I recently saw this announcement on wikitech-l about User:Krenair getting +2 status on MW core and extensions and I wanted to send out some more information on what +2 is and the process of becoming a core maintainer. I think it might be useful for some of you to consider working towards +2. Here is some more info on what +2 status is. To be granted +2 status you need to post a request here and be approved.

So, you got +2 rights to MediaWiki core or a WMF-deployed extension.

That means you can merge changes to the software that's running on Wikimedia Foundation sites. Your change will be automatically deployed to the beta cluster, a virtualized staging environment, as soon as it's been merged in Gerrit. It will also be automatically picked up in the next MediaWiki core deployment window (see wikitech:Deployments) unless it is reverted before the release branch is cut.

You can get +2 on specific extensions as well if you wish, which will let you maintain those only. This is usually much easier, especially if its a poorly maintained extensions, than getting +2 access to core, so it might be a good starting point.

I heard from a few of you that the third-party community is lacking code review support, which prevents some from merging their code with MW. There is a misconception that all or almost all +2 users are employees of WMF. In fact there are now( with Krenair) 9 non-WMF developers with +2 status on core and WMF is looking to expand the +2 group to minimize code review delays. It took Krenair 1 year of MW development to get to +2 so the process is not overwhelmingly long.

If you are interested to become a core maintainer or get ownership on some extension, please consider joining the LevelUp mentorship program, where you will be matched with a mentor to guide you in the process.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Mariya