..
      Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
      not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
      a copy of the License at

          http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

      Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
      distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
      WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
      License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
      under the License.

      Convention for heading levels in Open vSwitch documentation:

      =======  Heading 0 (reserved for the title in a document)
      -------  Heading 1
      ~~~~~~~  Heading 2
      +++++++  Heading 3
      '''''''  Heading 4

      Avoid deeper levels because they do not render well.

==================================
Emeritus Status for OVS Committers
==================================

OVS committers are nominated and elected based on their impact on the Open
vSwitch project.  Over time, as committers' responsibilities change, some may
become unable or uninterested in actively participating in project governance.
Committer "emeritus" status provides a way for committers to take a leave of
absence from OVS governance responsibilities.  The following guidelines clarify
the process around the emeritus status for committers:

* A committer may choose to transition from active to emeritus, or from
  emeritus to active, by sending an email to the committers mailing list.

* If a committer hasn't been heard from in 6 months, and does not respond to
  reasonable attempts to contact him or her, the other committers can vote as a
  majority to transition the committer from active to emeritus.  (If the
  committer resurfaces, he or she can transition back to active by sending an
  email to the committers mailing list.)

* Emeritus committers may stay on the committers mailing list to continue to
  follow any discussions there.

* Emeritus committers do not nominate or vote in committer elections.  From a
  governance perspective, they are equivalent to a non-committer.

* Emeritus committers cannot merge patches to the OVS repository.

* Emeritus committers will be listed in a separate section in the
  MAINTAINERS.rst file to continue to recognize their contributions to the
  project.

Emeritus status does not replace the procedures for forcibly removing a
committer.

Note that just because a committer is not able to work on the project on a
day-to-day basis, we feel they are still capable of providing input on the
direction of the project.  No committer should feel pressured to move
themselves to this status.  Again, it's just an option for those that do not
currently have the time or interest.