Re: The purpose of the core team - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 03:47:06PM -0300, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> Bruce Momjian wrote:
> >         http://www.postgresql.org/developer/core/

> After going over this a few times, there is one thing that strikes me
> that nobody has mentioned: the list of tasks mentioned there has one
> that's completely unlike the others.  These are related to human
> relations:
>
>     Acting as a conduit for confidential communication.
>     Making policy announcements.
>     Managing permissions for commits, infrastructure, etc.
>     Handling disciplinary issues.
>     Making difficult decisions when consensus is lacking.
>
> while this one is highly technical:
>     Coordinating release activities.

Quite so.  Deciding "it's time for a release" requires the same knowledge and
skills as deciding "it's time to commit patch P", yet we have a special-case
decision procedure.  A release does require people acting in concert for a
span of a few days, but that precise scheduling is work for an administrative
assistant, not work befitting -core.

> It seems that only this last one is where most people seem to have a
> problem.  I wonder if it makes sense to create a separate group that
> handles release activites -- the "release team."

I think the decision to initiate or revoke release scheduling belongs in the
same forum as patch development, usually -hackers or -security.  We'd need to
pick a way to clearly signal the discussion's conclusion, analogous to how a
pushed commit unambiguously disposes a patch proposal.  The balance of
coordinating release activities is mechanical, and -packagers seems adequate
for it.