Thanks for the response so far.

>> Secondly, I understand this as a way to have a mirror periodically check the
>> upstream repository for changed, and then respond by notifying the
>> maintainer. Ebuilds will be left using these snapshots, which seems like a
>> rather small improvement over the current system.
>
> Yes, that's the way it should work. The whole idea of snapshots is to
> provide stability. If the upstream repo changed, the maintainer needs
> to go and see what changed and how that will affect the package. It
> might seem like a small step, but for projects that never produce
> official source snapshots, it's a big step to me.

Ok, so this program would need to:
  1 Scan all the ebuilds and see which ones use SCM.
  2 Auto generate a snapshot and notify the maintainer so he/she can
test the snapshot and make sure everything is working just fine.
  3 Modify the ebuild to point to the snapshot instead of the source repository.
  4 Update the Manifest to reflect this update
  5 Periodically check for changes.

I also assume that there will be an option for the maintainer to keep
the ebuild live in the way it is now, without snapshots?
Also, would the scm url be left as a backup, in case the snapshot
cannot be found? Or should we provide an classical live ebuild as well
as the snapshot version, in order to have a fallback?


>> And thirdly, there is currently no mentor for this project. Would anyone be
>> interested in working with me on this?
>
> You'll have to spam the infra team to see if anyone is interested. I
> can clarify the details but I'm not sure if I can serve as a mentor
> for this... maybe if nobody responds to my collision checking project
> idea.
>
> -ak

I send them a mail yesterday, but I have yet to hear back. I will
certainly put in the application, and then hope that this will work
itself out.

Thanks for all the input so far,
Nils Schlupp