Elena ``of Valhalla'' on Nostr: Rue Mohr Liam Proven in case somebody is reading this and wondering, the process to ...

Rue Mohr (nprofile…mv7x) Liam Proven (nprofile…90e7)

in case somebody is reading this and wondering, the process to start contributing packaging work to Debian is more or less:

* at first you need to do some work, submit it to mentors (a platform and a mailing list) and get a Debian developer to vet it: this can be quite easy or quite hard, depending on how niche what you're working on is: finding a volunteer that feels confident working on a python module with common applications is much easier than finding one for something written in a niche language that is only relevant for a few people. There may be a bit of back and forth requiring changes to the package: Debian covers a number of non-obvious usecases, and providing packages for that requires more nuances than building a package that just works on one computer.

* continue working on it in time: maintaining a package is a long term commitment, not something that works well with hit and run contributions. While doing so you're likely to establish a working relationship with one or more DDs.

* this is where being able to travel (or living in Germany :D ) helps: then you need to connect your contributions to a GPG (not USB) key and long-term identity: the easiest way is to meet one or more Debian developers in person, chat a bit, and exchange cryptographic signatures on that key, but since 2020-ish (for obvious reasons) there is at least one alternate procedure where meeting is optional. Having the same name on the GPG key and a government issued ID makes the process easier, but is not mandatory either.

* once you have both an history of contributions and a signature you may be given permission to upload a small number of packages without supervision (Debian Maintainer)

* and after some time as a Debian Maintainer you may, after a bit of exam, become Debian Developer and get permission to upload anything, voting rights, and everything.

Honestly 3 years between the first contribution and becoming DDs sounds even a short time, unless somebody has a *lot* of time to contribute, but it's not like your contributions aren't getting into Debian during that time, they only need an extra step or a few because they have to be supervised.

(Also, if your contributions aren't packaging related the process is different, and depends on what they contributions are related to. And there is a way for people to get voting (but not uplading) rights without ever having to learn how to package, if they are contributing in different areas.)