`dep` has subsystem maintainers; this guide is intended for them in performing their work as a maintainer.
### General guidelines
* _Be kind, respectful, and inclusive_. Really live [that CoC](https://github.com/golang/dep/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). We've developed a reputation as one of the most welcoming and supportive project environments in the Go community, and we want to keep that up!
* The lines of responsibility between maintainership areas can be fuzzy. Get to know your fellow maintainers - it's important to work _with_ them when an issue falls in this grey area.
* Remember, the long-term goal of `dep` is to disappear into the `go` toolchain. That's going to be a challenging process, no matter what. Minimizing that eventual difficulty should be a guiding light for all your decisions today.
* Try to match the toolchain's assumptions as closely as possible ([example](https://github.com/golang/dep/issues/564#issuecomment-300994599)), and avoid introducing new rules the toolchain would later have to incorporate.
* Every new flag or option in the metadata files is more exposed surface area that demands conversion later. Only add these with a clear design plan.
*`dep` is experimental, but increasingly only on a larger scale. Experiments need clear hypotheses and parameters for testing - nothing off-the-cuff.
* Being a maintainer doesn't mean you're always right. Admitting when you've made a mistake keeps the code flowing, the environment health, and the respect level up.
* It's fine if you need to step back from maintainership responsibilities - just, please, don't fade away! Let other maintainers know what's going on.
### Issue management
* We use [Zenhub](https://www.zenhub.com) to manage the queue, in addition to what we do with labels.
* **New Issues Pipeline**: When someone creates a new issue, it goes here first. Keep an eye out for issues that fall into your area. Add labels to them, and if it's something we should do, put it in the `Backlog` pipeline. If you aren't sure, throw it in the `Icebox`. It helps to sort this pipeline by date.
* **Icebox Pipeline**: Issues that we aren't immediately closing but aren't really ready to be prioritized and started on. It's not a wontfix bucket, but a "not sure if we should/can fix right now" bucket.
* **Backlog Pipeline**: Issues that we know we want to tackle. You can drag/drop up and down to prioritize issues.
* Marking dependencies/blockers is also quite useful where appropriate; please do that.
* We use epics and milestones in roughly the same way (because OSS projects don't have real sprints). Epics should be duplicated as milestones; if there's a main epic issue, it should contain a checklist of the relevant issues to complete it.
* The `area:` labels correspond to maintainership areas. Apply yours to any issues or PRs that fall under your purview. It's to be expected that multiple `area:` labels may be applied to a single issue.
* The [`help wanted`](https://github.com/golang/dep/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22help+wanted%22) and [`good first issue`](https://github.com/golang/dep/labels/good%20first%20issue) labels are two of our most important tools for making the project accessible to newcomers - a key goal for our community. Here's how to use them well.
*`good-first-pr` should be applied when there's a very straightforward, self-contained task that is very unlikely to have any hidden complexity. The real purpose of these is to provide a "chink in the armor", providing newcomers a lens through which to start understanding the project.
*`help-wanted` should be applied to issues where there's a clear, stated goal, there is at most one significant question that needs answering, and it looks like the implementation won't be inordinately difficult, or disruptive to other parts of the system.
