[Ksummit-2013-discuss] [ATTEND] What to do when a maintainer is no longer available

Steven Rostedt rostedt at goodmis.org
Wed Jul 10 20:45:51 UTC 2013


Recently we lost a major Open Source developer to a tragic accident.
Seth Vidal wasn't a kernel developer, but his death reminds us of how
any one of us can leave this planet at any time. The end of last year, a
major kernel maintainer had an accident that caused him to leave the
community for several months.

As with all Open Source projects, the Linux kernel is not a product from
a company, but it comes from a community. A community made up of people,
where a single person has large control over vital parts of the kernel.
Some parts of the kernel is held by several people, but there are
several people that I could imagine would cause severe disruption if
something were to happen to them. Do we all have backups that can take
over if something unexpected happen to us?

We are not getting any younger. Life's reality is that we can perish at
any time. I would like to discuss ways that we can help the community to
move forward in case something happens to any one of us.

Perhaps we should all have someone as a backup? Let others know who you
trust to work as the maintainer if something were to happen to you. We
can have limits to what that person can do in case you are still around
but only monumentally incapacitated.

I rather have something in place before it happens. Unfortunately, it
will happen. It's just a matter of time.

-- Steve




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