md b/docs/GOVERNANCE.md
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+# Decision making in the curl project
+
+A rough guide to how we make decisions and who does what.
+
+## BDFL
+
+This project was started by and has to some extent been pushed forward over
+the years with Daniel Stenberg as the driving force. It matches a standard
+BDFL (Benevolent Dictator For Life) style project.
+
+This setup has been used due to convenience and the fact that is has worked
+fine this far. It is not because someone thinks of it as a superior project
+leadership model. It will also only continue working as long as Daniel manages
+to listen in to what the project and the general user population wants and
+expects from us.
+
+## Legal entity
+
+There is no legal entity. The curl project is just a bunch of people scattered
+around the globe with the common goal to produce source code that creates
+great products.
+
+The copyrights in the project are owned by the individuals and organizations
+that wrote those parts of the code.
+
+## Decisions
+
+The curl project is not a democracy, but everyone is entitled to state their
+opinion and may argue for their sake within the community.
+
+All and any changes that have been done or will be done are eligible to bring
+up for discussion, to object to or to praise. Ideally, we find consensus for
+the appropriate way forward in any given situation or challenge.
+
+If there is no obvious consensus, a maintainer who's knowledgeable in the
+specific area will take an "executive" decision that they think is the right
+for the project.
+
+## Key roles
+
+### Maintainers
+
+A maintainer in the curl project is an individual who has been given
+permissions to push commits to one of the git repositories.
+
+Maintainers are free to push commits to the repositories at their own will.
+Maintainers are however expected to listen to feedback from users and any
+change that is non-trivial in size or nature *should* be brought to the
+project as a PR to allow others to comment/object before merge.
+
+### Former maintainers
+
+A maintainer who stops being active in the project will at some point get
+their push permissions removed. We do this for security reasons but also to
+make sure that we always have the list of maintainers as "the team that push
+stuff to curl".
+
+Getting push permissions removed is not a punishment. Everyone who ever worked
+on maintaining curl is considered a hero, for all time hereafter.
+
+### Security team members
+
+We have a security team. That's the team of people who are subscribed to the
+curl-security mailing list; the receivers of security reports from users and
+developers. This list of people will vary over time but should be skilled
+developers familiar with the curl project.
+
+The security team works best when it consists of a small set of active
+persons. We invite new members when the team seems to need it, and we also
+expect to retire security team members as they "drift off" from the project or
+just find themselves unable to perform their duties there.
+
+### Server admins
+
+We run a web server, a mailing list and more on the curl project's primary
+server. That physical machine is owned and run by Haxx. Daniel is the primary
+admin of all things curl related server stuff, but Björn Stenberg and Linus
+Feltzing serve as backup admins for when Daniel is gone or unable.
+
+The primary server is paid for by Haxx. The machine is physically located in a
+server bunker in Stockholm Sweden, operated by the company Portlane.
+
+The web site contents are served to the web via Fastly and Daniel is the
+primary curl contact with Fastly.
+
+### BDFL
+
+That's Daniel.
diff --git a/docs/Makefile.am b/docs/Makefile.am
index 1cad0624e..bdd96fdd9 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile.am
+++ b/docs/Makefile.am
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = MANUAL BUGS CONTRIBUTE.md FAQ FEATURES INTERNALS.md SSLCERTS.md
  README.netware MAIL-ETIQUETTE HTTP-COOKIES.md SECURITY-PROCESS.md RELEASE-PROCEDURE    \
  SSL-PROBLEMS.md HTTP2.md ROADMAP.md CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md CODE_STYLE.md           \
  CHECKSRC.md CMakeLists.txt README.md CIPHERS.md INSTALL.cmake README.cmake     \
- $(noinst_man_MANS) HELP-US.md
+ $(noinst_man_MANS) HELP-US.md GOVERNANCE.md
 
 MAN2HTML= roffit $< >$@