Best practises in team-maintaining packages
Channel: DebConf Videos
Date: 2017-11-24

by Gregor Herrmann

At: DebConf8
http://penta.debconf.org/dc8_schedule/events/238.en.html
https://debconf8.debconf.org/

What works? What doesn't? What can we learn from each other?

Team maintenance for (groups of) packages is en vogue; dozens or perhaps
hundreds of packaging teams care for a subset of the Debian archive in a
collaborative style.

This BOF offers the opportunity for members of different packaging teams to
exchange their experiences, share their success and problem stories, and in
general learn from each other.

a) Situation

During the last few years team-maintaining groups of packages has become
more and more widespread in Debian; the exact number of packaging teams is
unknown, estimates vary between 42 and 893 -- reality is probably somewhere
in between. [0]

Although the challenges for all teams are similar, there is a lack of
communication between those groups which leads to a situation where many
are "reinventing the wheel".

b) Objectives

- bring members of different packaging teams together
- get an overview of different work flows, tools, and challenges
- compile generally useful 'models of good practise'
- define possible areas for cooperation / tasks of mutual interest

c) Methods

Should the proposal for the BOF be accepted, a short questionnaire covering
"typical questions" for packaging teams will be prepared before Summer that
allows interested participants from packaging teams to prepare a short
overview of their team's situation and work flow.

This will allow the BOF to begin with short and structured presentations
dealing with common aspects of team packaging. From these presentations 
common points of interest will be collected to form the "agenda" for the
next part of the BOF.

Ideally the session will conclude with a summary of "best practises,"
ideas  for improving individual groups' work flows and ideas for 
improved cooperation between teams.  -- Findings will be made public in
the hope that they will be helpful to others.



[0]
http://wiki.debian.org/Teams lists 42 "Packaging teams";
http://krum.ethz.ch/ddc/teams-of-2007.txt has 218 entries;
http://alioth.debian.org/ talks about 789 "hosted projects", looking in
/home/groups on alioth shows 893 directories in general and 387 pkg-*  
directories.

Room: Salon del mar
Scheduled start: 2008-08-14 12:00:00