Hello Debian-developer, I have a modest proposal to reduce the burden of the multiple architectures on the Release team. This is based on the following assumptions:
I) The main problem is missing builds that slow down propagation to testing. II) Such problems are linked to buildd breakages that can happen at random time. The idea is to have or each architecture $arch a '$arch release assistant' which is in charge of helping the release team with issue specific to a port. As I see it: 1) The $arch release assistant is not a buildd admin. 2) The $arch release assistant is trusted by the buildd admin and ftp-masters for the purpose of making binary upload (See [1] why it is important). 3) The $arch release assistant monitor debian-release to detect when missing $arch builds are needed to propagate fix for RC bug to testing. When this happen (normally because of buildd outage) they fast-track the package (e.g. by building the package on their box) to make the transition faster. 4) Preferably, they can manage a buildd when the buildd admin is in holiday, but this is not needed from the start. 5) The $arch release assistant helps the release team dealing with architecture specific issues in upgrades (e.g kernel upgrade needed before a woody-to-sarge upgrade on some platform). The issues to address for this scheme to work: A) The point (2) needs a protocol for building binary outside official buildds that is approved by the ftp-masters. B) There is a trust to establish between buildd admin/ftp-masters/release team and the $arch release assistant. C) Volunteers are needed. I thing A) and B) can be solved with a bit of good-will from all part. C) should not be a problem unless the port is dead. The difficulty is to have C) and B) at the same time. I hope we are reasonable people. Cheers, -- Bill. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-ctte/2004/12/msg00001.html (Apologies to Blars). Imagine a large red swirl here. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
