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+.. _maintainers:
+
+The Role of Maintainers
+=======================
+
+Maintainers are a critical part of the project's contributor ecosystem.
+They come from a wide range of backgrounds from unpaid hobbyists
+working in their spare time to employees who work on the project as
+part of their job. Maintainer activities include:
+
+  - reviewing patches and suggesting changes
+  - collecting patches and preparing pull requests
+  - tending to the long term health of their area
+  - participating in other project activities
+
+They are also human and subject to the same pressures as everyone else
+including overload and burnout. Like everyone else they are subject
+to project's :ref:`code_of_conduct` and should also be exemplars of
+excellent community collaborators.
+
+The MAINTAINERS file
+--------------------
+
+The `MAINTAINERS
+<https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/blob/master/MAINTAINERS>`__
+file contains the canonical list of who is a maintainer. The file
+is machine readable so an appropriately configured git (see
+:ref:`cc_the_relevant_maintainer`) can automatically Cc them on
+patches that touch their area of code.
+
+The file also describes the status of the area of code to give an idea
+of how actively that section is maintained.
+
+.. list-table:: Meaning of support status in MAINTAINERS
+   :widths: 25 75
+   :header-rows: 1
+
+   * - Status
+     - Meaning
+   * - Supported
+     - Someone is actually paid to look after this.
+   * - Maintained
+     - Someone actually looks after it.
+   * - Odd Fixes
+     - It has a maintainer but they don't have time to do
+       much other than throw the odd patch in.
+   * - Orphan
+     - No current maintainer.
+   * - Obsolete
+     - Old obsolete code, should use something else.
+
+Please bear in mind that even if someone is paid to support something
+it does not mean they are paid to support you. This is open source and
+the code comes with no warranty and the project makes no guarantees
+about dealing with bugs or features requests.
+
+
+
+Becoming a reviewer
+-------------------
+
+Most maintainers start by becoming subsystem reviewers. While anyone
+is welcome to review code on the mailing list getting added to the
+MAINTAINERS file with a line like::
+
+  R: Random Hacker <rhacker@example.com>
+
+marks you as a 'designated reviewer' - expected to provide regular
+spontaneous feedback. This will ensure that patches touching a given
+subsystem will automatically be CC'd to you.
+
+Becoming a maintainer
+---------------------
+
+Maintainers are volunteers who put themselves forward or have been
+asked by others to keep an eye on an area of code. They have generally
+demonstrated to the community, usually via contributions and code
+reviews, that they have a good understanding of the subsystem. They
+are also trusted to make a positive contribution to the project and
+work well with the other contributors.
+
+The process is simple - simply send a patch to the list that updates
+the ``MAINTAINERS`` file. Sometimes this is done as part of a larger
+series when a new sub-system is being added to the code base. This can
+also be done by a retiring maintainer who nominates their replacement
+after discussion with other contributors.
+
+Once the patch is reviewed and merged the only other step is to make
+sure your GPG key is signed.
+
+.. _maintainer_keys:
+
+Maintainer GPG Keys
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+GPG is used to sign pull requests so they can be identified as really
+coming from the maintainer. If your key is not already signed by
+members of the QEMU community, you should make arrangements to attend
+a `KeySigningParty <https://wiki.qemu.org/KeySigningParty>`__ (for
+example at KVM Forum) or make alternative arrangements to have your
+key signed by an attendee. Key signing requires meeting another
+community member **in person** [#]_ so please make appropriate
+arrangements.
+
+.. [#] In recent pandemic times we have had to exercise some
+       flexibility here. Maintainers still need to sign their pull
+       requests though.