Re: Replace the TC power to depose maintainers [and 1 more messages]

[Tollef Fog Heen <tfheen@err.no>]

]] Ian Jackson 

> Tollef Fog Heen writes ("Re: Replace the TC power to depose maintainers [and 1 more messages]"):
>  Lars Wirzenius 
> > > I suggest a lighter approach than a GR for eroding the strong package
> > > ownership further is to start another page, "LowThresholdHijack" or
> > > something, listing maintainers who are OK if someone hijacks their
> > > package if the maintainer isn't taking good care of it. Would anyone
> > > else than I put themselves on that new page? (If you would, start the
> > > page on the wiki and announce it on this thread, and I'll add myself.)
> > 
> > A similar proposal: Have a way of declaring the package to be under
> > collective maintenance (put it under collab-maint on alioth +
> > Maintainer: collective@debian.org or somesuch?)  That'd move closer to a
> > model where individuals don't own that particular package.
> 
> This is all very well and good, but frankly, Lars (and the others in
> this conversation) are not the problem.  The problem maintainers won't
> put themselves on a LowThresholdAdoption list either.
> 
> We already have ways of dealing with maintainers who are simply
> absent or busy, and not actively resisting.  Our processes for that
> are rather cumbersome but it is possible to use them effectively.
> 
> What we lack is a way of dealing with maintainers who are determined
> not to lose control of their packages.  (And I do mean "control".)

I believe that cultural change can happen through collective action on
an individual level, rather than sweeping regulation and legislation.

The culture around NMUs has changed _immensely_ in the years I've been
involved in the project.  Nowadays, they're a pretty routine matter (as
an example, look at the conflict over global where the petitioners have
NMUed a newer version into experimental where this isn't really that big
a deal).

I believe our view of maintainership can change similarly if enough
people say «here are the keys to the kingd^Wpackage, please be
considerate», even for the packages which are not collectivised.

-- 
Tollef Fog Heen
UNIX is user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are