decision process around adding packages to ubuntu repos

What gets "included" into the Ubuntu Deb repositories is actually pretty simple: It's what Debian has available for merging.

Early in each Release Cycle, during the Planning phase, the community of developers, engineers, and volunteers meet and agree on what version of each package will be in the next release. Usually, that version is simply what's currently in Debian Testing or Debian Unstable.

• While there can be disagreement in some of these discussion, there is rarely acrimony: Foo 1.2 simply isn't different enough from Foo 1.1 to get too excited. Also, the people in these planning sessions are the same developers, engineers, and volunteers who will do the actual work.

For complex projects (like Python), version planning occurs several cycles ahead so the workload matches the resources. It takes a lot of people working together to build and test a Python update!

Note that more community volunteers involved with Debian packaging results in a greater variety of software available in Ubuntu, and newer versions available sooner. Conversely, less volunteer participation means less software and older software. Packaging deb software is a great way to get involved, contribute to the community, and help others!