Sponsoring Someone for Fedora Package Collection
Sponsoring someone for access to Fedora Package Collection is relatively simple. If you are looking for someone to sponsor, take a look at the Fedora Account system for contributors who are currently searching for a sponsor. Note that they should also have submitted a package review request for a package which they are proposing to add to Fedora on Red Hat Bugzilla. In this request they should write, that they need a sponsor.
Bugzilla will send a notification mail for the new review request to the fedora-package-review mailing list. Take a look at their package and review it. If it looks reasonable and it seems that the comply with the Packaging Guidelines , then they are probably a good candidate to be sponsored.
Add any comment for changes to the review request on Bugzilla which look as though they'd be needed for compliance as well as the fact that you're volunteering to sponsor them. Once they've made those changes, you can approve the package and click the appropriate link to sponsor them for access.
A new packager cannot, at this time, make changes to packages he does not own or comaintain until he applies to become a provenpackager but you should still keep an eye on them. You should be sure to review their commits to the CVS repository for how they look, and consider watching their Bugzilla activity at least for a while (Account->Email->Users to watch). Respond with any comments that you might have and guide them, providing assistance as they need it for any tasks.
So what's the downside to sponsoring someone? Your sponsoree will likely have questions about processes; one of your responsibilities as a sponsor is to help them with the answers. A sponsor isn't expected to be omniscient, though, so you can feel free to ask for others' advice and opinions if you get a really hard question. Sponsor responsibilities are detailed here.
Sponsoring provenpackagers
Provenpackagers have access to most packages. FESCo member should forward requests of provenpackagers to the sponsors mailing list where sponsors can give their advice on the provenpackager request. Provenpackagers nominate themselves, but having a sponsor endorse the nomination or proposing the packager to become a provenpackager (the packager should agree) is certainly a good thing.
By granting membership into provenpackager for a maintainer you are confirming that at least in your mind they meet the criteria for that group and that you would trust them fully with any of the packages you either maintain or even just use.
Provenpackagers are approved on at least 3 positive votes with no negative votes. In the event of negative votes, the decision will be made by FESCo at their next meeting. See the provenpackager description for more information.
Becoming a Fedora Package Collection Sponsor
Fedora Package Collection has been setup so to encourage "learning by doing" and the development of cooperative relationships between Fedora packagers. To date, advancement to a sponsorship position has been an undocumented yet somewhat formal process. Within the project, people have (and continue to!) develop reputations by creating packages, performing reviews, helping others with their questions, and generally doing what they can to advance/improve Fedora packaging.
When someone within the project has developed a "good reputation" (and this is admittedly a somewhat fuzzy definition!) then someone else will generally nominate them for sponsor status. You can also self-nominate if you feel you have the ability and want to take responsibility for helping train new packagers. Sponsors are also expected to be able to fulfill the sponsor responsibilities. Nominations should be filed in the FESCo Ticketing System. Nominations will be forward to the sponsors list, and with 3 positive and no negative votes the candidate will be approved. In the event of mixed votes (some positive and some negative), discussion and voting will be done by FESCO during the next Fedora Engineering Steering Committee meeting.
To find a potential sponsor, one should verify that the person is not a already a sponsor (list of packager sponsors). It is possible to use the following query for bugzilla, to get the submissions and reviews done by a potential sponsor, replacing somebody%40example.com with the appropriate email address, with %40 escaping @:
For submissions:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=Package%20Review&emailreporter1=1&emailtype1=exact&email1=somebody%40example.com
For reviews:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=Package%20Review&emailassigned_to1=1&emailtype1=exact&email1=somebody%40example.com
How To Get Sponsored
If you are looking for more information on getting sponsored yourself, take a look at the How_to_get_sponsored_into_the_packager_group wiki page.