Re: Replace the TC power to depose maintainers

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

]] Ian Jackson

There's no need to Cc me on replies, I'm subscribed already.

> Tollef Fog Heen writes ("Re: Replace the TC power to depose maintainers"):
> > Because I generally find it's generally the wrong tool for the job.  If
> > I can come up with a good explanation for why somebody should take a
> > particular course of action (which I need before I'm willing to override
> > anybody), and I take the time to explain it to them and discuss with
> > them, I find we usually end up agreeing.
> 
> That is of course mostly true of disagreements.
> 
> But it is not mostly true of problems which come to the TC.
> 
> Of course sometimes the TC will find that getting people to explain
> themselves clearly will cause the dispute to evaporate.  I remember
> that happening about twice during my term.  But it's easy to tell
> when this happens because both parties go away happy and say they
> don't need the TC's help any more.

That's not my experience.  They'll go away grumbling because they both
had to make some sort of concession(s).  The goal of the current dispute
isn't to get global a new maintainer.  It's to ensure the package is of
as good quality in Stretch and beyond.  This is balanced by the goal of
not making too many people too sad or annoyed, not taking on lots of
technical debt or crazy design decision and so on.

> > The goal is not to end up with a new maintainer.  Deposing a maintainer
> > or overriding them is sometimes a necessary evil, but it's never my
> > first option.
> 
> Surely the goal should be to make Debian as good a social and
> technical space as possible.

I didn't say what the goal was, I pointed out what it was not.

> If the maintainer is exercising poor leadership - poor enough that
> someone has risked coming to the TC with it - then that goal is best
> served by replacing them.

Based on that argument, the TC should just rubberstamp all appeals and
always grant them, which is surely not what you mean.  Also what ScottK
writes about being «on trial» (which is what it feels like) as quite
uncomfortable for the maintainer.

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