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Jenkins issues code of conduct to keep rowdy automation fans in line

Trolling, harassment frowned up. Passing port to the right is OK

Jenkins has warned its more boisterous contributors that they face banishment from the automation server community if they fall foul of the code of conduct it finally got round to publishing this week.

The project's board has consciously followed in the “footsteps of other projects like the Apache Software Foundation...and countless others” by issuing guidelines for “what behaviors are acceptable, and what behaviors are not, when acting within the Jenkins community or on behalf of the Jenkins project.”

It’s hard to believe that an organisation whose logo is an etiquette savvy butler should feel the need to spell out what constiutes good behaviour. Sadly this is the world we live in today, and even members of community-based software projects occasionally fall short of full tilt Downton Abbey standards of behaviour.

The aim is to make participation in the project “a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of level of experience, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, personal appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, age, religion, or nationality.”

Jenkins provides a helpful list of unacceptable behaviour, which includes the use of sexualised language or imagery, personal attacks, and trolling or insulting/derogatory comments. Public or private harassment are also forbidden, as is “publishing other’s private information, such as physical or electronic addresses” without permission. A catchall “other unethical or unprofessional conduct” is appended to the list. Somehow, we suspect that nailing down exactly what comes under this heading may lead to more wrangling that anything else on the list.

Complaints should be made to the governance board, who point out that “the board may not have all of the necessary context and history, so it’s better to be more verbose than less verbose about such matters.”

“Resolution” of violations will be done in private, and sanctions can vary from a reprimand, to probation to full on expulsion. Expellees can reapply for admittance after 12 months. Though if permanent expulsion is good enough for Britain’s great public schools, we feel it’s good enough for Jenkins.

For the purposes of the code, the Jenkins community is defined as “all people who contribute through reporting issues, posting feature requests, updating documentation, submitting pull requests or patches, and other activities.” So presumably users who put nothing back can continue to be as offensive as they like.

And it seems that activities such as cutting the nose off the cheese, wearing a tux to a white tie-event, and not writing thank you notes can still be enjoyed by all of us. ®

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