The Python Software Foundation
Minutes of Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors

Apr. 9, 2002

A regular regular meeting of the Python Software Foundation (the "PSF") Board of Directors was held over Internet Relay Chat at 17:00 UTC. Guido van Rossum, president of the Foundation and chairman of the Board, presided at the meeting.

1. Attendance

The following members of the Board of Directors were present at the meeting: Jeremy Hylton, Tim Peters, Guido van Rossum, Marc-Andre Lemburg, Martin von Loewis. The following members were absent: Thomas Wouters, David Ascher.

A quorum was present.

2. Meeting minutes of the last IRC meeting on 2002-03-12

Guido van Rossum didn't have these, so no motion to accept the minutes was resolved.

3. Treasurer's report

Jeremy Hylton reported that he has opened a bank account and deposited checks from ActiveState (for 2001), Space Telescope, O'Reilly, Hostway, & ASTi. Guido van Rossum mentioned that Archaeopteryx has also sent in their check.

AB Stakt is interested in becoming a sponsor member. They may have faxed that application already and will wire the money as soon as we give them the routing number. Hylton is going to approve them as a "sponsor" ala Space Telescope until the next PSF membership meeting.

Hylton found a CPA in Va. to help with the PSF taxes, which he will contact.

As part of his work as PSF Treasurer, Hylton reported that he has incurred a few personal expenses that he'll need to be reimbursed for: purchase of supplies (notebook, etc.), Quicken Pro 2002, a couple of books on non-profits, and the initial deposit to open the PSF checking account. Hylton will work out some policy for reimbursement and submit the request to Guido.

As final note, Hylton mentioned that the PSF has to order a coporate seal and some checks, so that it can start paying its bills.

Marc-Andre Lemburg asked about the current balance of the bank account (including the yet-to-be deposited checks and the money transfer from AB Strakt). Hylton didn't have the exact numbers, but gave an estimate of a total of $15,000 income and $600 expenses.

Estimates for the upcoming expenses are:

  • up to $2000 for the CPA
  • legal review at $180/hr
  • $500 Form 1023 application fee

4. Public Support Committee (PSC) creation report

Lemburg reported on the PSC developments:

The following people have volunteered to be on the PS committee:

  • Stephan Deibel
  • Jeremy Hylton
  • Tim Peters
  • Aahz
  • Alex Martelli
  • Neil Norwitz
  • Greg Ward
  • Marc-Andre Lemburg

Lemburg will prepare a motion about the PSC membership and post it to the board mailing list within the next few days. His intention is to make all volunteers members of the PSC and propose myself as chairman.

Work on the URS filing can start the week following the IRC meeting.

Lemburg reported that Barry has kindly setup a mailing list for the PSC to use: psc@python.org. The PSC will probably also need a bit of web-space on python.org, preferably under python.org/psf/psc.

5. PSF Contributions Documents discussion report

Lemburg reported on the discussion process for the PSF contribution documents:

The discussion about the PSF contribution documents was finished successfully.

All comments and concerns about the documents were edited into the documents as editor's comments. Most of these will have to be submitted to legal review. Lemburg proposed to accept the contribution documents for legal review and to pass them on to the lawyer(s).

The final documents are available online at:

http://www.python.org/psf/psf-contributor-agreement.html (Revision 1.2)

Hylton proposed that the officers of the PSF seek legal review of the contributor agreement to resolve the issues listed in the document at a cost of no more than $3,000. The motion was approved unanimously.

Van Rossum and Hylton will organize the legal review of the documents.

4. U.S. Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) filing

Martin von Loewis proposed to that the PSF registers its cryptographic code as required by the BXA and that the PSF secretary should be responsible for filing with the BXA for all PSF software as needed. The motion was approved unanimously.

Hylton will take care of the BXA filing.

5. Membership meeting at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON)

Van Rossum mentioned the need for a PSF member meeting at the upcoming OSCON convention (July 22-26, 2002, San Diego, CA) and proposed to have a committee to arrange and announce it. David Ascher and Guido van Rossum will run this committee. Hylton requested to announce the meeting soon. Von Loewis proposed to set a deadline. Van Rossum will try for end of April, after having posted an unofficial announcement to the PSF membership list after the meeting.

6. Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 17:48 UTC.