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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
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<!ENTITY % commondata SYSTEM "common.ent" > %commondata;
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]>
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<chapter id="developer-duties">
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<title>Debian Developer's Duties</title>
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<section id="package-maintainer-duties">
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<title>Package Maintainer's Duties</title>
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<para>As a package maintainer, you're supposed to provide
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high-quality packages that are well integrated
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in the system and that adhere to the Debian Policy.</para>
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<section id="help-release">
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<title>Work towards the next <literal>stable</literal> release</title>
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<para>
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Providing high-quality packages in <literal>unstable</literal> is not enough, most users will
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only benefit from your packages when they are released as part of the next
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<literal>stable</literal> release. You are thus expected to collaborate with the release team
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to ensure your packages get included.
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</para>
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<para>
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More concretely, you should monitor whether your packages are migrating
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to <literal>testing</literal> (see <xref linkend="testing"/>). When the migration doesn't happen
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after the test period, you should analyze why and work towards fixing this.
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It might mean fixing your package (in the case of release-critical bugs or
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failures to build on some architecture) but it can also mean updating (or
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fixing, or removing from <literal>testing</literal>) other packages to help complete a
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transition in which your package is entangled due to its dependencies. The
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release team might provide you some input on the current blockers of a
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given transition if you are not able to identify them.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="maintain-stable">
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<title>Maintain packages in <literal>stable</literal></title>
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<para>
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Most of the package maintainer's work goes into providing updated
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versions of packages in <literal>unstable</literal>, but their job also entails taking care
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of the packages in the current <literal>stable</literal> release.
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</para>
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<para>
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While changes in <literal>stable</literal> are discouraged, they are possible. Whenever a
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security problem is reported, you should collaborate with the security
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team to provide a fixed version (see <xref linkend="bug-security"/>). When
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bugs of severity important (or more) are reported against the <literal>stable</literal>
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version of your packages, you should consider providing a targeted fix.
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You can ask the <literal>stable</literal> release team whether they would accept such an
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update and then prepare a <literal>stable</literal> upload (see <xref
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linkend="upload-stable"/>).
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="rc-bugs">
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<title>Manage release-critical bugs</title>
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<para>
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Generally you should deal with bug reports on your packages as described in
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<xref linkend="bug-handling"/>. However, there's a special category of bugs
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that you need to take care of — the so-called release-critical bugs (RC
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bugs). All bug reports that have severity <literal>critical</literal>,
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<literal>grave</literal> or <literal>serious</literal> make the package
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unsuitable for inclusion in the next <literal>stable</literal> release.
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They can thus delay the Debian release (when they affect a package in
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<literal>testing</literal>) or block migrations to <literal>testing</literal> (when they only affect the package
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in <literal>unstable</literal>). In the worst scenario, they will lead to the package's
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removal. That's why these bugs need to be corrected as quickly as possible.
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</para>
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<para>
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If, for any reason, you aren't able fix an RC bug in a
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package of yours within 2 weeks (for example due to time constraints, or
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because it's difficult to fix), you should mention it clearly in the
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bug report and you should tag the bug <literal>help</literal> to invite other
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volunteers to chime in. Be aware that RC bugs are frequently the targets
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of Non-Maintainer Uploads (see <xref linkend="nmu"/>) because they
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can block the <literal>testing</literal> migration of many packages.
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</para>
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<para>
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Lack of attention to RC bugs is often interpreted by the QA team as a sign
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that the maintainer has disappeared without properly orphaning their package.
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The MIA team might also get involved, which could result in your packages
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being orphaned (see <xref linkend="mia-qa" />).
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="upstream-coordination">
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<title>Coordination with upstream developers</title>
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<para>
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A big part of your job as Debian maintainer will be to stay in contact with the
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upstream developers. Debian users will sometimes report bugs that are not
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specific to Debian to our bug tracking system. You have to forward these bug
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reports to the upstream developers so that they can be fixed in a future
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upstream release.
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</para>
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<para>
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While it's not your job to fix non-Debian specific bugs, you may freely do so
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if you're able. When you make such fixes, be sure to pass them on to the
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upstream maintainers as well. Debian users and developers will sometimes
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submit patches to fix upstream bugs — you should evaluate and forward these
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patches upstream.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you need to modify the upstream sources in order to build a policy compliant
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package, then you should propose a nice fix to the upstream developers which
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can be included there, so that you won't have to modify the sources of the next
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upstream version. Whatever changes you need, always try not to fork from the
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upstream sources.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you find that the upstream developers are or become hostile towards Debian
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or the free software community, you may want to re-consider the need to
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include the software in Debian. Sometimes the social cost to the
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Debian community is not worth the benefits the software may bring.
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section id="administrative-duties">
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<title>Administrative Duties</title>
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<para>A project of the size of Debian relies on some administrative
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infrastructure to keep track of everything. As a project member, you
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have some duties to ensure everything keeps running smoothly.</para>
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<section id="user-maint">
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<title>Maintaining your Debian information</title>
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<para>
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There's a LDAP database containing information about Debian developers at
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<ulink url="&url-debian-db;"></ulink>. You should enter your
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information there and update it as it changes. Most notably, make sure that
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the address where your debian.org email gets forwarded to is always up to date,
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as well as the address where you get your debian-private subscription if you
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choose to subscribe there.
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</para>
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<para>
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For more information about the database, please see <xref linkend="devel-db"/>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="key-maint">
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<title>Maintaining your public key</title>
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<para>
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Be very careful with your private keys. Do not place them on any public
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servers or multiuser machines, such as the Debian servers (see <xref
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linkend="server-machines"/>). Back your keys up; keep a copy offline. Read
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the documentation that comes with your software; read the <ulink
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url="&url-pgp-faq;">PGP FAQ</ulink>.
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</para>
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<para>
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You need to ensure not only that your key is secure against being stolen, but
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also that it is secure against being lost. Generate and make a copy (best also
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in paper form) of your revocation certificate; this is needed if your key is
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lost.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you add signatures to your public key, or add user identities, you can
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update the Debian key ring by sending your key to the key server at
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<literal>&keyserver-host;</literal>.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you need to add a completely new key or remove an old key, you need to get
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the new key signed by another developer. If the old key is compromised or
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invalid, you also have to add the revocation certificate. If there is no real
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reason for a new key, the Keyring Maintainers might reject the new key.
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Details can be found at <ulink
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url="http://&keyserver-host;/replacing_keys.html"></ulink>.
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</para>
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<para>
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The same key extraction routines discussed in <xref linkend="registering"/>
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apply.
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</para>
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<para>
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You can find a more in-depth discussion of Debian key maintenance in the
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documentation of the <systemitem role="package">debian-keyring</systemitem>
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package.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="voting">
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<title>Voting</title>
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<para>
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Even though Debian isn't really a democracy, we use a democratic process to
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elect our leaders and to approve general resolutions. These procedures are
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defined by the <ulink url="&url-constitution;">Debian
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Constitution</ulink>.
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</para>
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<para>
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Other than the yearly leader election, votes are not routinely held, and they
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are not undertaken lightly. Each proposal is first discussed on the
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&email-debian-vote; mailing list and it requires several
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endorsements before the project secretary starts the voting procedure.
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</para>
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<para>
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You don't have to track the pre-vote discussions, as the secretary will issue
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several calls for votes on &email-debian-devel-announce; (and
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all developers are expected to be subscribed to that list). Democracy doesn't
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work well if people don't take part in the vote, which is why we encourage all
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developers to vote. Voting is conducted via GPG-signed/encrypted email
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messages.
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</para>
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<para>
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The list of all proposals (past and current) is available on the <ulink
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url="&url-vote;">Debian Voting Information</ulink> page, along
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with information on how to make, second and vote on proposals.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="inform-vacation">
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<title>Going on vacation gracefully</title>
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<para>
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It is common for developers to have periods of absence, whether those are
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planned vacations or simply being buried in other work. The important thing to
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notice is that other developers need to know that you're on vacation so that
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they can do whatever is needed if a problem occurs with your packages or other
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duties in the project.
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</para>
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<para>
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Usually this means that other developers are allowed to NMU (see <xref
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linkend="nmu"/>) your package if a big problem (release critical bug, security
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update, etc.) occurs while you're on vacation. Sometimes it's nothing as
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critical as that, but it's still appropriate to let others know that you're
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unavailable.
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</para>
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<para>
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In order to inform the other developers, there are two things that you should
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do. First send a mail to <email>debian-private@&lists-host;</email> with
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[VAC] prepended to the subject of your message<footnote><para> This is so that
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the message can be easily filtered by people who don't want to read vacation
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notices. </para> </footnote> and state the period of time when you will be on
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vacation. You can also give some special instructions on what to do if a
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problem occurs.
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</para>
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<para>
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The other thing to do is to mark yourself as on vacation in the
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<link linkend="devel-db">Debian developers' LDAP database</link> (this
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information is only accessible to Debian developers). Don't forget to remove
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the on vacation flag when you come back!
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</para>
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<para>
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Ideally, you should sign up at the <ulink
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url="&url-gpg-coord;">GPG coordination pages</ulink> when booking a
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holiday and check if anyone there is looking for signing. This is especially
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important when people go to exotic places where we don't have any developers
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yet but where there are people who are interested in applying.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="s3.7">
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<title>Retiring</title>
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<para>
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If you choose to leave the Debian project, you should make sure you do the
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following steps:
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</para>
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<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Orphan all your packages, as described in <xref linkend="orphaning"/>.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Send an gpg-signed email about why you are leaving the project to
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<email>debian-private@&lists-host;</email>.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Notify the Debian key ring maintainers that you are leaving by opening a ticket
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in Debian RT by sending a mail to &email-keyring; with the words 'Debian
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RT' somewhere in the subject line (case doesn't matter).
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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<para>
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It is important that the above process is followed, because finding inactive
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developers and orphaning their packages takes significant time and effort.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="returning">
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<title>Returning after retirement</title>
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<para>
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A retired developer's account is marked as "emeritus" when the process in
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<xref linkend="s3.7"/> is followed, and "disabled" otherwise. Retired
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developers with an "emeritus" account can get their account re-activated as
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follows:
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</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Contact &email-debian-account-manager;.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Go through a shortened NM process (to ensure that the returning developer
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still knows important parts of P&P and T&S).
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Prove that they still control the GPG key associated with the account, or
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provide proof of identify on a new GPG key, with at least two signatures from
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other developers.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<para>
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Retired developers with a "disabled" account need to go through NM again.
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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</chapter>
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