On Mon, Jul 19, 1999 at 02:21:54PM +0200, Josip Rodin wrote: > > I'm trying to become a Debian maintainer for some time now. I've send > > my aplication to [EMAIL PROTECTED] about 2 month ago and never > > heard from it again. > > Two weeks and one week ago I asked what happened to my application on > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] and still got no answere. > > > > So now I ask here if that list is dead, routet to /dev/null or so > > filled up with requests that not even a "You application has be > > received, please wait" mail can be send back? > > They are overworked. The best way to become a developer now is to > pick some orphaned packages from WNPP[1] and adopt them - people who > do that, I believe, are most welcome :)
I sent my application three months ago. I was prepared to wait before being accepted as a developer; what I wasn't prepared to is not to have any minimal ack of your mail being even received. I sent three till now: the application, and later two notifying email address changes. Neither time I received any kind of confirmation. Really I am not sure that my application was not lost in my/my provider's/debian's mail facilities. About adopting an orphaned package, I did exactly that: I picked up smb-nat, fixed a bug, filed a patch in the BTS, mailed the maintainer about adopting the package (received no answer), sent an ITP to -devel, and then packaged it. I probably failed in not announcing my finishing the packaging, but at the time I didn't have any web space to put the result on, so I simply started waiting to become a developer and then being able to upload it. Slink was released by just a couple of weeks, and potato's freeze was away several months, so I could just wait. Since then I skipped several "offered for adoption" packages, because I didn't want to stay in the way of somebody else which could make an upload in a week, since I couldn't. I am not angry, but I will note two points IMHO quite important. 1) New-developer team, please, PLEASE, ack the mails we send, with a "we received your stupid message, we will process sometime between 2000 and 2038, please be patient". 2) If the team is overworked, then new members are needed; three months without a two line mail telling, at least, "we received your application and will proceed to evaluate it when you show some good intention and skills" are too much, IMO. Ciao, William
