Re: Some Changes to GNOME Security Tracking

[Sebastian Pipping <sebastian () pipping org>]

On 8/3/26 18:33, David A. Wheeler wrote:
> On Jul 31, 2026, at 12:42 PM, Eli Schwartz <eschwartz () gentoo org> wrote:
> > > I heard that the Linux Foundation has declared the danger of "AI
> > > vulnerabilities" is so great that they are founding a group called
> > > Akrites, devoted to coordinating security incident response. ... If projects don't fix their
> > > software "fast enough", Akrites will declare themselves the "maintainer
> > > of last resort" to publish a fixed version.
>
> Please allow me to point you to the actual announcement & project page,
> which explains what is *actually* going on instead.
>
> The Akrites announcement here:
> https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-and-industry-leaders-launch-akrites-to-defend-critical-open-source-software-against-ai-enabled-cyber-threats
> instead says, "Bug fixes flow back into each project’s original home, on maintainers’ terms. Where a critical package HAS NO 
> ACTIVE MAINTAINER [emphasis mine], Akrites will serve as maintainer of last resort so fixes to the latest version reach everyone 
> in a timely fashion."
>
> Note that the "last resort" ONLY applies when there is NO active maintainer.

I would like to note that it says "no active maintainer" rather than
"no maintainer" so this now depends on the definition of "active"
and e.g. how many weeks of no fix or say no overall Git activity it
would take for a maintainer to be considered inactive by Akrites.
Would be great if that could be clarified, officially.