[gentoo-dev] RFC: Formal Adopt a Package Program

[Dane Smith]

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All,
As some of you may have seen, over the past couple months I've been
serving as a proxy-maintainer on a number of packages for a fair few
proxy-committeers through what I've been calling C1phers Adopt a Package
Program [1]. So far, I would consider it to be a success. A fair few
packages have been adopted (over 15 at this point IIRC). There are a
couple problems with this existing in the way that it does however.
1) I am the sole point of contact for all of these packages.
2) It is not really "official". A blog post that some people have seen
doesn't really attract a ton of users to get involved. (Though it's done
better than I would have guessed).
3) As it grows, it becomes a fair bit of work for the one guy involved
(me) =P.

Now, I know there are a fair few packages in the tree that have other
proxy-maintainers. (I'm too lazy to get a real number, so sue me.) So
here is what I think would be a good idea to do.

Create a formal Gentoo project with its own herd and alias. Whenever a
packages has a proxy-maintainer, instead of having 2 maintainer entries
(one for the user, one for the dev), have the users contact information,
and put the package in the herd associated with the project. (Say
proxy-maintained with the alias proxy-maintained@g.o.) From there, users
that want to have something committed can use the alias, and any dev
that's helping with that project can review it quickly and commit it for
them. Or if they so choose, they can add themselves to the metadata in
addition to the herd and it will be left to them as long as they get to
it in a reasonable amount of time. Otherwise someone else can step in
and help out.

I think this serves a fair few purposes. First off, I would imagine it
will take a pretty decent dent out of our growing count of m-n packages.
It makes life easier for the proxy-maintainers and their committers. It
allows users who want to proxy-maintain something to find the group of
people who will help out rather than having to put a call out on the
mailing lists. And, it will mean that users involved in the project can
get some recognition on the project page.

I do realize there is a small amount of overlap with the already
existent Sunrise package, however, given that usually Sunrise serves as
a home for m-w packages, I think this can help fill the gap left for the
m-n packages. (And help provide a logical transition from Sunrise to
Portage).

Well, that about covers it. What does everyone think? Good idea? Bad
idea? Waste of time? Are you crazy? Let's hear it!

Thanks!

[1] http://dev.c1pher.net/index.php/2011/03/c1phers-adopt-a-package-program/

- -- 
Dane Smith (c1pher)
Gentoo Linux Developer -- QA / Crypto / Sunrise / x86
RSA Key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=0x0C2E1531&op=index
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