Re: What to do when a maintainer is blocking maintenance for stretch?

[Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Peter Colberg writes ("What to do when a maintainer is blocking maintenance for stretch?"):
> Improving the package would require significant changes that are not
> appropriate for a minimal NMU. With the maintainer not responding to
> anything other than MIA requests to retain their maintainer status,
> is there any other way to get the package back in shape for stretch?

The advice from Emilio to upload your proposed big changes to
DELAYED/10 is probably good.

In theory you should ask the Technical Committee to depose the
maintainer.

But there is a similarly extreme case in front of the TC now and it
seems that the TC is (at the very least) prevaricating, while the
freeze approaches.  The TC has never wrested a package from a
maintainer who claimed to want to keep maintaining the package.

I don't know what kind of record it would take to convince the TC but
apparently "no upload in six years; new upstream versions blocked for
eight years; many contributors blocked" is not clear enough for a
swift decision.  I doubt there will be a decision at all in that case
in time for stretch.

Ian.

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