Developer Membership application process

Developer Membership Board (DMB) series

The article series covers the different Ubuntu developer memberships, their implied upload permissions, and the Developer Membership Board that governs them.

Developer roles:

DMB operations:

To become an Ubuntu Developer Member, or a developer of a delegated team for which the Developer Membership Board handles applications, you must apply via the process outlined on this page. The DMB covers applications for Ubuntu Contributing Developers, Per-Package Uploaders (PPU), packageset uploaders, Ubuntu Developers (from delegated teams), MOTU, SRU developers, and Ubuntu Core Developers (core-dev).

It can be difficult to know when you are ready to apply for uploader team membership. For some advice and guidance, check out the Aspects of a good DMB application page. To understand how the Ubuntu development skills map to the various uploader levels, you may also find it helpful to refer to DMB application knowledge requirements.

Application process overview

Training and preparation

The depth of your required learning depends on the upload rights you are applying for:

Create your Application on Discourse

Create a Discourse post to hold the details about you in the context of the Ubuntu project.

Note: If you already have a post from a former application, you can reuse it.

Collect endorsements

Collect endorsements from those who have worked with you.

Once you have enough endorsements - Reserve your agenda spot

Check the Developer Membership Board (DMB) agenda to see upcoming DMB meetings.

Only one application can be considered each meeting.

Note: Applications to Ubuntu Contributing Developers are handled only via the mailing list, therefore no agenda entry is needed for those (the DMB will vote as replies to your post to the devel-permissions@ mailing list).

Once you have an agenda spot - announce your application

Announce your application and selected meeting date by writing an email to the devel-permissions@ mailing list. Your email should include:

  • The link to your Discourse application page

  • The date you reserved for your meeting

  • A link to the meeting agenda

Attend your meeting

Then attend your meeting, answer questions, and receive your votes.

Create a Discourse post

Create (or update) a dedicated Discourse page for your application in the Developer Membership section.

The content of this page you should follow the Developer Application Template

Note

You can look at past applications if you need some examples.

Collect endorsements

To gain upload rights, you’ll need to collect endorsements from people who have sponsored your packages. Ask other developers to endorse your application by replying to your Discourse page.

A typical application has three to five endorsements. Developers who sponsored several uploads for you are good candidates. It’s good form to only ask people who have sponsored multiple packages for you, or that have worked with you on particularly tricky packaging efforts. You want to strike a good balance between quality and quantity here.

If you work for Canonical, ask in your team’s regular discussion channels, and individually contact each sponsor who is not in your team.

For applications for MOTU, you should seek endorsements from people who have reviewed or sponsored your packages, or worked with you on noteworthy packaging efforts. If you work for Canonical, seek out diversity in your endorsers by looking outside your immediate team. Since MOTU is more focused on community maintainers, their testimonials are of particular value. Even words from noteworthy Debian maintainers can carry weight for MOTU applications.

What to expect at the DMB meeting

All members of the development community are welcome to attend and ask questions, add your feedback (even if unsolicited) as comments to the application Discourse page or ask questions of an applicant on the devel-permissions mailing list.

Please note that anyone applying for an Ubuntu development team membership is required to have read and signed the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, as visible under https://launchpad.net/~<LPUSERNAME>/+codesofconduct.

The Developer Membership Board will have prepared for the meeting (reviewed the application details, checked a few examples of your work, talked to sponsors, etc.) and ask questions to make sure the applicant qualifies for the team. During the meeting the DMB members will cast their votes.

There is no mandatory abstinence of voters due to knowing the applicant – after all we are looking for just that: evidence and endorsements from people who know the applicant’s work and behavior. If a DMB member feels biased by having a personal relationship they can choose to abstain to avoid a conflict of interest.

If quorum is reached (4 of 7 currently), the applicant will be added to the requested team. If no approving quorum was reached the DMB members might, if possible, suggest what to study or work on, and ask the applicant to then re-apply in due time.

For part of the world (e.g APAC) where the DMB meeting times can be challenging to attend due to the timezone gap, note that the DMB usually tries to be accommodating. While the preference always remains the Matrix interview meeting, the DMB team can exceptionally do the interview by email if the applicant cannot make the regular meeting times. Please reach out to the DMB team to let them know if you fall into this category.

Debian Developers applying for Per-Package Upload rights

The DMB has established a procedure for interested Debian Developers to gain upload rights to their packages, on a dynamic and ongoing basis. That is, the list of packages one can upload can be further extended after the initial application to include other packages the Debian Developer maintains. This includes team-maintained packages.

To exercise this process, the Debian Developer should first be an existing Ubuntu developer, for example by applying for Per-Package Upload rights as per the above process or by joining the MOTU team if interest is broad. Subsequent changes are requested by mailing devel-permissions@lists.ubuntu.com listing the packages to add. This only requires one DMB member to agree in order to pass. If the “impact” of the packages changes – for example, one of the packages is part of release media for the first time – the DMB may wish to ask some further clarifying questions to satisfy itself that the Debian Developer is sufficiently familiar with the differences between Ubuntu and Debian to upload the package(s) in question without supervision.

Note

In Debian, there are some teams who maintain hundreds or even thousands of packages (e.g., the Python team owns over 3000 packges). If you as a Debian Developer decide you want upload rights for such a large a set of packages, for which a package set does not exist in Ubuntu, please consider applying for MOTU or Core Developer instead of using the policy described here. You may also want to go through another application if the usage of this policy would drastically increase the number of packages you have upload rights to. For instance, if you have Per-Package Upload rights to a single Go package, it may not be reasonable to use this policy to request access to all Debian Golang team packages given you are part of the Debian Golang team. When in doubt, please reach out to the DMB.

Applying for upload permissions which grant no further access

The DMB recognizes that individuals may wish to become members of teams they have no technical reason to want to join, so that they may feel explicitly included as a member of the team.

For such “social” applications, the DMB will expect to see evidence of a large degree of social involvement in the team. Examples include mentoring new contributors and discussing policy.

It would be helpful if applicants could seek endorsements from existing members of the team when applying.