Dear Marc, Pascal, and the Packman Team, Thank you for your 25 years of incredible service to the openSUSE community. I read your announcement regarding the plans to step down by the end of 2026, and I would love to step forward to keep the Packman project alive.
I am a software developer based in Azerbaijan. Because of my location, I cannot provide physical hardware maintenance or financial coverage for hosting out of pocket. However, I want to propose an operational model that could completely solve the maintainer shortage using modern AI automation. My plan is to act as the primary remote maintainer and project lead, utilizing an agentic pipeline powered by cloud AI models and local LLMs to handle the day-to-day work. This automated stack will:Monitor upstream multimedia updates (FFmpeg, VLC, SVT-AV1, etc.).Automatically update and adjust RPM .spec files and package dependencies.Assist in troubleshooting C/C++ compilation errors during the build process. Publish verified updates straight to the repositories with my direct human-in-the-loop oversight.For this transition to work and keep Packman alive, I would need to keep the infrastructure fully separated from my personal location and finances. Could you please let me know: Current Infrastructure Status: Is the project's Open Build Service (OBS) instance and main repository server currently fully covered by external sponsors, universities, or corporate donors?Sponsorship Transfer: If I take over the administration and release management, can the existing server hosting agreements and donor relationships remain active and be transferred under my management? Transition Process: If the community infrastructure remains funded by the current sponsors, what are the next steps to begin a transition period so I can start learning the current repository hooks?Using AI as a force multiplier, I believe we can keep Packman running smoothly for the openSUSE community without placing a heavy, manual workload on a traditional human team.I look forward to hearing your thoughts on whether this setup is possible. Best regards, Emin Mammadov, Baku, Azerbaijan [https://drmbios.github.io/pydev] _______________________________________________ Packman mailing list [email protected] https://lists.links2linux.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/packman
