Re: deadlock problem

[RJ Atkinson <rja@extremenetworks.com>]

On Tuesday, May 13, 2003, at 11:33 America/Montreal, Joel M. Halpern 
wrote:
> The current IAB voting procedures do have a state where the IAB can 
> not make up its mind.

Yes.  And this is not necessarily a problem with regards to an
architectural or technical question.  It really is a problem with 
respect
to the narrow question of confirming IESG nominees.

> Assuming that we remove the current paragraph, the question is whether 
> we need an extra impetus in this document to ensure closure in the 
> confirming body(ies)

Before this WG went down the path of just deleting the current broken
paragraph, it would be important (IMHO) for this group to have specific
assurance from the IAB collective or the IAB Chair that a prompt effort
would be undertaken to eliminate the current deadlock state --with 
respect
*only* to confirming IESG nominations-- (i.e. IAB could deadlock on
everything else if they desired, just no deadlock on a confirmation
of an IESG person).

In practice, the resulting change to the IAB charter would likely be
similar to one of (A) through (D), even if not identical to any of
them.  However, potentially, the chosen IAB resolution would represent
a major change (e.g. if the IAB decided that a 3/4 majority of IAB
members were needed to confirm a given IESG candidate).

I think it is more practical and simpler for this WG to specify some
deadlock-free specific process than to delete the text entirely and
have things blowing in the wind.

IMHO,

Ran
rja@extremenetworks.com