On 12/07/18 16:55, Christian Heimes wrote:
On 2018-07-12 16:57, Guido van Rossum wrote:
Now that PEP 572 is done, I don't ever want to have to fight so hard for a PEP and find that so many people despise my decisions.
I would like to remove myself entirely from the decision process. I'll still be there for a while as an ordinary core dev, and I'll still be available to mentor people -- possibly more available. But I'm basically giving myself a permanent vacation from being BDFL, and you all will be on your own.
After all that's eventually going to happen regardless -- there's still that bus lurking around the corner, and I'm not getting younger... (I'll spare you the list of medical issues.)
I am not going to appoint a successor.
So what are you all going to do? Create a democracy? Anarchy? A dictatorship? A federation?
Thanks for being our beloved BDFL for so many years!
The mail doesn't come to an suprise, although I didn't think it would hit my inbox this year or next year. I've been pondering about possible succession for you for a while. In my opinion we need some trusted entity to have final say. Otherwise we are going to waste^H^H^H^H^H spend too much time in bike shedding. But I don't see one clear person to take your place as BDFL.
How about a form of presbyterian polity in the form of a triumvirate or quintumvirate? (For those with a lucky childhood that didn't involve Latin and Greek: ruling of elders with three or five powerful individuals). It would spread the load and responsibilities between multiple core devs.
I would consider (in alphabetical order) Barry, Brett, Mariatta, Mark, Nick, or Victor as potential members. Each persons has been a core dev for a long time and would brings a unique perspective into the quintumvirate. For example Mark Shannon has an academic background in language design.
Language *implementation* not design. It is much less controversial :)
Thanks for your vote of confidence, but I think there are plenty of others better qualified.
Cheers, Mark.