Re: unmaintained packages hidden by team maintenance

Simon Josefsson <[email protected]> Sat, 21 Feb 2026 15:30:29 +0100

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.project
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Jonas Smedegaard <[email protected]> writes:

> [dropping a pile of cc'ed addresses]
>
> Quoting Simon Josefsson (2026-02-20 14:50:28)
>> Dominik George <[email protected]> writes:
>> > > this is the whole point of making the Uploader field optional.
>> > > When absent, it means that every team member is equally in chage
>> > > for the packag
>> > What does this entail? Do I constantly have to monitor upstream? Do
>> > I, personally, get all the maintainer duties? And everyone else in
>> > the team as well?
>> 
>> No.  The package is a shared responsibility, which is my perception
>> of the point of doing team-maintained package in the first place.  If
>> you don't want shared responsibility, then why team-maintain
>> something?
>
> How can I assess, as a concerned Debian developer, whether everybody or
> somebody or nobody in a team are responsible for the package?
>
> If the answer is "ask the team" then why is the Uploaders field ever
> relevant? I mean, the MIA team and anyone else concerned about a
> package can always "just ask" - why should we need to declare ahead of
> time what individuals take responsibility for, when we play loose with
> teams?

+1

>> It is fine for people to have the single-maintainer model and still
>> be able to do what they want.  Nobody has suggested to remove the
>> Uploaders field.  Only to make it optional, for those who prefer
>> another way.
>
> What do you mean by "do what they want"? Isn't it those arguing for
> making the Uploaders field optional for team-maintained packages that
> wants to "do what they want"? In what ways can maintainers of
> single-maintainer packages "do what they want"?

I was only referring to "use an Uploaders" field here.  Nobody has
suggested preventing anyone from using it, as far as I have seen.  So
making it optional allows either workflow.

/Simon

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