Re: Question to all candidates: the FTP Team

Sean Whitton <[email protected]> Sun, 06 Apr 2025 12:13:54 +0800
Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.vote
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
Hello,

On Sat 05 Apr 2025 at 05:00pm +02, Andreas Tille wrote:

> Correction: Thanks to Luke Faraone (delegated ftpmaster), we had a BoF
> in Busan[1], so there were actually two members of the FTP team present.

Ah, yes, apologies to Luke.

> To my knowledge, there is no public documentation clarifying what the
> actual policy for binary-NEW is.

Yes, there is:
<https://salsa.debian.org/ftp-team/manpages/-/blob/master/doc/ftp-new.7.man?ref_type=heads#L43>

I've directed you to this document several times now.

> During my past DPL term, I never got the impression that there was any
> consensus within the FTP team on the need for improvements-at least,
> this was never communicated to me as a team opinion.

Indeed, there isn't, but that's my point.  The FTP team can't just
decide that things should be a certain way if the whole rest of the
project disagrees.  That is not a sustainable situation.

> I have a strong sense that this observation of a lack of feedback is a
> natural consequence of how volunteer work functions. Volunteers can
> choose to focus on doing the work directly or invest time in training
> others to share it in the long run. This isn't specific to the FTP
> team-I've seen the same dynamic play out in other teams as well.
>
> Do you think the core problem here is that choice-or are we actually
> lacking people who are willing and motivated to serve as trainees in the
> first place?

You're right that this problem exists elsewhere, yet more functional
teams manage to provide enough feedback to integrate new members anyway.

>> Nevertheless, the DPL has the responsibility to ensure the core teams
>> are fit for purpose, and it is far from clear that the FTP Team is fit
>> for purpose.
>
> I disagree with this general statement.

Then what is meant to happen in Debian when constructive suggestions are
not enough?  Who is responsible for fixing delegations, if not the DPL?

You have described the problems with the team, but have not proposed
doing anything other than carrying on as before by making suggestions
which will be mostly ignored.

Doing the same thing as before will not lead to different results.
The situation will self-perpetuate.

-- 
Sean Whitton
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