[MIR] python-public as dependency of mailman3

[Christian Ehrhardt ]

[Availability]
The package is already universe for quite a while and build/works fine so far.
It builds amd64 only (but binary is arch-all)
This package builds only python3 related binaries.

[Rationale]
This is part of the MIR activity for all dependencies of mailman3
The "main" MIR of it is at bug 1775427:

Mailman (2) has only python2 support, but we strive for python3,
therefore Mailman3 which has python3 support should be promoted to main.

[Security]

No known CVEs found.

[Quality assurance]

As part of the mailman3 stacks as of now (Disco) this installs fine and works fine.
On itself it is useful to (many) other dependencies and does not need a post install configuration on its own.

The package does not ask debconf questions.

Zero known bugs in Ubuntu and Debian for this component.
Nor are there any at the upstream project, but that just recently switched to a new hosting and versioning scheme - so there might be old bugs not here yet.

The package got no Debian nor Upstream updates since its few uploads to add it to the archive.
There are newer upstream versions thou see https://pypi.org/project/public/#history
IMHO This doesn't stop the MIRing but I've added a task to check feasability of updating it to our list.

No exotic HW involved.

The package utilizes build time self tests.
The package also has (rather trivial) autopkgtests.

d/watch is set up and ok.

No Lintian warning except newer Standards/Compat versions and no HTTPS links uses or GPG checks - nothing severe.
VCS still refers to anonscm.debian.org

The package does not rely on demoted or obsolete packages.
No new gt2k dependencies

[UI standards]

This is a low level library without (a lot) of user visible strings - no translations (needed).
No End-user applications that needs a standard conformant desktop file.

[Dependencies]

Some dependencies are not in main, but we drive MIR for all related packages
that are not in main at the same time.
Please check the list of bugs from the main Mailman3 MIR in bug 1775427 to get an overview.

[Standards compliance]
The package meets the FHS and Debian Policy standards.
The packaging itself is very straight forward and uses dh_* as much as possible - the d/rules fits on one screen.

[Maintenance]

The Server team will subscribe for the package for maintenance, but in
general it seems low on updates and currently is a sync from Debian.

[Background]
The package description explains the general purpose and context of the package well.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

[Duplication]
No duplication of that functionality in the Archive in general or main in particular.

[Embedded sources and static linking]
This package does not contain embedded library sources.
This package does not statically link to libraries.
No Go package

[Security]
I can confirm that there seems to be no CVE/Security history for this package.
It Does not:
- run a daemon as root
- uses old webkit
- uses lib*v8 directly
- open a port
- integrates arbitrary javascript into the desktop
- processes arbitrary web content
- parse data formats
- deals with system authentication
- uses centralized online accounts

[Common blockers]
- builds fine at the moment
- server Team committed to subscribe once this gets promoted (enough for now)
- code is not user visible, no translation needed
- dh_python is used
- package produces python2 bits, but they are not pulled into main by mailman3
- does utilize build time self tests and autopkgtests

[Packaging red flags]
- no current ubuntu Delta to evaluate
- no library with classic symbol tracking
- watch file is present
- Lintian warnings are present but ok
- debian/rules is rather clean
- no usage of Built-Using
- no golang package that would make things harder

[Upstream red flags]
- no suspicious errors during build
- it is pure python, so no incautious use of malloc/sprintf
- no use of sudo, gksu
- no use of pkexec
- no use of LD_LIBRARY_PATH
- no important open bugs
- no Dependency on webkit, qtwebkit, libgoa-*
- no embedded copies in upstream either

[Summary]
Ack from the MIR-Teams POV, as outlined above a security review is not needed in this case.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

After evaluating dependencies, required further changes and mostly maintainability for security and packaging it was decided there are too many concerns - not about any single package in particular, but the overall Mailman3 stack - about the ability to maintain and monitor it as well as we need it for support in main.

We have closed the primary LP bug already, the MIRs that are already approved - like this one - will stay that way, but we will make no seed change to pull things in for now. Yet if other needs come up for those they have a prepared MIR already.
Other bugs which are not yet completed in terms of review will be closed as Won't Fix.

Even thou it ended being aborted, I think that is a valid outcome of the MIR evaluations. Never the less I want to thank everybody involved for all the work spent in what was nearly a year working through these MIRs.