add maintainers' handbook

write down the process we have been developing and following so far.

Co-Authored-By: Théophane Hufschmitt <theophane.hufschmitt@tweag.io>
Co-Authored-By: John Ericson <John.Ericson@Obsidian.Systems>

1 files changed, 79 insertions, 0 deletions

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+# Nix maintainers team
+
+## Motivation
+
+The goal of the team to help other people to contribute to Nix.
+
+## Members
+
+- Eelco Dolstra (@edolstra) – Team lead
+- Théophane Hufschmitt (@thufschmitt)
+- Valentin Gagarin (@fricklerhandwerk)
+- Thomas Bereknyei (@tomberek)
+- Robert Hensing (@roberth)
+
+## Meeting protocol
+
+The team meets twice a week:
+
+- Discussion meeting: [Fridays 12:00-13:00 UTC](https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?eid=MHNtOGVuNWtrZXNpZHR2bW1sM3QyN2ZjaGNfMjAyMjExMjVUMTIwMDAwWiBiOW81MmZvYnFqYWs4b3E4bGZraGczdDBxZ0Bn)
+
+  1. Triage issues and pull requests from the _No Status_ column (30 min)
+  2. Discuss issues and pull requests from the _To discuss_ column (30 min)
+
+- Work meeting: [Mondays 12:00-14:00 UTC](https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?eid=NTM1MG1wNGJnOGpmOTZhYms3bTB1bnY5cWxfMjAyMjExMjFUMTIwMDAwWiBiOW81MmZvYnFqYWs4b3E4bGZraGczdDBxZ0Bn)
+
+  1. Code review on pull requests from _In review_.
+  2. Other chores and tasks.
+
+Meeting notes are collected on a [collaborative scratchpad](https://pad.lassul.us/Cv7FpYx-Ri-4VjUykQOLAw), and published on Discourse under the [Nix category](https://discourse.nixos.org/c/dev/nix/50).
+
+## Project board protocol
+
+The team uses a [GitHub project board](https://github.com/orgs/NixOS/projects/19/views/1) for tracking its work.
+
+Issues on the board progress through the following states:
+
+- No Status
+
+  Team members can add pull requests or issues to discuss or review together.
+
+  During the discussion meeting, the team triages new items.
+  If there is disagreement on the general idea behind the issue or pull request, items are moved to _To discuss_, otherwise to _In review_.
+
+- To discuss
+
+  Pull requests and issues that are important and controverisal enough to warrant a discussion by the whole team.
+
+  This may be where the merit of the change itself or the implementation strategy is contested by a team member.
+
+- In review
+
+  Pull requests in this column are reviewed together during work meetings.
+  This is both for spreading implementation knowledge and for establishing common values in code reviews.
+
+  When the overall direction is agreed upon, even when further changes are required, the pull request is assigned to one team member.
+
+- Assigned for merging
+
+  One team member is assigned to each of these pull requests.
+  They will communicate with the authors, and make the final approval once all remaining issues are addressed.
+
+  If more substantive issues arise, the assignee can move the pull request back to _To discuss_ to involve the team again.
+
+The process is illustrated in the following diagram:
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+    discuss[To discuss]
+
+    review[To review]
+
+    New --> |Disagreement on idea| discuss
+    New & discuss --> |Consensus on idea| review
+
+    review --> |Consensus on implementation| Assigned
+
+    Assigned --> |Implementation issues arise| review
+    Assigned --> |Remaining issues fixed| Merged
+```