The PSF (Python Software Foundation) board election is now happening. If this makes you think, “what’s the big deal?” or “why is it relevant to me?” I invite you to read on.
Why do we need the PSF?#
Let’s first talk about the role of the PSF and why, even if global communities have been organising activities individually, we need a US registered non-profit? What role does the PSF play in the global community of Python?
If this is your first time asking this question, note that the PSF is the registered copyright holder of the name Python for the programming language, PyCon and PyLadies. It also holds the trademark registration of the Python logo.
The PSF is holding these to protect the community from harm, and the names and logo being misused. So far the PSF has given the community a lot of freedom to use the names and logo if they follow some very basic rules.
Other than that, the PSF also takes care of a lot of daily organisational operations, such as admin and accounting, so the Python language and the community can thrive. For example, even though the Python steering council has the technical authority of CPython and the language, PSF supports them by handing the accounting of their fund, which is needed to pay the Core Developers in Residence so they can work full time on Python.
PSF also hired staff to maintain PyPI and keep it safe, a very important infrastructure for the Python language. Imagine in a parallel universe where PyPI is maintained by a for-profit company: under these circumstances it may lose the trust of the open source community, as the governance is not following the principle of the open source. That company could start charging for usage of PyPI and the community would not have a say about it.
What quality should a PSF board member have?#
Since a couple of years ago, the community and the PSF have been making videos with PSF board candidates. We’ve tried to help candidates to get known and express what they envision and would bring to the PSF by being a board member. This is to give all candidates a chance so it does not become a popularity campaign.
That being said, when looking at the candidates, please take some time to read their self-nomination statement carefully. Also, if anything they say sounds interesting, make sure to do some research to check their credibility and see what they have delivered in the past for the community. Another indicator is to see who has endorsed their nomination - this is shown at the bottom of their nomination statement.
Do not trust what the candidate promised in their statement without looking into their background and see if there is effidence that they can deliver what they promised. I say that with the bottom of my heart as someone seeing several shocking election results around the world in recent history.
In my opinion as a current board member, if someone has a record working with the PSF - for example, volunteering in one of its workgroups- this would be a huge advantage because this shows the candidate understands the role and the operation of the PSF. Someone who has a track record of constant contribution to the Python community would also have an advantage as they’ve shown with action how much they care about Python and the community.
Why is participating in the election important even if you are not US-based?#
As we mentioned above, the PSF, although a small non-profit organisation registered in the US, plays important roles in supporting the Python language, CPython and PyPI, and this work affects all Python users, including those outside of the US. If you use Python, please actively participate in the election.
If you have not done so yet, please affirm your voting status. If you are not a PSF voting member yet, you can still catch the train by doing it now.
If you are still not convinced and/ or have questions, there are plenty of opportunities for you to know more. You can come to the PSF board office hour or reach out to me.