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Debian New Maintainers

The Debian New Maintainer process, is the process of becoming an official Debian Developer (DD). These webpages are the place where prospective Debian Developers can find all the details on applying to become a DD, the different steps of the process, and how to track the process of their ongoing application.

The first important point to make is that you do not need to be an official Debian developer in order to help improving Debian. In fact, you should already have a track record of earlier contributions to Debian before you apply for the New Maintainer process.

Debian is an open community and welcomes everyone who wants to use or help improve our distribution. As a non-developer you can:

It is important to understand that the New Maintainer process is part of Debian's Quality Assurance efforts. It is hard to find developers who can spend enough time on their Debian tasks, so we find it important to checking that applicants are able to sustain their work, and do it well. Therefore we require that prospective developers have been actively involved in Debian for some time already.

Every Debian Developer:

In other words, becoming a Debian Developer grants you several important privileges regarding the project's infrastructure. Obviously this requires a great deal of trust in and commitment by the applicant.

Consequently the whole NM process is very strict and thorough. This is not meant to discourage people interested in becoming a registered developer, but it does explain why the New Maintainer process takes so much time.

Please read the glossary definitions before reading the rest of the pages.

The following pages will be of interest to Applicants:

If you are a Debian Developer, and are interested in participating in the New Maintainer process, please visit these pages:

Miscellaneous:

Glossary Definitions

Advocate:
A Debian Member that advocates an application. They should know the Applicant fairly well and should be able to give an overview of the Applicant's work, interests and plans. Advocates are often the Sponsors of an Applicant.
Applicant:
A person requesting membership in the Debian Project; prospective Debian developer.
Application Manager:
A Debian Member who is assigned to an Applicant to collect the information needed by the Debian Account Managers to decide about an application. One Application Manager can be assigned to more than one Applicant.
Debian Account Manager: <da-manager@debian.org>
A Debian Member that was delegated to manage the Debian Account creation and removal by the Debian Project Leader. The DAM has the final decision over an application.
The Debian Project:
An organization of free software developers spread around the world with a common goal, to produce a completely free operating system. See the Debian WWW pages for more information.
Front Desk: <new-maintainer@debian.org>
The Front Desk members receive the initial applications, advocation messages and final application reports. They are the point of contact if problems with the Application arise.
Member, Developer:
A Debian Project member, who has gone through the New Maintainer process and had their application accepted.
Sponsor:
A Debian Member who acts as the mentor of an Applicant: They check packages provided by the Applicant and help to find problems and to improve the packaging. When the sponsor is satisfied with the package, they upload it on behalf of the Applicant to the Debian archive. The Applicant is recorded as the maintainer of such a package, despite the fact Applicants aren't allowed to upload packages themselves.
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