Re: NEW queue

[Thomas Viehmann <tv@beamnet.de>]

On 2008-10-23 12:11:32.00 Aurelien Jarno <aurel32@debian.org> wrote:
> The NEW queue hasn't been processed for two months if we except a  
> few
> fast-tracked packages, and the number of packages it contains has  
> increased a lot.

> Some rumors said it is due to the approaching release of Lenny, but  
> on
> the other hand some packages in NEW are targeted to experimental,  
> which
> is the suggested way to test changes for Squeeze [1].

> It may also be due to the ftp-masters being busy with other things
> or not feeling like working on that. In that case, I would suggest  
> to
> appoint a new ftp-master/ftp-master assistant.

> Could we please have some details about that?

Speaking for myself, I have been mostly doing release related stuff  
(process NEW for lenny-relevant things, handling removals, fixing the  
occasional RC bug) in the measly four-hours-and-a-bit of Debian-time  
in the evening that I averaged on for most of october. I have  
prioritized non-ftpteam tasks over NEW processing because I believed  
that to be in the best interest of the project, but have  
NEW-processed some things (e.g. X and gcc related stuff) on prodding.  
It would appear to me that Jörg still does some NEW, albeit not as  
fast as the NEW queue grows. That said, I will be happy to take the  
blame for not having been processing as much NEW as is vital to you.

More recently, quoting the VAC mail that I would have preferred to  
keep private:
> I'm taking time off [until] the most recent round of finger-pointing
> is over. I have no interest volunteering for a project that treats
> the people who do stuff like that.

As time goes on, the "like that" will be increasingly unspecific, so  
let me add three sentences of explanation: In my opinion the project  
fails if it does not insist on Robert fully rescinding
  "It seems we relied primarily on the release team,
   which has betrayed the goals of the project,..."[1]
and offering an apology acceptable to the release team. Debian has,  
in my opinion, the obligation towards the people doing one of the  
hardest tasks Debian has to offer (look at the number of people it  
has worn out) to not tolerate that accusation. If there needs to be a  
discussion whether the release team was working outside the scope of  
its authority here, so be it, but the being depicted as betraying  
Debian's goals is beyond what the release team can be expected to  
endure.

As with my original VAC mail, let me clarify that
> I am not going on [vacation] for or in the hope of teaching
> anyone anything or to solicit support mails. (I do appreciate
> that you care, thanks! This is not a write in thing or a vote
> though, and you already do me a giant favor by keeping up the
> work where I choose not to.)

Your suggestion that new ftp team members be added does not appear to  
be entirely new. More specifically, I don't think that I am the  
ftp-assistant that did the least NEW during the last two months. The  
last round of recruitment has not been terribly successful: Four  
people (those who did not announce their intention to limit their  
work, incidentally excluding NEW for unstable/experimental) have been  
invited to do some supervised NEW processing, three of whom actually  
managed to join the coordination IRC channel, two of whom did some  
NEW under supervision, one of whom did a sizable amount of that and  
was added to the team. Unless you have discovered a source of  
applicants that sprang up in the last five months since the last  
invitation to the ftp team, I should think that your idea seems  
unlikely to fix the problem faster than trying to get the release out  
in order to remove the focus on that.

Best of luck

T.

1. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2008/10/msg00395.html