Nixpkgs Maintainer Roles, Responsibilities, and Tools

# Nixpkgs Maintainers Unlike other packaging ecosystems, the maintainer doesn't have exclusive control over the packages and modules they maintain. This more fluid approach is one reason why we scale to so many packages. ## Definition and role of the maintainer The main responsibility of a maintainer is to keep the packages they maintain in a functioning state, and keep up with updates. In order to do that, they are empowered to make decisions over the packages they maintain. That being said, the maintainer is not alone proposing changes to the packages. Anybody (both bots and humans) can send PRs to bump or tweak the package. We also allow other non-maintainer committers to merge changes to the package, provided enough time and priority has been given to the maintainer. For most packages, we expect committers to wait at least a week before merging changes not endorsed by a package maintainer (which may be themselves). This should leave enough time for the maintainers to provide feedback. For critical packages, this convention needs to be negotiated with the maintainer. A critical package is one that causes mass-rebuild, or where an author is listed in the [`OWNERS`](../ci/OWNERS) file. In case of critical security updates, the [security team](https://nixos.org/community/teams/security) might override these heuristics in order to get the fixes in as fast as possible. In case of conflict, the maintainer takes priority and is allowed to revert the changes. This can happen for example if the maintainer was on holiday. ### How to become a maintainer We encourage people who care about a package to assign themselves as a maintainer. Commit access to the Nixpkgs repository is not required for that. In order to do so, add yourself to the [`maintainer-list.nix`](./maintainer-list.nix), and then to the desired package's `meta.maintainers` list, and send a PR with the changes. If you're adding yourself as a maintainer as part of another PR (in which you become a maintainer of a package, for example), make your change to `maintainer-list.nix` in a separate commit titled `maintainers: add <name>`. ### Losing maintainer status Maintainers who have become inactive can be removed. This helps us keep an accurate view of the state of maintenance in Nixpkgs. The inactivity measure is currently not strictly enforced. We would typically look at it if we notice that the author hasn't reacted to package-related notifications for more than 3 months. Removing the maintainer happens by making a PR, adding that person as a reviewer, and then waiting a week for a reaction. The maintainer is welcome to come back at any time. ## Tools for maintainers When a pull request is made against a package, nixpkgs CI will notify the appropriate maintainer(s) by trying to correlate the files the PR touches with the packages that need rebuilding. This process is subject to error however, so we encourage PR authors to notify the appropriate people. Maintainers can also invoke the [nixpkgs-merge-bot](https://github.com/nixos/nixpkgs-merge-bot) to merge pull requests targeting packages they are the maintainer of, which satisfy the current security [constraints](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs-merge-bot/blob/main/README.md#constraints). Examples: [#397273](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/397273#issuecomment-2789382120) and [#377027](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/377027#issuecomment-2614510869) New maintainers will automatically get invited to join the [NixOS/nixpkgs-maintainers](https://github.com/orgs/NixOS/teams/nixpkgs-maintainers) GitHub team. By joining, you will get some triaging rights in the nixpkgs repository, like the ability to close and reopen issues made by others, and managing labels. However, the GitHub team invite is usually only sent by email, and is only valid for one week! Should it expire, please ask for a re-invite in the [GitHub org owners help desk Matrix channel](https://matrix.to/#/#org_owners:nixos.org). ### Unofficial maintainer tooling

This section details the role and responsibilities of Nixpkgs maintainers, highlighting a fluid approach where they don't have exclusive control but are empowered to keep packages functioning and updated. Anyone can propose changes, and non-maintainer committers can merge them after a waiting period, with maintainers retaining priority in conflicts. It outlines the process for becoming a maintainer (adding oneself to relevant lists via PR), losing maintainer status due to inactivity, and the tools available to them, such as CI notifications, the `nixpkgs-merge-bot`, and triaging rights via the `NixOS/nixpkgs-maintainers` GitHub team.