Re: Maintainer qualification
>>"Torsten" == Torsten Landschoff <torsten@debian.org> writes:
Torsten> On Mon, Jan 22, 2001 at 08:13:57AM +0100, Martin Schulze wrote:
>> You should always be able to backport a patch. If not, I'm sorry, but that
>> this should be one quality of a Debian maintainer, you lack something...
Torsten> You must be kidding.
I didn't think he was. I guess it is a measure of how the
project has changed that such a statement can be regarded with such
dismay.
Torsten> We can't expect from any maintainer the ability to be able
Torsten> to modify the code of their packages.
We can, and we should: how else can you actually improve the
quality of Debian unless improving our packages is not an integral
part of it? We are more than glorified packagers.
Torsten> At least that is the impression I got when joining Debian -
Torsten> we are packaging software, not developing it. If the
Torsten> maintainer develops the software as well that is a nice
Torsten> bonus but I don't think that this is really needed.
Then we differ on this issue.
Torsten> I don't think that I would be able to do a security fix for
Torsten> mozilla or to some gs internals for example.
An ability to do a security fix is a far cry from having
the basic skills to ``modify the code of their packages''. If you
can't do the latter, you can't even evaluate the quality of fixes
being submitted to you, and your package is likely to suffer.
Have we accepted that mediocrity is really our lot? What
happened to the quest for excellence? I joined an effort to create
the *BEST* distribution of linux, not merely a feel good, prolific
one.
manoj
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Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
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