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Re: Changing policy for the Maintainer field



Arnaud Vandyck wrote:
>> *Also because it would make the danger of bit-rot visible.
> 
> English problem here, I don't understand this sentence :'(

I mean that there will be a visible difference between these cases:
(a) A package that has gone a long time without activity because it works
well, and
(b) A package that has gone a long time without activity because  the
Uploaders moved on to other work, although the package needs maintenance.

> Maybe we can make a survey: DD that do want to be responsible for
> pkg-java packages, please, upload them with you in the maintainer
> field and pkg-java in the uploader field.

Note that the proposal is also to have all the other uploaders in the
Uploader field, not only pkg-java.

> I think it's working. Wolfgang and others did a lot of work without
> being DD and it's also because pkg-java is the maintainer.

A non-DD can also be maintainer. I maintain a few packages on my own.

>> Sorry, I don't think of it that way. I do not feel responsible in any way
>> for packages where I'm not Uploader.
> 
> Well. I do. Even if I don't know how to fix things. I feel responsible
> for the quality of Debian in general,

Well, so do I, but in a more general sense. If I am directly responsible for
a package (Maintainer or Uploader) which has open bugs, then that bothers
me a lot more than bugs in other packages.

> Well, I thought that was the definition of a team. I feel less
> responsible when the package is maintained by someone I don't know and
> when I get flamed when I upload it even if he doesn't take care of the
> package for a long time!

I don't see why that would happen. Putting pkg-java in the Uploader field is 
(should be) a sign that the package is team-maintained and that the
Maintainer is part of pkg-java, and accepts our standards for cooperation.

>> All I want to do is to attach one actual _person_ to each package, who
>> can always be counted on to be responsible.
> 
> That's not what I call a team, but it's my conception, I don't want to
> be a guru ;-)

The Maintainer and Uploaders would certainly be a team, but one with a team
leader. Today we have teams with no formal leader.

Marcus




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