Hi,
I think that the root of our disagreement is that you are discussing how
things should be in an ideal world. Unfortunately, things are rarely
in an ideal state in Debian, and that's what often makes Debian so fun
and so frustrating at the same time.
I fully agree with you that in an ideal world, Debian should just define
an annual budget, including its contribution to DebConf, and that the
DPL shouldn't be involved past that initial budget allocation. However,
reality shows that during most recent editions of DebConf:
(1) Debian has had to commit more money than initially planned at some
point (or at least that was discussed during one of the numerous
budget crisis)
(2) the final numbers are quite different from what was initially
discussed (sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way)
So from my point of view, in reality approving the DebConf budget is not
so much about saying "Debian agrees to contribute up to x". It's more
about saying "Debian agrees to contribute up to x, and, given the
overall budget, is prepared to extend its commitment to what is
necessary so that we can have a successful DebConf."
Given that, looking only at history, it seems likely that the budget
will be discussed again, I think that it is desirable that the DPL is
involved right from the start. I understand that the DC15 team is trying
to do better, and I am very impressed by how things have been going on
so far. But still.
Lucas
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