[FFmpeg-devel] [RFC] the role of maintainers

[Anton Khirnov]

Hi,
during the recent discussion on git repo push rights vs maintainership
there was some disagreement on what does (or should) it mean to be a
maintainer of a piece of code. It seems that different people have very
different ideas on this, so I think it would be good to reach some kind
of consensus.

I propose that people submit their opinions on what the rights and
responsibilities of a maintainer should be to this thread, so their
relative merits can be discussed.
The we have a GA vote, and write down the result in the dev rules.

To start, some of the specific questions that I believe should be
considered are:
1. Should the concept of maintainership exist at all? Does it serve a
   useful purpose? If so, what is it?
(further questions assume that the answer to 1. is yes)
2. Should maintainers automatically get git push access?
3. Should maintainers be allowed to push to their code without sending
   patches for review?
4. How much control do maintainers get over their code. Can they
   override other developers' opinions or is the role merely advisory?
5. Do maintainers have duties? E.g. are they required to fix bugs in
   their code, perform reviews, etc. Do they lose maintainership if they
   fail to perform those?

Cheers,
-- 
Anton Khirnov