Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah, sorry. I was using standardization in the "de facto" sense. I think the "forking threat" applies nonetheless as long as RH doesn't at least broadly go along with the "committee" of the (F)OSS community. Honestly, I don't really see how they would extract any value from not doing that, so I'm mildly mystified by all the "they're trying to take over the world" rhetoric. EDIT: Aside: Honestly, I don't see much value…
Forking is an extreme action, a last resort. Standards are about establishing ground rules to avoid escalations and disagreements. The whole idea of standards is collaboration and co-operation. Software is not static and decisions need to be made by everyone the standard impacts. Which is why it is important that control rests in a collective that represents everyone's interests. I think that's the only way we could…
Yes, it's a last resort and that does give the incumbent a bit of leverage. However, we've seen this type of thing before in the (F)OSS world: EGCS is an almost model example.
> Software is not static and decisions need to be made by everyone the standard impacts.
Sure, but systemd actually has very good reference documentation which you can hold them to.
> Which is why it is important that control rests in a collective that represents everyone's interests.
That may be the thing we disagree about, actually. I actually do think that the systemd maintainers actually do have everyone's best interests at heart and not just RH. That doesn't mean that they formally represent everyone's best interest, obviously. (I readily acknowledge that I may have this perception because I happen to agree with them on many issues, but I do try to be as impartial as possible when discussing it.)
>I think that's the only way we could call it a 'standard' without taking liberties with the word. Wouldn't you agree?
I don't. Off the top of my head, my best example would be AC vs. DC[1]: They were both 'standards', but were basically pioneered by two individuals. (For -- as it turns out -- absurd reasons.)
The point is that a 'standard' for me means something more along lines of a 'standard of service' or 'standard of care'. It's more about having a formalized set of parameters of X. It's not so much about the process itself.
[1] Oh, how I wish I could do a real proper link on those words, but here you go anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM