Hi all; Here are the minutes from the (apparently) annual "mentors-bof", thanks to Didier Raboud for taking them. It turned into a bit more of a tutorial session than last year, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. I also attach the LaTeX source for the slides; a pdf is available (somewhere) on penta.debconf.org.
=========================== QUOTE: Bremner: Gobby is not emacs, it's so sad. Some statistics: * 18790 packages are in Sid, amongst which 3036 are non-NMU sponsored packages. If you use Debian, you are probably needing one of those; you probably rely on any of them. 946 active DDs, 178 DMs, 906 sponsored people. OPINION: Bremner: There's a high barrier to be able to upload packages without a key in the /magic keyring/. OPINION: Bremner: Know packaging, love packaging, do packaging. This amount of work is the tiny part of getting packages sponsored. Bremner: sponsoring as a source for new contributors, not only about new packages; most of actual DDs have come to Debian trough getting packages sponsored, this shouldn't be underestimated as a source of future DDs. Bremner: There are DDs that sponsor, others that don't, various reasons undermine this. == The big picture == There is sort-of a "command-line" shock: debian-mentors{.*} is not anywhere close to Launchpad™. The Mighty Steps to Getting My Package Uploaded: * Prepare (Close your browser, open a terminal, GAAAAh !? ) * ITP (for new packages, reportbug wnpp) * go package (get help from #debian-mentors, feedback on your ITP [probably not positive]. * upload (well, sort-of) to mentors.debian.net : Upload, QA check, … * File a "Request For Sponsoring" (RFS) against sponsorship-requests. \o/ BTS fun * Wait, Revise, Wait, Revise, More Wait. This time the feedback is most probably positive. * Your Package Gets Uploaded™ (or not…) == "What packages belong in Debian ?" == It recently came as a surprise to some that "someone wants a new package to Debian but it might very well be that `Debian doesn't want it`…" ITP serves three roles: * Sanity check incoming packages * First contact of new contributions with the Debian community * Mutex to avoid multiple people working on the same thing. (less important in sponsoring context) The perception of ITP depends on the side: the filer says "here's the work I did, I propose it to Debian", while "debian-devel" (if that exists) understands it as "here's a new package `Debian` will have to maintain. Closing RFS's is another (fairly rarely used) feedback mechanism: make sure feedback is given out soon enough. == Tracking sponsorship requests in the BTS == After this experiment started, there has been been a lot more noise on the mailing list, but is planned to be improved. * 28 RC bugs fixed, 172 updates, 69? new packages; quite a successful experiment. == Discussion == Q: Bottleneck in those steps ^ ? A: Not enough sponsors. I: Teams are not an administrative barrier, they are probably a resource. Q: Maybe we are not communicating / enforcing the needed commitment for new packages: in fact, the lifetime of a package is in measured in multiple years (unstable->testing->stable->security-> …). I: Removal of packages doesn't only carry a /technical/ cost, it does carry a human cost too (users, …). Q: Do the packages need to be in english? A: Not necessarily, but description and copyright probably need both for sponsors and FTP-Masters team.
\documentclass[presentation]{beamer} \usetheme{default} \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} %\usepackage{fixltx2e} \usepackage{graphicx} \usepackage{longtable} \usepackage{float} \usepackage{wrapfig} \usepackage{soul} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{marvosym} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{latexsym} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{hyperref} \AtBeginSection[] { \begin{frame}<beamer> \tableofcontents[currentsection] \end{frame} } \tolerance=1000 \providecommand{\alert}[1]{\textbf{#1}} \newcommand{\notes}[1]{\par\vfill\small\textbf{Notes:} #1} \newcommand{\recipebutton}[1]{\hyperlink{#1}{\beamergotobutton{#1}}\hypertarget{back:#1}{}} \newcommand{\recipe}[1]{\hypertarget{#1}{}\hyperlink{back:#1}{\beamerreturnbutton{back}}} \title{Getting your packages into Debian} \author{David Bremner} \titlegraphic{based on notes by Asheesh Laroia, Arno Töll, and Nicolas Dandrimont, shameless cribbing from mailing lists, and stuff I just made up} \date{9 July 2012} \usecolortheme{rose} \begin{document} \begin{frame} \maketitle \end{frame} \begin{frame} \frametitle{This is not a lecture} \begin{block}<+->{What's it about?} Getting packages \emph{sponsored}, i.e uploaded Debian for people without keys in the uploading keyring. \end{block} \begin{block}<+->{What's the plan?} I have some slides to fill the awkward silences. It would be great if I \emph{fail} to make it to the end of my slides, because we find more interesting things to talk about. \end{block} \begin{block}<+->{How to help with notes/minutes} \texttt{apt-get install gobby \# gobby-infinote pre-wheezy } \\ \texttt{gobby -c gobby.debian.org \# gobby-0.5 pre-wheezy}\\ \texttt{debconf12/bof/packages-into-debian} \end{block} \end{frame} \begin{frame} \frametitle{Context} \begin{block}<+->{Packages in Sid} \begin{tabular}{rl} Total source packages: & 18790\\ Sponsored source packages including NMUs: & 3141\\ Sponsored source packages excluding NMUs: & 3036 \end{tabular} \end{block} \begin{block}<+->{Packagers} \begin{tabular}{rl} Total active DDs: & 946 \\ Total DMs in keyring: & 178 \\ Total sponsored people: & 906 \end{tabular} \end{block} \begin{block}<+->{In the room?} \begin{itemize} \item How many (potential) sponsorees? \item How many sponsors? \end{itemize} \end{block} \notes{Thanks to Stuart Prescott \url{<jr6344$lkp$1...@dough.gmane.org>}} \end{frame} \begin{frame} \frametitle{Uploading: Big Picture} \begin{description} \item<+->[Prepare] Close your browser, open a terminal. Yes, I know it's a shock, but we like it. \item<+->[ITP] For new packages. \texttt{reportbug wnpp} \item<+->[go package] Get help from \#debian-mentors. Possibly feedback from ITP, probably not positive. \item<+->[mentors.debian.net] Upload, qa checks. \item<+->[RFS] Now with BTS fun \item<+->[Wait/Revise] Typically lots of packaging help on debian-mentors list \item<+->[Uploaded] or not. \end{description} \end{frame} \begin{frame} \frametitle{What packages belong in Debian?} \begin{itemize}[<+->] \item ITPs serve two (somewhat conflicting) roles \begin{itemize} \item Sanity check incoming packages \item First contact of new contributors with the Debian community. \end{itemize} \item Recent discussion about the broader question of what kind of filtering of incoming packages is appropriate: \url{<20120628144210.gj14...@sliepen.org>} \item Closing RFS's is another (fairly rarely used) feedback mechanism \end{itemize} \end{frame} \begin{frame} \frametitle{Tracking sponsorship requests in the BTS} \begin{block}<+->{HowTo} \begin{itemize} \item \texttt{reportbug sponsorship-requests} \item Severity: \begin{description} \item[important] RC bug fixes \item[normal] updates of existing packages \item[wishlist] new packages \end{description} \end{itemize} \end{block} \begin{block}<+->{After 6 months} \begin{tabular}{rccc} Type & Outstanding & Uploaded & closed \\ RC fixes & 1 & 28 \\ Updates & 44 & 172\\ New packages & 83 & 69? & 5? \end{tabular} \end{block} \notes{Yes, most of us hate control messages on the list too. This should be improved soon.} \end{frame} \begin{frame} \frametitle{mentors.debian.net: The present} \begin{itemize}[<+->] \item New software \url{git://anonscm.debian.org/debexpo/debexpo.git} \item Active maintenance team: Led by Arno T\"oll and Nicolas Dandrimont, with contributions by 15 others in the past year. \item Written in python and pylons, looking for more contributors. \item Has all features of old mentors.debian.net \item Runs a set of QA checks \item Packages are removed on upload to unstable. \end{itemize} \end{frame} \begin{frame} \frametitle{mentors.debian.net: The future} \begin{block}<+->{GSOC: Clément Schreiner} \begin{itemize} \item Analysis of packages uploaded to debexpo using, among others, debtags heuristics \item writing automatic package $\leftrightarrow$ prospective sponsor matching heuristics \end{itemize} \end{block} \begin{block}<+->{GSOC: Baptiste Mouterde} \begin{itemize} \item Integration of the sponsorship-requests pseudo-package into Debexpo \item On-line Code browser with inline commenting \item Two-way interaction with the debian-mentors mailing list \item Integrate team-specific sponsoring \end{itemize} \end{block} \end{frame} \begin{frame} \frametitle{mentors.debian.org?} \begin{itemize} \item stalled before because of distributability questions \item a solution involving some safe harbour (DMCA?) is currently being investigated with SPI lawyers. \end{itemize} \end{frame} \end{document} \notes{% \begin{itemize} \item Requested by Ansgar, \url{<8739be9ej1....@deep-thought.43-1.org>} \item Becoming a \texttt{.debian.org} service \url{<4f1802ef.7050...@toell.net>} \end{itemize} }