With Fedora 25 out the door a couple of weeks ago, Fedora is once again moving ahead towards Fedora 26. As usual after a new release, the Fedora Elections are getting into gear. There are a fair number of seats up for election this release, across both the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo) and the Fedora Council. The elections are one of the ways you can have an impact on the future of Fedora by nominating and voting. Nominate other community members (or self-nominate) to run for a seat in either of these leadership bodies to help lead Fedora. For this election cycle, nominations are due on December 12th, 2016, at 23:59:59 UTC. It is important to get nominations in quickly before the window closes. This article helps explain both leadership bodies and how to cast a nomination.

Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo)

The Fedora Engineering Steering Committee, shortened to FESCo, is the technical leadership group in the Fedora community. FESCo helps review change requests for new versions of Fedora and decide policies that carry across the development community. Currently, FESCo is reviewing change requests for Fedora 26, such as debugging info for static libraries and GHC 8.0. You can see a full list of current tasks for FESCo on their Pagure repo. You can see past meeting logs to see the type of tasks FESCo has worked on in the past.

Community members are encouraged to nominate active developers or self-nominate for a FESCo seat. There are five seats open for election this cycle. This is one of the most direct ways to help have an impact on the future of Fedora from a technical view. There are no prerequisites for casting a nomination.

Fedora Council

The Fedora Council is the top-level decision-making body in the Fedora community. The Council helps oversee the project and provides support for the growth and development of the community. Its primary role is to identify the short, medium, and long-term goals of the Fedora community and to organize and enable the project to best meet them. This is done in consultation with the entire Fedora community through transparent, public discussion. The Council also governs Fedora’s financial resources to set up an annual budget allocated to support Fedora initiatives, including Fedora Ambassadors, Fedora-managed events, and other activities which advance the project’s goals. The Council also decides on issues about use of the Fedora trademarks and settles disputes escalated from other committees or subgroups. It may also handle sensitive legal or personnel issues which need research and discussion to protect the interests of the Fedora Project or its sponsor(s).

Community members are encouraged to nominate involved members of the Fedora Project community (or self-nominate) for a Council seat. There is one seat open for election this cycle. Council members have a direct influence on the project and help represent the community at the top-level of leadership in the project. There are no prerequisites for casting a nomination.

How to nominate for elections

Know someone who you believe is a good fit for either FESCo or the Council? If so, reach out to them and get their personal approval before casting the nomination. Once you have their approval or if you are self-nominating, you can add the nomination to the 2016 Election page for either FESCo or the Council.

Towards the bottom of the wiki page, there is a section noted for nominations. To add a nomination, edit the wiki page and add the person’s name and FAS username. Complete this before December 12th, 2016 at 23:59:59 UTC to make sure the nomination is included in this election.

Don’t forget: Questionnaire

Maybe you’re not running for a seat, but do you have questions you want the candidates to answer? Don’t forget that there is a questionnaire form that all candidates use to write their interviews later on the Fedora Community Blog. Fedora community members are encouraged to add their own questions to the wiki page to have candidates answer. If you wish to add your own question, feel free to edit the questionnaire wiki page.

Good luck to all nominees this cycle!