Hi Ganeff,
Just a note to register my endorsement that I believe you have great
ideas here.
Cheers,
Andrew McMillan
On Wed, 2008-10-22 at 23:33 +0200, Joerg Jaspert wrote:
> Developer Status
> ================
>
> Summary of this post
> --------------------
> Discussions in the past have made it clear that the current
> definition of "Debian Developer" (AKA someone who is a member of the
> Debian project) should be modified and made more flexible. There
> have been attempts in the past to do something similar, notably
> Debian Maintainers (DM) [GR-DM], and to some extent
> debian-community.org [D-C], but these have only addressed parts of
> the whole issue.
>
> We plan to integrate DM more closely into the NM process/system
> while keeping the spirit of easing entry into Debian for newcomers.
> At the same time we add a separate track for less-technical
> contributors.
>
>
> If you are an existing Debian Developer or Debian Maintainer, don't be
> afraid, we are not going to take anything away from you.
>
>
> Currently becoming a Debian Developer means passing through all of the
> New Maintainer process. People that passed this get the @debian.org
> mail-forwarding, an account on all (developer-accessible) Debian
> machines, voting and upload rights. It is a process that requires
> work from prospective Developers, and depending on their available time
> and the effort put into it, it can take a bit of time.
>
>
> Some time ago a few Developers thus went and pushed forward the
> "Debian Maintainer" status. DM allows newcomers to upload their
> packages relatively early, without having to go through the "full" NM
> process. So far it has worked quite well for the people involved, but
> the way it was instantiated outside of most existing structures has
> always made other groups in Debian uncomfortable. The ftp-masters
> have to deal with the technical implementation that does not fit well
> with the rest of the archive, and the account and keyring managers
> would like to remain the authoritative source for "who is in Debian".
>
>
> Debian is about developing a free operating system, but there's more
> in an operating system than just software and packages. If we want
> translators, documentation writers, artists, free software advocates,
> et al. to get endorsed by the project and feel proud for it, we need
> some way to acknowledge that. This is where our proposal comes in.
>
>
>
> Now let us describe the way the account status is meant to be handled
> in future.
>
> A new user can start out in two ways depending on their personal
> preference. The first is the non-technical way:
>
> Debian Contributor
> ------------------
> A DC is someone that has a strong relation with Debian through the work
> they are doing for/around Debian. Possible examples are translators and
> documentation writers.
>
> DC have to pass the ID check, agree to the Social Contract/DFSG and have
> successfully answered a set of questions[DCDMQ] similar to the ones used
> in the current first P&P step.[TEMPL]
>
>
>
> The second way is the technical one:
>
> Debian Maintainer
> -----------------
> A DM has the same strong relation with Debian a DC has, but additionally
> wants to maintain a limited set of packages without the help of a sponsor.
>
> A DM has to pass the same checks a DC has and very few questions from the
> T&S part[DCDMQ].
>
> A (very) small T&S basically, the most important T&S questions for them.
>
> They are allowed to upload their own (source) package. The allowed list
> of (source) packages to upload can be edited by any member of the NM
> committee[NMC], who will do a package check before they add new packages
> to the DM's list.
> In contrast to current DM this is based on source packages and allows
> uploads of new binary components, which have to pass NEW, too.
>
> While, strictly speaking, this increases the barrier to get DM compared
> to the current implementation of DM, we do not think it is an
> unreasonable or too high level. Anyone who is able to get a package put
> together in a lintian clean way will be able to get DM without much
> effort or time used.
>
>
>
> Those two "classes" are the initial set in which every NM will end
> up. After six months as DC or DM one might chose to become a
> Debian Member or Debian Developer. This
> - ensures that the interest in Debian isn't short-term.
> - enables them to learn more about the workings in Debian and generally
> helps them for the next step.
> - leaves everyone the option to stay DC or DM, if they do not want/need
> more rights.
>
>
> After the 6 months time in Debian Contributor/Maintainer are passed,
> applicants can apply to get Debian Developer status. There are now 2
> different "classes" of DD status available, one with and one without
> upload rights. To not add confusion we selected to name them "Debian
> member" (no upload rights) and "Debian Developer" (upload rights).
> Both are project members, i.e. with voting and all other constitutional
> rights, the term "classes" does not indicate any kind of "first" or
> "second" level membership.
>
>
>
> Debian Member
> -------------
> A DME is someone that previously had DC or DM for at least 6 months but
> additionally want to have voting rights or needs a login on a debian.org
> machine for their work.
>
> A DME can nominate themself as DPL, can be delegated rights from the DPL
> and can start any GR, basically do everything our foundation documents
> allow project members to do.
>
> DME are not able to freely upload any package, but DME can have the same
> upload rights a DM can have, ie. own packages, if they follow(ed) the DM
> rules for this.
>
> Following our Constitution ยง8.1.2, DAM declares that Debian Members are
> to be treated as "Developers who do not maintain packages" wherever the
> term "Developer" is used in one of our documents.
>
>
> Debian Developer
> ----------------
> A DD is exactly the same as a DME, with the one and only notable
> exception that a DD can freely upload any package to the archive.
>
> To become a DD one has to pass all the checks a DM has to pass and
> additionally answer all the rest of the questions from the T&S steps in
> NM.
> [Or do whatever T&S checks are used by the AM. Focusing on the questions
> is just for this procedure, as we are used to them.]
>
>
>
> contributor.debian.org mail
> ---------------------------
> We are considering to implement an @contributor.debian.org mail
> forwarding setup which would be open for DC/DM too. Such addresses would
> continue to be valid even after a person becomes a DD/DME. If sufficient
> support for the idea is found then this will probably be implemented
> once the new debian.org mail setup is in place.
>
>
> Changes to existing Debian Developers
> -------------------------------------
> No changes are done to existing Debian Developers, until they ask for
> it. If you want to drop down to DME, no matter if you want to keep a few
> packages maintained like a DM does, drop the NM-Committee a mail.
>
>
> Changes to existing Debian Maintainers and NMs
> ----------------------------------------------
> No changes will be done to existing Debian Maintainers, and the
> 6 months waiting time will not be applied to NMs who have already
> applied to become DD, unless they ask to be handled using the new way.
>
> There is one exception - the handling of the packages allowed to upload
> will change. In future this will be a list maintained by the NM-committee.
> At the time of migrating from the old to the new way, Ftpmaster will
> convert the existing DM-Upload-Allowed fields into that list, so there
> should be no interruption in your ability to upload. The converted list
> will be made public before this happens, so to be sure - please check
> it at that time. (Follow debian-devel-announce and you will notice it).
>
>
>
> Applications and Advocations
> ----------------------------
> NM applicants, no matter if it is for Debian Contributor or Maintainer
> status, have to sign up using the interface provided at
> nm.debian.org[NMDO]. This application, as well as the advocation mail
> From one or more existing Debian Member or Developer will be copied to
> the debian-newmaint mailinglist for public review.
>
>
> Changes to the DM Keyring
> -------------------------
> Keyring management will be moved to the control of keyring-maint. The
> NM committee will decide who will be added or removed, similiar to the
> way keyring-maint and DAM currently work together.
>
>
>
> Footnotes
> =========
> [DCDMQ] The intention is that the NM-Committee will select the actual
> set of questions used, not this mail. It can easily be adjusted to fit
> whatever the current situation may want to have. For DM we imagine it
> would be a very limited T&S set, like making sure someone can deal
> with
> the BTS and knows the basic tools (lintian, dput/dupload, debsign). It
> is not meant as a full (first part) of NM and lots of boring tasks
> before one get DM, but as a basic check for a minimum knowledge.
>
> [TEMPL] http://svn.debian.org/viewsvn/nm/trunk/nm-templates/
>
> [GR-DM] http://vote.debian.org/something
>
> [D-C] http://debian-community.org/
>
> [NMDO] This interface helps multiple things, like making sure no
> applicants chose an already existing account name, giving a
> central place to look at the current NM status, clearly showing
> what is going on/missing for an applicant.
>
> [NMC] The NM-committee is currently defined as (see
> http://lists.debian.org/debian-newmaint/2003/10/msg00001.html):
>
> An AM is a member of the NM committee if a) they are not marked as
> inactive (i.e. if they haven't retired as an AM) and b) if they've
> approved an applicant in the last six months.
>
> Every Debian Developer (and in future Member too) can join the
> NMcommittee by simply becoming an AM and successfully processing
> at least one applicant.
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
andrew (AT) morphoss (DOT) com +64(272)DEBIAN
Your society will be sought by people of taste and refinement.
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