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Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2026 19:17:37 +0100
To: Jordi Kroon <jordikroon@me.com>
Cc: php internals <internals@lists.php.net>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Release Manager Selection
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From: tim@bastelstu.be (=?UTF-8?Q?Tim_D=C3=BCsterhus?=)

Hi

Am 2026-03-28 11:56, schrieb Jordi Kroon:
> What was the initial idea to split between rookies and veterans?
> 
> As a candidate for 8.6 it feels as a chance/opportunity  to get more 
> involved, and to build up experience as a RM (and more) as opposed to a 
> veteran who already had the opportunity to do so.
> 
> With the new policy it would essentially allow only veterans to be RM 
> with 2 hands-on and 1 hands-off and perhaps include more favoritism to 
> a more experienced RM rather than someone with a clean record. The 
> terminology of rookie lowers the bar a little to allow this in my 
> opinion.

It is certainly not my intention to exclude “rookies” from the RM role. 
As I mentioned in my reply to Ben, the “term limit” in the policy 
explicitly exists to ensure that there won't be the same few folks every 
year. The policy just specifies a requirement of a veteran for the 
“off-hands” release manager, because they are only there for advice and 
backup purposes, which is a role that benefits from the veteran 
knowledge.

Given that this time we have two applications that would qualify as a 
veteran RM, I feel there is some ambiguity with setting up the vote that 
would not exist if folks would apply specifically for either “hands-on”, 
“hands-off” or “both”. As an example, did the veteran RMs only apply 
with the expectation that they would not be involved in the daily 
business (as was the case in the past few releases)? If more than one 
veteran would be voted in, would anyone of them want retract their 
application to “leave room” for a rookie? What if none of the veterans 
are amongst the first 3? With explicit “hands-on” and “hands-off” 
applications the “time investment” expectations are clear and it's also 
clear that it would be two separate votes, one selecting two “hands-on” 
release managers, one selecting a “hands-off” release manager (where 
only veterans may apply).

> The veteran is there to advise the others. I don’t see why this needs 
> to be hands-off. As long as there are always 2 hands-on available. So 
> to that I am in favour of Ben’s wording.

If all three RMs would be actively involved in the release process, I 
would want all three of them to be blocked from becoming RM for another 
release for the reasons I mentioned in my reply to Ben. My observations 
of the past several releases were that there already effectively was a 
“hands on” and “hands off” split, with the rookie RMs doing the daily 
business and the veteran RM not being actively involved (at least not 
publicly). Communication-wise as a core developer, I also feel that it 
was helpful to have just two direct and authoritative contacts in case 
of questions or when decisions need to be made where I could trust the 
opinion of any one of those two. If there were three active RMs, I feel 
like I would want a 2 of 3-person agreement, which just adds overhead to 
the communication.

Best regards
Tim Düsterhus