What to do with sub projects that lose their last Maintainer?

[baentsch]

The project health discussion as well as my own temporary withdrawal from the project earlier this year makes me raise this question.

OQS has several sub projects fitting this bill already but none of them have documented GOVERNANCE.md files.

This issue therefore is to establish and eventually document a defined procedure for every OQS sub project for this event.

Strawman proposal:

1. Any project without GOVERNANCE.md file shall get a moniker "PROJECT INACTIVE", e.g., as https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/openssh: That's already the case.
2. Any project with GOVERNANCE.md file shall add the following text to the --then empty-- "Maintainer" role assignment: "This project is being carried forward on a best effort basis by its Committers but none can devote the time to act as Maintainer. The project therefore very much solicits new Contributors willing to gain sufficient familiarity with the code base such as to eventually act as Maintainer."
3. If the project also loses the last Committer, GOVERNANCE.md shall be deleted and case 1) apply.

The goal with this proposal is three-fold:

1. No Contributor shall feel obliged to take on the Maintainer role just because the role exists (or "to put in an appearance").
2. No User shall be misled to believe the project is being actively maintained by people with dedicated time for this when this is not factually correct.
3. The Committer community shall constantly strive to ensure there's a large enough pipeline of knowledgeable people with enough time and commitment to become Maintainer -- and ideally, have more than 1 at any one time.