{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "PERLGOV", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PERLGOV/1/json", "generated": "2026-10-12T02:10:32Z", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "perlgov - Perl Rules of Governance\n", "subsections": [] }, "PREAMBLE": { "content": "We are forming a system of governance for development of the Perl programming language.\n\nThe scope of governance includes the language definition, its implementation, its test suite,\nits documentation, and the policies and procedures by which it is developed and maintained.\n\nThe system of governance includes definitions of the groups that will make decisions, the\nrules by which these groups are formed and changed, and the enumerated powers and constraints\non the activities of these governing groups.\n\nIn forming a system of governance, we seek to achieve the following goals:\n\n• We want a system that is functional. That means the governing groups may decide to\nundertake large changes, or they may decide to act conservatively, but they will act with\nintent and clear communication rather than fail to reach decisions when needed.\n\n• We want a system that is trusted. That means that a reasonable contributor to Perl might\ndisagree with decisions made by the governing groups, but will accept that they were made\nin good faith in consultation with relevant communities outside the governing groups.\n\n• We want a system that is sustainable. That means it has provisions to self-modify,\nincluding ways of adding new members to the governing groups, ways to survive members\nbecoming inactive, and ways of amending the rules of governance themselves if needed.\n\n• We want a system that is transparent. That means that it will prefer policies that\nmanage ordinary matters in public, and it will prefer secrecy in a limited number of\nsituations.\n\n• We want a system that is respectful. That means that it will establish standards of\ncivil discourse that allow for healthy disagreement but avoid rancor and hostility in the\ncommunity for which it is responsible.\n", "subsections": [] }, "Mandate": { "content": "Perl language governance shall work to:\n\n• Maintain the quality, stability, and continuity of the Perl language and interpreter\n\n• Guide the evolution of the Perl language and interpreter\n\n• Establish and oversee the policies, procedures, systems, and mechanisms that enable a\ncommunity of contributors to the Perl language and interpreter\n\n• Encourage discussion and consensus among contributors as preferential to formal decision\nmaking by governance groups\n\n• Facilitate communication between contributors and external stakeholders in the broader\nPerl ecosystem\n", "subsections": [] }, "Definitions": { "content": "This document describes three roles involved in governance:\n\n\"Core Team\"\n\"Steering Council\"\n\"Vote Administrator\"\n\nA section on each follows.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "The Core Team", "content": "The Core Team are a group of trusted volunteers involved in the ongoing development of the\nPerl language and interpreter. They are not required to be language developers or\ncommitters.\n\nReferences to specific votes are explained in the \"Rules for Voting\" section.\n\nPowers\n\nIn addition to their contributions to the Perl language, the Core Team sets the rules of Perl\ngovernance, decides who participates in what role in governance, and delegates substantial\ndecision making power to the Steering Council.\n\nSpecifically:\n\n• They elect the Steering Council and have the power to remove Steering Council members.\n\n• In concert with the Steering Council, they manage Core Team membership.\n\n• In concert with the Steering Council, they have the power to modify the Perl Rules of\nGovernance.\n\nThe Core Team do not have any authority over parts of the Perl ecosystem unrelated to\ndeveloping and releasing the language itself. These include, but are not limited to:\n\n• The Perl Foundation\n\n• CPAN administration and CPAN authors\n\n• perl.org, metacpan.org, and other community-maintained websites and services\n\n• Perl conferences and events, except those organized directly by the Core Team\n\n• Perl-related intellectual property legally owned by third-parties, except as allowed by\napplicable licenses or agreements\n\nMembership\n\nThe initial Core Team members will be specified when this document is first ratified.\n\nAny Core Team member may nominate someone to be added to the Core Team by sending the\nnomination to the Steering Council. The Steering Council must approve or reject the\nnomination. If approved, the Steering Council will organize a Membership Change Vote to\nratify the addition.\n\nCore Team members should demonstrate:\n\n• A solid track record of being constructive and helpful\n\n• Significant contributions to the project's goals, in any form\n\n• Willingness to dedicate some time to improving Perl\n\nContributions are not limited to code. Here is an incomplete list of areas where\ncontributions may be considered for joining the Core Team:\n\n• Working on community management and outreach\n\n• Providing support on mailing lists, IRC, or other forums\n\n• Triaging tickets\n\n• Writing patches (code, docs, or tests)\n\n• Reviewing patches (code, docs, or tests)\n\n• Participating in design discussions\n\n• Providing expertise in a particular domain (security, i18n, etc.)\n\n• Managing Perl infrastructure (websites, CI, documentation, etc.)\n\n• Maintaining significant projects in the Perl ecosystem\n\n• Creating visual designs\n\nCore Team membership acknowledges sustained and valuable efforts that align well with the\nphilosophy and the goals of the Perl project.\n\nCore Team members are expected to act as role models for the community and custodians of the\nproject, on behalf of the community and all those who rely on Perl.\n\nTerm\n\nCore Team members serve until they are removed.\n\nRemoval\n\nCore Team Members may resign their position at any time.\n\nIn exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to remove someone from the Core Team\nagainst their will, such as for flagrant or repeated violations of a Code of Conduct. Any\nCore Team member may send a recall request to the Steering Council naming the individual to\nbe removed. The Steering Council must approve or reject the recall request. If approved,\nthe Steering Council will organize a Membership Change vote to ratify the removal.\n\nIf the removed member is also on the Steering Council, then they are removed from the\nSteering Council as well.\n\nInactivity\n\nCore Team members who have stopped contributing are encouraged to declare themselves\n\"inactive\". Inactive members do not nominate or vote. Inactive members may declare\nthemselves active at any time, except when a vote has been proposed and is not concluded.\nEligibility to nominate or vote will be determined by the Vote Administrator.\n\nTo record and honor their contributions, inactive Core Team members will continue to be\nlisted alongside active members.\n\nNo Confidence in the Steering Council\n\nThe Core Team may remove either a single Steering Council member or the entire Steering\nCouncil via a No Confidence Vote.\n\nA No Confidence Vote is triggered when a Core Team member calls for one publicly on an\nappropriate project communication channel, and another Core Team member seconds the proposal.\n\nIf a No Confidence Vote removes all Steering Council members, the Vote Administrator of the\nNo Confidence Vote will then administer an election to select a new Steering Council.\n\nAmending Perl Rules of Governance\n\nAny Core Team member may propose amending the Perl Rules of Governance by sending a proposal\nto the Steering Council. The Steering Council must decide to approve or reject the proposal.\nIf approved, the Steering Council will organize an Amendment Vote.\n\nRules for Voting\n\nMembership Change, Amendment, and No Confidence Votes require 2/3 of participating votes from\nCore Team members to pass.\n\nA Vote Administrator must be selected following the rules in the \"Vote Administrator\"\nsection.\n\nThe vote occurs in two steps:\n\n1. The Vote Administrator describes the proposal being voted upon. The Core Team then may\ndiscuss the matter in advance of voting.\n\n2. Active Core Team members vote in favor or against the proposal. Voting is performed\nanonymously.\n\nFor a Membership Change Vote, each phase will last one week. For Amendment and No Confidence\nVotes, each phase will last two weeks.\n" }, { "name": "The Steering Council", "content": "The Steering Council is a 3-person committee, elected by the Core Team. Candidates are not\nrequired to be members of the Core Team. Non-member candidates are added to the Core Team if\nelected as if by a Membership Change Vote.\n\nReferences to specific elections are explained in the \"Rules for Elections\" section.\n\nPowers\n\nThe Steering Council has broad authority to make decisions about the development of the Perl\nlanguage, the interpreter, and all other components, systems and processes that result in new\nreleases of the language interpreter.\n\nFor example, it can:\n\n• Manage the schedule and process for shipping new releases\n\n• Establish procedures for proposing, discussing and deciding upon changes to the language\n\n• Delegate power to individuals on or outside the Steering Council\n\nDecisions of the Steering Council will be made by majority vote of non-vacant seats on the\ncouncil.\n\nThe Steering Council should look for ways to use these powers as little as possible. Instead\nof voting, it's better to seek consensus. Instead of ruling on individual cases, it's better\nto define standards and processes that apply to all cases.\n\nAs with the Core Team, the Steering Council does not have any authority over parts of the\nPerl ecosystem unrelated to developing and releasing the language itself.\n\nThe Steering Council does not have the power to modify the Perl Rules of Governance, except\nas provided in the section \"Amending Perl Rules of Governance\".\n\nTerm\n\nA new Steering Council will be chosen by a Term Election after each stable feature release\n(that is, change to \"PERLREVISION\" or \"PERLVERSION\") or after two years, whichever comes\nfirst. The Term Election will be organized within two weeks of the triggering event. The\ncouncil members will serve until the completion of the next Term Election unless they are\nremoved.\n\nRemoval\n\nSteering Council members may resign their position at any time.\n\nWhenever there are vacancies on the Steering Council, the council will organize a Special\nElection within one week after the vacancy occurs. If the entire Steering Council is ever\nvacant, a Term Election will be held instead.\n\nThe Steering Council may defer the Special Election for up to twelve weeks. Their intent to\ndo so must be publicly stated to the Core Team. If any active Core Team member objects\nwithin one week, the Special Election must be organized within two weeks. At any time, the\nSteering Council may choose to cancel the deferment and immediately commence organizing a\nSpecial Election.\n\nIf a Steering Council member is deceased, or drops out of touch and cannot be contacted for a\nmonth or longer, then the rest of the council may vote to declare their seat vacant. If an\nabsent member returns after such a declaration is made, they are not reinstated\nautomatically, but may run in the Special Election to fill the vacancy.\n\nOtherwise, Steering Council members may only be removed before the end of their term through\na No Confidence Vote by the Core Team.\n\nRules for Elections\n\nTerm and Special Election are ranked-choice votes to construct an ordered list of candidates\nto fill vacancies in the Steering Council.\n\nA Vote Administrator must be selected following the rules in the \"Vote Administrator\"\nsection.\n\nBoth Term and Special Elections occur in two stages:\n\n1. Candidates advertise their interest in serving. Candidates must be nominated by an active\nCore Team member. Self-nominations are allowed. Nominated candidates may share a\nstatement about their candidacy with the Core Team.\n\n2. If there are no more candidates than open seats, no vote is required. The candidates\nwill be declared to have won when the nomination period ends.\n\nOtherwise, active Core Team Members vote by ranking all candidates. Voting is performed\nanonymously. After voting is complete, candidates are ranked using the Condorcet\nInternet Voting Service's proportional representation mode. If a tie occurs, it may be\nresolved by mutual agreement among the tied candidates, or else the tie will be resolved\nthrough random selection by the Vote Administrator.\n\nAnyone voted off the Core Team is not eligible to be a candidate for Steering Council unless\nre-instated to the Core Team.\n\nFor a Term Election, each phase will last two weeks. At the end of the second phase, the top\nthree ranked candidates are elected as the new Steering Council.\n\nFor a Special Election, each phase will last one week. At the end of the second phase,\nvacancies are filled from the ordered list of candidates until no vacancies remain.\n\nThe election of the first Steering Council will be a Term Election. Ricardo Signes will be\nthe Vote Administrator for the initial Term Election unless he is a candidate, in which case\nhe will select a non-candidate administrator to replace him.\n" }, { "name": "The Vote Administrator", "content": "Every election or vote requires a Vote Administrator who manages communication, collection of\nsecret ballots, and all other necessary activities to complete the voting process.\n\nUnless otherwise specified, the Steering Council selects the Vote Administrator.\n\nA Vote Administrator must not be a member of the Steering Council nor a candidate or subject\nof the vote. A Vote Administrator may be a member of the Core Team and, if so, may cast a\nvote while also serving as administrator. If the Vote Administrator becomes a candidate\nduring an election vote, they will appoint a non-candidate replacement.\n\nIf the entire Steering Council is vacant or is the subject of a No Confidence Vote, then the\nCore Team will select a Vote Administrator by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached\nwithin one week, the President of The Perl Foundation will select a Vote Administrator.\n" } ] }, "Steering Council and Core Team Members": { "content": "The list below names the members of the Steering Council and Core Team responsible for\ncreating the release of perl with which this document shipped.\n\nRemember, though that if you're reading the copy of this document that was installed with\nperl, it's very likely out of date. Because every new stable feature release triggers an\nelection, you're better off looking at the most up to date copy of this document\n, in the blead branch of Perl's git\nrepository. Because it's git, you can also see how the membership has changed over time.\n", "subsections": [] }, "Steering Council Members": { "content": "• Paul Evans\n\n• Philippe Bruhat\n\n• Ricardo Signes\n", "subsections": [] }, "Core Team Members": { "content": "The current members of the Perl Core Team are:\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "Active Members", "content": "Chad Granum \nChris 'BinGOs' Williams \nCraig Berry \nDagfinn Ilmari Mannsåker \nDavid Mitchell \nGraham Knop \nH. Merijn Brand \nHugo van der Sanden \nJames E Keenan \nKaren Etheridge \nKarl Williamson \nLeon Timmermans \nMatthew Horsfall \nMax Maischein \nNeil Bowers \nNicholas Clark \nNicolas R \nPaul \"LeoNerd\" Evans \nPhilippe \"BooK\" Bruhat \nRicardo Signes \nSteve Hay \nStuart Mackintosh \nTodd Rinaldo \nTony Cook \nYves Orton \n" }, { "name": "Inactive Members", "content": "Abhijit Menon-Sen \nAndy Dougherty \nDavid Golden \nJan Dubois \nJason McIntosh \nJesse Vincent \n\nperl v5.38.2 2026-08-18 PERLGOV(1)" } ] } }, "summary": "perlgov - Perl Rules of Governance", "flags": [], "examples": [], "see_also": [], "tldr": { "source": "not_found", "examples": [] } }