rawhide report: 20050121 changes

[Jeff Spaleta]

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 09:41:19 -0500, Dan Williams <dcbw at redhat.com> wrote:
> Furthermore, these are really just leaving Fedora Core, but should still
> be in Fedora Extras AFAIK.

This is entirely unclear to anyone sitting outside the Red Hat
fenceline.  I have no idea if the people who maintain something inside
Core will continue to be required to maintain or volunteer to maintain
the package as part of Extras. I fully expect some packages will have
to change maintainers as part of moving to Extras.

If i had the luxury to demand one thing from Red Hat package
maintainers I would demand to know if for each dropped package out of
Core if the Red Hat maintainer who was maintaining it inside Core  is
going to continue maintain it as part of Extras of if a community
member needs to be found to maintain the dropped packages.  It is
totally unclear from my perspective whether or not dropped from Core
means the original Core maintainer is no longer going to be the person
maintaining it in Extras.

For every package dropped from Core from now on... i want to know if
its being orphaned by the maintainer and if a new maintainer needs to
be found.  And i want to know it ASAP. I want the list of orphaned
packages consolidated into a webpage so that its easily
cross-referenced when questions about why it was totally dropped come
up.  As soon as Red Hat makes the decision to drop a package from Core
and its decided if the original Core maintainer is not going to
maintain it as part of Extras.. the community needs to be told.. so
the community can determine a new maintainer and start the
indoctrination of a new maintainer if the person who steps up is a
packaging novice.

For orphaned packages that the original Core maintainer is no longer
going to maintain as part of Extras.. The ealier the community knows
its orphaned... the less time it will be unavailable if a new packager
is the one who steps up out of the community and volunteers to
maintain it.   I'm not asking for a garuntee that the package will
always be available. But I am asking that the community be given as
much lead time as possible to start the process of selecting a new
maintainer.

If ANY of these packages are not going to be maintained by the
original Core maintainers as  part of Extras... tell the community NOW
so that someone can step up and offer to maintain it.

-jef"Don't make me read your minds... my brain wave laser tends to
cause dandruff"spaleta