Ubuntu Wiki

"REVU is a web-based tool with which contributors may show package changes to Ubuntu Developers for review and inclusion into Ubuntu." (1)

"New MOTU contributors (who are not members of the MOTU team yet), need to get their packages reviewed and signed off by two Ubuntu Developers to get them uploaded to Ubuntu." (2)

Currently, REVU has many new packages being uploaded to it, but very few Ubuntu Developers taking time to actually review the packages. This causes packages to stay on REVU for months without any comments.

For the lucky packages that do manage to get reviewed and uploaded into the repositories, they are maintained by the Ubuntu Developers. This means that the task of patching bugs and keeping the package updated falls on the Ubuntu Developers.

My proposal is to require most new packages to enter Ubuntu via Debian. There are several benefits to this idea.

• The package would have a maintainer who would take care of patching and updating the package
• The package would be available to the thousands of Debian users, which would allow us to catch and fix bugs faster.
• Many more developers available to review and sponsor the packages
• Many Debian development teams to help maintain the packages

Not all packages would be required to go through Debian first. There are several packages that are designed only for Ubuntu, or that are not allowed to enter Debian but are fine for Ubuntu. These packages would be able to go through the traditional REVU process. There also might be certain periods of time during the Debian release cycle where getting a new package into unstable might become a difficult task. During these periods of time, we would also allow REVU to be used. Aside from some of these special instances, packages would not be uploaded to REVU. As a result, it is very practical that REVU might be empty or nearly empty. This should make it much easier for the few special packages to get reviewed and uploaded.

Some people might be concerned that by doing this, we would simply be moving packages from REVU to mentors.debian.net, and not solving any problems. This is not the case. For one thing, Debian only requires one Debian Developer to sponsor the package, where Ubuntu requires two. Debian also has more developers available to help review packages. Finally, packagers should be contacting the relevant Debian packaging teams. For instance, if a Perl module is packaged, the pkg-perl team should be contacted. This will lead to faster uploads, and higher quality packages.

1. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Packages/REVU
2. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDevelopment/NewPackages