Re: A Debian Who is Who
On Sun, Feb 16, 2003 at 01:00:34AM +0100, Joachim Breitner wrote:
> The thing is: The debian structure is not very transparent.
What structure? :)
Seriously, we've got a nominal "leader", but that's mostly irrelevent
to most of us. The leader is there to resolve disputes that need an
arbitrary resolution, and to play "figurehead" in public.
Most of us just manage our packages, and we settle most issues through
open public discussion.
> I also heard something about a mysterious group called the
> "FTP-Masters" and the "list-master" and so on.
Hardly mysterious. Debian machines and services need administration.
So, there are people who do admin work. They probably don't get
enough credit for their hard work, but aside from that, who-and-what
is mostly irrelevent.
> Of course I could dive into mailinglists and docs deep in the
> debian.org menu structure, but that is not really a good option. You
> see the problem?
No, I don't see the problem. Why do you care? Unless you have an
unresolvable dispute with some other Debianers, you probably don't
need to know or care who the "leader" is. And if you do have a
dispute, I'm sure many people can point you at the "leader@debian.org"
email address. If you have a problem with the ftp site or the mailing
lists, people will gladly point you to "ftpmaster@debian.org" or
"listmaster@debian.org". As long as you can remember
"debian-devel@lists.debian.org", you can probably get answers when and
if you need them.
We're here (or should be here) to make a good system, not to gain fame
or glory. If I wanted fame and glory, I'd go hitch my wagon to ESR's
self-aggrandising star, or join some political group like OSI, rather
than dedicate my time to work on a system thats main claim to fame is
that it "just works".
I think the main point is that Debian the organization, like Debian
the system, mostly just works. Hundreds of people work on packages,
discuss how the packages should interact, and make a good system.
That's it, that's the main "structure". Everything else is secondary,
and making a big deal about some of the specialized roles that people
play in the organization runs the danger of making those specialized
roles seem more important than they are. Which in turn, could
encourage people to "play politics", which is something I think we
should actively discourage. There's enough of that already. :)
cheers
--
chris Waters | Pneumonoultra- osis is too long
xtifr@debian.org | microscopicsilico- to fit into a single
or xtifr@speakeasy.net | volcaniconi- standalone haiku
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