Re: [New maintainer] Working for Debian and becoming a registered Debian developer

[Carl Mummert <mummert@cs.wcu.edu>]

Now, I am not a 'debian developer' in that I don't have a login on
the debian machines and thus I don't maintain any pacakges there.
So feel free to ignore this entire message.

I don't understand why an application, if sent in proper format, could not
be automatically processed, provided that it is signed by the pgp key of a
known developer.  Of course, there is no 'proper format' since this has
always been done by hand... but since the list of things that need to be
in an application is so short, I cannot see why it is at all difficult. 

>From the developer's reference, this is what has to be sent:

Your name.  
Your preferred login name on master.
A phone number where we can call you. 
A statement of intention.
A statement that you have read and agree to uphold the Debian Social Contract. 
A PGP key signed by any current Debian developer you have met in real life. 
A keyserver where your public key is available
The magic words "I affirm that I believe in the Debian Social contract, 
                 and agree to fight all its foes until I die"

So all that the program would have to do is:
  1) get public key
  2) verify signature of user
  3) verify signature of debian developer
  4) adduser foo (random password)
  4b) encrypt password with public key of new user, so that
      new user can decrypt it later
  5) mail -s "You're a developer now!" new_user@bar 
  6) mail -s "New developer added: $foo" new_maint@debian.org 

This is not an overly challenging program to write.  The fact that it
still is not written is testament to an underlying ideology of this
distribution:

You want to make it hard for new maintainers to join debian.  Moreover,
you want them to do what YOU want them to do (WNPP), rather than
whatever else they are interested in.  If they don't want to do what YOU
want, then they are not allowed to play.  

'Application' is a very strange word for something that is essence of the
open-source movement:  the ability to assist with the development of your
software.  

I can see the benefits you think that you gain from this.  But I do not
think that you consider the cost of potential effort that is thwarted
when people find it difficult to join and go elsewhere where they
are welcomed rather than shunned or marginalized.

Carl