Optimizing the Debian packaging workflow for easier collaboration and fewer burnouts
As a long-term Debian community member I am concerned about the dropping number of active maintainers. When I have asked friends of mine why they stopped contributing to Debian, many have shared their frustration with ineffective processes and slow progress which made them feel their time is not well spent. When mentoring new contributors I often see people struggling with outdated and fragmented documentation, and the challenge to learn how to doto common and simple tasks in Debian packaging the right way. There is also a clear gap between a generation of developers who prefer email and IRC based collaboration, and a generation that feel more productive with browser based rich interfaces.
In this talk I present how I navigate this landscape, and how I structure my collaboration to be effective with various people using many different workflows, while at the same time having a clear, tried and tested workflow for myself, and how I help my mentees to learn Debian community and package maintenance work effectively.