I'd be a little more radical :)
begin rewording proposal
The Debian New Maintainer process, is the process of becoming an
official
Debian Developer (DD). These webpages are the place were
prospective Debian
Developers can find all the details on applying to become a DD, the
different steps of the process, and how to track the process of their
ongoing application.
The Debian Project New Member process, is the process of becoming an
official Debian Project Member (DPM), also called Debian Developer
(DD) for historical purposes.
(note that the 'developer' in DD basically means 'someone
involved with
improving Debian in some way'. This might mean package maintainer,
translator, documentation writer, website maintainer, or ...)
The first important point to make is that you do NOT need to be a
DD in
order to help improving Debian, in fact you should already have a
track
record of earlier contributions to Debian before you start the New
Maintainer process.
The first important point to make is that you do NOT need to be a DPM
in order to help improving Debian, in fact you should already have a
track record of earlier contributions to Debian before you start the
New Member process.
Debian is an open community and welcomes everyone who wants to use
or help
improve our distribution. As a non-maintainer you can:
As a non-Member contributor you can:
- maintain packages through a sponsor (A sponsor is a DD who agrees
to check
and upload your packages. This is a kind of mentoring program
that helps
you understand Debian's procedures and allows for common problems
to be
noticed before they end up in the real archive).
(A sponsor is a Debian Project Member who agrees...)
- provide/check translations
- create or improve documentation
- help maintain the website
- help with handling bugs (by providing patches, filing new bugs,
confirming the existence of the bug, finding ways to reproduce the
problem, ...)
- be an active member of a packaging team (e.g. debian-qt-kde or
debian-gnome)
- be an active member of a subproject (e.g. debian-installer, or
debian-custom)
- ...
Only DPM can participate to Debian elections and to official Debian
comities.
Only DPM can sponsor non DPM's activities.
Only DPM can have hardware access rights if their duties require so.
It's important to understand that the New Maintainer process is
part of
Debian's Quality Assurance efforts. Finding developers with enough
free time
for their Debian tasks is complicated so checking that applicants
are able
to sustain their work, and do it well, is important. Hence the
requirement
that prospective developers have been actively involved in Debian
for some
time already.
It is important to understand that the New Member process is part of...
Every Debian Developer:
Every Debian Project Member:
- is associated with Debian
- is allowed to vote about issues regarding the whole project
- can log in on most systems that keep Debian running
... if the Member's contributions require so
- has upload permissions for all packages.
... if the Member's contributions require so
- has access to the debian-private mailing list
In other words becoming a Debian Developer grants you several
important
privileges regarding infrastructure the project heavily depends on.
In other words, becoming a Debian Project Member grants you...
Obviously this requires a great deal of trust for and commitment by
the
applicant.
In other words, becoming a Debian Project Member grants you...
Consequently the whole NM process is very strict and thorough. This
is not
meant to discourage people interested in becoming a registered
developer,
but it does explain why the New Maintainer process takes so much time.
Consequently, the whole New Member process is...
... but it does explain why the New Member process takes so much time.
<leave glossary pointer, process steps, and links to further
documentation
as is>
(some cosmetic changes in the glossary will be necessary)
<<<< end rewording proposal
Jean-Christophe Helary
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