OEP-55:ADR-5 Clarify Maintainer Interaction with Core Contributors

oeps/processes/oep-0055/decisions/0005-managing-core-contributors.rst

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+0005 Managing Core Contributors Of Your Maintained Repository
+#############################################################
+
+Status
+******
+
+**Under Review**
+
+Context
+*******
+
+Per `OEP-55
+<https://docs.openedx.org/projects/openedx-proposals/en/latest/processes/oep-0055-proc-project-maintainers.html>`_,
+repository maintainers are responsible "for the health of the component and the
+component's community". Further, OEP-55 specifies that maintainers must
+participate in the "selection and approval of Core Contributors with commit
+rights to their repositories, by participating in the comment period for Core
+Contributor nominees nominated to commit code to their repo(s)".
+
+However, OEP-55 does not provide sufficient guidance around how Maintainers and
+Core Contributors should interact.
+
+Decision
+********
+
+Maintainers must participate in, and support, the Core Contributor program.
+Maintainers may not take actions that effectively prevent a Core Contributor
+from being able to carry out their Rights, as defined by `OEP-54
+<https://docs.openedx.org/projects/openedx-proposals/en/latest/processes/oep-0054-core-contributors.html>`_.
+
+Maintainers should communicate architectural principles and code standards to
+Core Contributors on their repository. They may initiate the process to remove
+Core Contributors that do not follow standards or respond to feedback.
+
+Specification
+*************
+
+Maintainer Responsibilities
+===========================
+
+* Maintainers must participate in the selection of Core Contributors to their
+  repository by expressing their opinion of nominees during the `Core
+  Contributor nomination process <https://docs.openedx.org/projects/openedx-proposals/en/latest/processes/oep-0054-core-contributors.html#new-core-contributor-nomination-process>`_
+
+* Maintainers must carefully weigh the merits of a nominee. Maintainers are not
+  allowed to object to every nominee in order to ensure they are the only people
+  with commit access on the repo. For nominees that are objected to, Maintainers
+  must provide feedback that includes what the nominee needs to do in order to
+  become a Core Contributor on the repository.
+
+* Maintainers may not take any action that would prevent existing Core
+  Contributors from being able to merge code. This includes, but is not limited
+  to, setting up branch protection rules that require a Maintainer to approve a
+  pull request before it can be merged.
+
+Maintainer Rights
+=================
+
+* Maintainers have the right to know who has Commit access on their repository,
+  and communicate their code standards and architectural principles with them.
+  This especially applies to new Maintainers taking over maintenance of an
+  existing repository. See the `maintainers how-to
+  <https://docs.openedx.org/en/latest/developers/how-tos/maintain-a-repo.html#your-ccs-are-aligned-with-your-expectations-as-maintainer>`_
+  for instructions on how to do this.
+
+* Maintainers have the right to remove Core Contributors who are not
+  appropriately following Open edX community standards, Core Contributor
+  standards (`the "3 Cs"
+  <https://docs.openedx.org/projects/openedx-proposals/en/latest/processes/oep-0054-core-contributors.html#adding-new-core-contributors>`_)
+  or project expectations, and have also not been responsive to Maintainer feedback.
+  `OEP-54 specifies how to initiate this process <https://docs.openedx.org/projects/openedx-proposals/en/latest/processes/oep-0054-core-contributors.html#removing-core-contributors>`_.