Bug#459868: debian-policy: Definition of Maintainer: when using a mailing list
Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org> writes:
> Moving this out of a footnote into the body of policy would probably make
> this hang together better. Perhaps:
> If the maintainer of a package no longer has time or desire to maintain a
> package, it will be orphaned according to the procedure described in the
> Debian Developer's Reference (see <ref id="related">). The maintainer
> then becomes <tt>Debian QA Group <packages@qa.debian.org></tt>.
> These packages are considered maintained by the Debian project as a
> whole until someone else volunteers to take over maintenance.
That's much better, thank you.
> s/beside/besides/ sounds better, IMHO.
Thanks, fixed.
Here's the updated patch.
diff --git a/policy.sgml b/policy.sgml
index 7736ddb..8efc74d 100644
--- a/policy.sgml
+++ b/policy.sgml
@@ -886,23 +886,39 @@
</sect>
- <sect>
+ <sect id="maintainer">
<heading>The maintainer of a package</heading>
<p>
- Every package must have a Debian maintainer (the
- maintainer may be one person or a group of people
- reachable from a common email address, such as a mailing
- list). The maintainer is responsible for ensuring that
- the package is placed in the appropriate distributions.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The maintainer must be specified in the
- <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field with their correct name
- and a working email address. If one person maintains
- several packages, they should try to avoid having
- different forms of their name and email address in
+ Every package must have a maintainer. The maintainer may be one
+ person or a group of people reachable from a common email
+ address, such as a mailing list. The maintainer is responsible
+ for maintaining the Debian packaging files, evaluating and
+ responding appropriately to reported bugs, uploading new
+ versions of the package (either directly or through a sponsor),
+ ensuring that the package is placed in the appropriate archive
+ area and included in Debian releases as appropriate for the
+ stability and utility of the package, and requesting removal of
+ the package from the Debian distribution if it is no longer
+ useful or maintainable.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The maintainer must be specified in the <tt>Maintainer</tt>
+ control field with their correct name and a working email
+ address. The email address given in the <tt>Maintainer</tt>
+ control field must accept mail from those role accounts in
+ Debian used to send automated mails regarding the package. This
+ includes non-spam mail from the bug-tracking system, all mail
+ from the Debian archive maintenance software, and other role
+ accounts or automated processes that are commonly agreed on by
+ the project.<footnote>
+ A sample implementation of such a whitelist written for the
+ Mailman mailing list management software is used for mailing
+ lists hosted by alioth.debian.org.
+ </footnote>
+ If one person or team maintains several packages, they should
+ use the same form of their name and email address in
the <tt>Maintainer</tt> fields of those packages.
</p>
@@ -912,16 +928,22 @@
</p>
<p>
- If the maintainer of a package quits from the Debian
- project, "Debian QA Group"
- <email>packages@qa.debian.org</email> takes over the
- maintainer-ship of the package until someone else
- volunteers for that task. These packages are called
- <em>orphaned packages</em>.<footnote>
- The detailed procedure for doing this gracefully can
- be found in the Debian Developer's Reference,
- see <ref id="related">.
- </footnote>
+ If the maintainer of the package is a team of people with a
+ shared email address, the <tt>Uploaders</tt> control field must
+ be present and must contain at least one human with their
+ personal email address. See <ref id="f-Uploaders"> for the
+ syntax of that field.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ If the maintainer of a package no longer has time or desire to
+ maintain a package, it will be orphaned according to the
+ procedure described in the Debian Developer's Reference
+ (see <ref id="related">). The maintainer then
+ becomes <tt>Debian QA Group <packages@qa.debian.org></tt>.
+ These packages are considered maintained by the Debian project
+ as a whole until someone else volunteers to take over
+ maintenance.
</p>
</sect>
@@ -2698,20 +2720,32 @@ Package: libc6
putting the name in round brackets and moving it to the
end, and bringing the email address forward).
</p>
+
+ <p>
+ See <ref id="maintainer"> for additional requirements and
+ information about package maintainers.
+ </p>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="f-Uploaders">
<heading><tt>Uploaders</tt></heading>
<p>
- List of the names and email addresses of co-maintainers of
- the package, if any. If the package has other maintainers
- beside the one named in the
- <qref id="f-Maintainer">Maintainer field</qref>, their names
- and email addresses should be listed here. The format of each
- entry is the same as that of the Maintainer field, and
- multiple entries must be comma separated. This is an optional
- field.
+ List of the names and email addresses of co-maintainers of the
+ package, if any. If the package has other maintainers besides
+ the one named in the <qref id="f-Maintainer">Maintainer
+ field</qref>, their names and email addresses should be listed
+ here. The format of each entry is the same as that of the
+ Maintainer field, and multiple entries must be comma
+ separated.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ This is normally an optional field, but if
+ the <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field names a group of people
+ and a shared email address, the <tt>Uploaders</tt> field must
+ be present and must contain at least one human with their
+ personal email address.
</p>
<p>
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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