It's not quite as simple as that, because if all the remaining committee members vote F (further discussion) ahead of D (systemd) then D gets dropped before the casting vote stage (Debian constitution A.6.3).

So far one of the four remaining committee members has done this, another is expected to, leaving the decisions of the remaining two to determine whether the vote completes or not.

Sorry for spreading misinformation, it seems that I got exited too soon. Still, I find somewhat unlikely that all the others member will vote F ahead of D.

Are you referring to the "Technical Committee makes decisions only as last resort." paragraph of the Debian constitution? It's a bit cryptic for a non-native like me, so I'm not sure that I'm reading it right.

No, this is in the voting section A. It reads "Any (non-default) option which does not defeat the default option by its required majority ratio is dropped from consideration."

In this case F (further discussion) is the default option, and this stage in the voting process precedes the casting vote.

I too think it's unlikely that both Colin and Andi will block the decision, but we've known it's likely that systemd will win for some time now. It's still not yet official.

edit: actually there are other possible outcomes, see https://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2014/02/msg00309.html

Can you change the title? The current title is so misleading that I feel like flagging it is in order.

You're asking the wrong guy, I didn't submit this.

As of an hour ago the topic is now correct.

Looks like it's clear now. Colin Watson voted for Upstart[1], so systemd wins.

[1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2014/02/msg00332.html

Indeed. Note that the reason systemd wins is that Colin voted systemd ahead of further discussion, now defeating it with at least 5 votes from the 8. And then in the subsequent voting stage systemd has at least 4 votes + the chair's casting vote as per the above post.

Fwiw, the only other vote that's been cast so far, which is in the other direction (3 people haven't yet voted): https://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2014/02/msg00288.html

To be fair he is also the Ubuntu developer and upstart maintainer on the committee

What is there to be or to not "be fair" about? mjn's comment was a value neutral statement of fact. There was nothing prejudicial in his comment.

He's referring to Steve Langasek not min.

What was "unfair"?

I agree with that vote. Since Debian is still committed to BSD, they aren't going to drop sysvint once the next-gen init system is in place.

Everybody, get your popcorn: https://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2014/02/msg00344.html

When you see how complex it all is, no wonder people make snide comments about committees.

Consider alternatives such as e.g. Mark Shuttleworth unilaterally commanding technology no-one else ends up using.