Merge pull request tock#3894 from alevy/core_wg_proposal

New provisions for what Core WG vs other WGs do

doc/wg/README.md

@@ -1,9 +1,83 @@
 Tock Working Groups
 ===================
 
-Working groups (wg) are focused groups to organize development around a
+Working groups are focused groups to organize development around a
 particular aspect of Tock.
 
+## Motivation
+
+Tock encompasses a large and varied set of subsystems, architectures,
+focus areas, libraries, ancillary tools, and documentation. Most
+contributors have expertise and stake in a subset of these. Moreover,
+it is impractical for any maintainer to keep up with the discussions
+and direction of each part of the project. Finally, different parts of
+the project should be able to move at different paces, with different
+levels of scrutiny. For example, a soundness bug or performance
+regression in the kernel crate can catastrophically impact all users
+and should be avoided if at all possible, while a suboptimal design
+decision in an experimental user-space library is not a big deal.
+
+To facilitate this, working groups take on responsibility for specific
+sub-areas of the project. Members of a working group become experts in
+that sub-area and are best able to determine appropriate scrutiny for
+accepting contributions, frequency and mode of design discussions,
+etc.
+
+## Structure And Responsibilities
+
+Tock development organizes around a core working group as well as
+additional area-specific working groups. The core working group
+oversees the project holistically, defining high-level design goals
+and project direction, establishing working groups, and facilitating
+work that spans multiple working groups. Other working groups
+facilitate contributions to specific sub-areas of the project, with
+devolved decision-making responsibility for accepting contributions,
+design, and direction.
+
+While working groups *oversee* development, working group members are
+not expected to be the primary source of contributions. Instead,
+working groups establish code review standards, define and communicate
+specific design direction for their purview, and ensure relevant
+contributors are both supported and effective.
+
+### Working Group Organizational Guidelines
+
+Each working group has a Lead who assembles the working group
+membership and is responsible for its operation.
+
+Each working group should include at least one member from the Core
+Working Group to ensure that the Core Working Group is regularly
+updated on the activities and motivations of the working group. The
+Core Working Group member need not be the working group Lead.
+
+Each working group, including the Core Working Group, establishes its
+own rules and procedures for accepting contributions, communicating,
+meeting, and making decisions. In absence of such rules, working
+groups make decisions by consensus, have weekly voice calls, make
+meeting notes available publicly, and communicate asynchronously via a
+mailing list.
+
+However, working groups are encouraged to establish appropriate
+decision-making rules, meeting frequency and communication mode for
+their needs and membership.
+
+## Core Working Group
+
+The Core Working Group shepherds and oversees the Tock OS and related
+tools and libraries. Importantly, it serves as a backstop for managing
+contributions that fall outside the purview of existing working groups
+and for resolving conflicts about contributions that fall under the
+purview of multiple working groups. It also establishes new working
+groups to handle such contributions, and dissolves or re-organizes
+existing working groups.
+
+Formally, the Core Working Group controls who can directly commit to
+all Tock project repositories and devolves the ability to commit to
+specific repositories or components of repositories to other working
+groups. The Core Working Group, like other working groups, establishes
+its own rules for deciding how to accept contributions as well as how
+to establish and disband working groups.
+
 Existing Working Groups
 -----------------------
 

doc/wg/core/README.md

@@ -3,28 +3,45 @@ Tock Core Working Group (core)
 
 - Working Group Charter
 - Adopted 3/31/2020
+- Amended 3/01/2024
 
 ## Goals
 
 The core team manages and guides the development of Tock. Its responsibilities
-are to:
+are:
 
-- Design, implement, and maintain the Tock kernel and its interfaces, including
-  system calls, hardware interface layers, and internal kernel APIs,
-- Decide when to update the Rust compiler toolchain that Tock uses,
-- Decide on the formation, scope, and lifetime of other Tock working groups,
-- Decide on, articulate, and promote core principles of Tock kernel software and
-  its development,
-- Support any code in the Tock repository that is not supported by another
-  working group.
+
+- Managing and overseeing code, documentation, testing, and releases
+  for the Tock project.
+
+- Defining and communicating overall project goals and direction.
+
+- Establishing and delegating responsibility over components and
+  subprojects to working groups.
+
+- Ensuring that working groups have the people and resources needed to
+  accomplish their work.
+
+- Ensuring working groups are accountable to their delegated
+  responsibilities and the project as a whole.
+
+- Coordinating decisions including (but not limited to) code,
+  documentation, testing, and releases that affect purviews delegated
+  to more than one working group.
+
+- Facilitating communication channels and consensus among working
+  groups.
+
+- Coordinating project-wide changes to teams, structures, or
+  processes.
 
 ## Members
 
 - Hudson Ayers, [hudson-ayers](https://github.com/hudson-ayers), Stanford
 - Brad Campbell, [bradjc](https://github.com/bradjc), UVA
 - Branden Ghena, [brghena](https://github.com/brghena), Northwestern
 - Philip Levis, [phil-levis](https://github.com/phil-levis), Stanford
-- Amit Levy (chair), [alevy](https://github.com/alevy), Princeton University
+- Amit Levy (Lead), [alevy](https://github.com/alevy), Princeton University
 - Pat Pannuto, [ppannuto](https://github.com/ppannuto), UCSD
 - Alexandru Radovici [alexandruradovici](https://github.com/alexandruradovici), Politehnica Bucharest & OxidOS
 - Leon Schuermann, [lschuermann](https://github.com/lschuermann), Princeton University
@@ -71,14 +88,3 @@ within a week of a call. This delay is to give participants an opportunity to
 correct any errors or better explain points that came up. They are intended to
 be a communication mechanism of the group, its discussions, the technical
 issues, and decisions, not a literal transcription of what is said.
-
-## Code Purview
-
-The core working group is in charge of (responsible for reviewing, approving,
-and merging pull requests for) all code directories that are not under the
-purview of another working group. The following directories are expected to
-remain under the sole purview of the core working group:
-
-- `capsules`, although other working groups may have subdirectories
-- `kernel`
-- `libraries`