Bug#750135: Status of #750135 (Maintainer of aptitude package)

[Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@err.no>]

Hi all,

2015-03-29 21:19 Tollef Fog Heen:
>]] Christian PERRIER
>
>Hi bubulle!
>
>> Quoting Axel Beckert (abe@debian.org):
>>
>> > In the long run I'd like to see even more people working on Aptitude.
>> >
>> > But for that, a possessive lead developer or power games are quite
>> > hindering. IMHO one of the reasons Aptitude's development stalled
>> > again are those power games we've seen. So I'd prefer a solution where
>> > people who want to do stuff are also able to do it -- without getting
>> > harassed by other people involved.
>>
>>
>> So do I. And I still have admin rights on aptitude on Alioth. Even
>> though I'm not that much active in aptitude's development.
>>
>> Here's my proposal:
>>
>> - restore Manuel's commit rights
>> - have both me and Axel watch the aptitude-devel mailing list, not to
>> judge the technical validity of changes, but more following the
>> social aspects
>> - and see what happens...
>>
>> It can't indeed be worse than the current situation anyway.
>
>I see where the proposal is coming from, but I'd like to ask you to hold
>off on it a little bit.  I've mailed Daniel and asked him to comment on
>the bug, so hopefully we can have his input soon and get this resolved.
>
>(Of course, if Daniel's happy with that approach, and Manuel is too,
>then I don't think anybody would have a problem with it.)

Daniel has not responded to the bug at all within the two weeks (and a
few days) I asked him to, so I see no point in waiting further with
moving forward here.

My suggestion is basically to say yes to Manuel: Make him the maintainer
of aptitude and ask the Alioth admins to reinstate him as an admin,
removing Daniel.  Manuel is clearly interested in working on aptitude
and seems to be interested in having other people contribute as well.
Given aptitude currently has a lot of bugs and is an important package
in the Debian ecosystem, I'd like to move forward on this fairly soon.

I'm unsure to what, if any, extent we should comment on the social
conflict here.  I don't think it's productive for people to remove
others from projects unless they're actively harmful or MIA, but on the
other hand, I'm not sure stating that in a formal resolution is going to
make the world a better place either.

We'll need a formal resolution text and such, but are anybody opposed to
what I'm suggesting above, before we start on the wordsmithing?

-- 
Tollef Fog Heen
UNIX is user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are