id: K3
number: 3
title: Amendment Procedure
layer: kernel
notes: >-
  Amendments are pull requests. The lifecycle below is implemented
  byte-for-byte by the proposal tooling; the states here and the states in
  the code are the same identifiers.
clauses:
  - id: K3.1
    title: Amendments are pull requests
    text: >-
      An amendment is proposed as a pull request against the canonical
      repository containing exactly one proposal document and the complete
      proposed change to the constitution source tree. No change to
      normative content may merge except through a ratified proposal.
  - id: K3.2
    title: Lifecycle
    text: >-
      A proposal moves through the states draft, open, voting, and exactly
      one of ratified, rejected, withdrawn, or expired. A draft becomes
      open when its author publishes it for review. An open proposal
      enters voting only after its review window has elapsed. Voting
      closes when its voting window elapses. A proposal that has entered
      voting may no longer be edited; any edit to a proposal returns it to
      draft and voids ballots already cast.
  - id: K3.3
    title: Review windows
    text: >-
      Each proposal class carries a minimum review window measured from
      the moment the proposal becomes open. Voting may not open earlier.
    parameters:
      review_days_major:
        type: integer
        value: 14
        forkable: true
        min: 7
        max: 90
      review_days_minor:
        type: integer
        value: 7
        forkable: true
        min: 3
        max: 60
      review_days_patch:
        type: integer
        value: 3
        forkable: true
        min: 1
        max: 30
  - id: K3.4
    title: Atomicity and classification
    text: >-
      A proposal contains one coherent change. The classifier assigns
      every proposal a class of major, minor, or patch according to
      Article 4; invariant-touching proposals form a fourth class with its
      own thresholds. The author may declare a higher class than the
      classifier assigns, never a lower one. The gate recomputes the class
      at ratification and blocks any proposal whose declared class is
      below the recomputed class.
  - id: K3.5
    title: Withdrawal and expiry
    text: >-
      An author may withdraw a proposal at any time before voting closes.
      A proposal that has not been decided within its time to live from
      creation expires automatically.
    parameters:
      proposal_ttl_days:
        type: integer
        value: 90
        forkable: true
        min: 14
        max: 365