There are two kinds of downstreams. When they see upstream struggling to finish a big project in time for release, one of them helps out to get it over the line, the other prepares to hold back packages.
Guess which one we need more of 🙃️
@tbernard Downstreams are as understaffed as everybody else and guess which of these approaches scales better.
Also, packaging and developing software are partially disjoint skill sets, so most people don't even have the *ability* to help out somewhere.
<1/2> Besides understaffed as everyone else, and most of them being volunteers as everyone else, including upstreams.
Some downstreams also have their own (and have the right to it) different release schedules from upstream.
But still I would make one difference in downstreams, in the case of something like a shell.
@tbernard
<2/2>
Downstreams that pretty much follow the vanilla upstream shell and report bugs and send patches for bugs.
And downstreams state they they want to have an influence in the shell design and "their concerns or different use cases" included.
That last case for me requires more involvement of the downstream in the process.
@piegames