[FFmpeg-devel] [RFC] MAINTAINERS cleanup

[Paul B Mahol]

On 6/11/16, Michael Niedermayer <michael at niedermayer.cc> wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 01:55:01PM +0200, Clement Boesch wrote:
>> On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 12:57:13PM +0200, Michael Niedermayer wrote:
>> > Hi
>> >
>> > the MAINTAINERs file contains a bunch of inaccurate and outdated
>> > entries.
>> >
>> > What should be done about this ?
>> > should we remove everyone who was inactive in FFmpeg
>> > (aka no commit/author since 2 years) as in git log --first-parent ... ?
>> > should we mark everyone above as inactive instead like "(inactive)"
>> >
>> > shuuld someone send mails to everyone and ask if they stil maintain
>> > the code they are listed for ?
>> >
>>
>> I'd say at most 30% of the file is still accurate, which means 70% of the
>> file could be dropped. And then we'll see that it's so small the file is
>> mostly irrelevant.
>>
>> Now I'd rather have the file used as a "community profile" to look for
>> qualified people in the various area of the project; or said differently,
>> keep only applications, misc areas, communication, generic parts entries.
>>
>> I feel like this file had for mission to be used as an argument to make
>> sure people are indeed responsible for their code (as in "hey you're the
>> maintainer of X, please review my patch"). Does it work? Did it in the
>> past?
>
> The file serves as the foundation of "who has/should have/needs
> git write access" and who has op on IRC
> (this works and worked)
>
> It serves as a list of arbiters case of disagreement
> (that wasnt used much at least not litterally)
>
> Without a MAINTAINERs file git write access and irc op could become
> more disputable
>
> I do like the unwritten? rule of
> "if you maintain some code you have the last word about it"
> "if you maintain some code you have git write access"
> "if someone disagrees about someone else maintaining then he better
>  volunteers himself to do a better job"
>
> Now, if you look at the people who left FFmpeg over the years, i
> think in many if not most cases it involved prior conflicts with other
> developers over the area they worked on.
> so the idea of
> "if you maintain some code you have the last word about it"
> is IMO important, this doesnt strictly need a maintainers file of
> course.
> But many people work on what is fun for them, and while removing the
> file or chageing its meaning doesnt directly change that, i think we
> should be carefull to avoid creating a difference between the people
> actively working on the code and the ones being in charge about the
> code in question.
>
> [...]
>
> --
> Michael     GnuPG fingerprint: 9FF2128B147EF6730BADF133611EC787040B0FAB
>
> Dictatorship: All citizens are under surveillance, all their steps and
> actions recorded, for the politicians to enforce control.
> Democracy: All politicians are under surveillance, all their steps and
> actions recorded, for the citizens to enforce control.
>

If this file is not going to be cleaned up it should be removed.