Debian is polling its developers on whether to permit or ban "AI" contributions.
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Debian is polling its developers on whether to permit or ban "AI" contributions.
https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2026/08/msg00002.html
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@lproven debian has a ban on contributions in general, I have a few cool little command line utilities and programs I wanted to contribute and found out it would take a 3 year certification process where I had to travel around the world exchanging usb keys to be allowed to and would only succeed if , after it all, one of them was willing to 'bless' me.
I honestly have no idea how ANY of the packages in debian got there, but I can TOTALLY understand when projects host there own packages.
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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.)
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@RueNahcMohr @lproven I have contributed several things to Debian without becoming a Debian Maintainer or Developer. It really doesn't require any of the things mentioned.
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You were told earlier today, in this thread.
https://social.gl-como.it/display/3e3ce0df-156a-820f-9c4b-a0c112038808
What more do you want?
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@RueNahcMohr @dos @lproven no, they don't “create a ruccas”. they send *one* email to a mailing list (actually a ticket tracker than works via email, and then it's forwarded to a mailing list), and then they will have to read and react appropriately to some technical feedback.
And in case there is a generational misunderstanding at work here: “mailing list” doesn't mean “asymmetrical place where one person writes more or less marketing material so that a lot of people will read it”, but has the old meaning of “a place for asynchronous communication for a somewhat big community of more or less peers”.
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@valhalla @dos @lproven ok, not a public mailing list then.
"submit it to mentors (a platform and a mailing list)"
in this text, "mentors" and "platform" imply winding up a group of people on social media about how great your program is and that debian would be hopeless without it.
These are the challenges I had trying to figure out the process, which quickly spiraled into being a debian developer because nowhere did anyone just say "submit your package to this email address"
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@RueNahcMohr @dos @lproven technically the mailing list (and ticket tracker) are both public, with online archives that can be browsed to see what kind of messages are expected lists.debian.org/debian-mentor…
but it's not a place read by the general public, but by Debian Developers who are looking for package that require sponsors, and (hopefully) by people who are looking for a sponsor for their package.
mentors is also a platform as in “a website that provides a service” (I'm not a native English speaker, so maybe that's not the word you expected?): mentors.debian.net/ and it has documentation on how to use it to put your work somewhere where interested people can look at it, and on the process in general: mentors.debian.net/intro-maint…
Note that you will have to *describe* the package, but not to write marketing copy for it (with the amount of Debian developers who are on the spectrum that's not likely to receive good reactions :) )
