Let's pretend for the rest of this mail that I still don't know what happened in the elections between me and that NOTA bloke. Today is the last day of the current DPL term, so what could possibly be better than SPAM-ing all of you with a report of what happened in DPL land since last month? Highlights: DEX and the -devel/-project happy --------------------------------------------- I've a couple of highlights to share, since the last time you heard from me. The first one is the Debian dErivatives eXchange (DEX) initiative that has been announced a few weeks ago [1,2]. I've been working to set it up together with Matt Zimmerman---who surely deserves most of the credit---on and off since DebConf10. In the panorama of the various initiatives we have to collaborate among derivatives, DEX is meant to take a sort of "activist" role. People active in DEX will organize focused activities to integrate back into Debian proper differences which exist wrt other derivatives. Example activities will be identifying a specific set of patches or packages which are missing in Debian but available in a derivative and integrate them into Debian. With a first initiative almost completed, we now need various kind of helping hands. If you are interested in this topic, please subscribe to the debian-derivatives@lists.d.o mailing list and chime in there to: - name technical differences (please, be precise, no hand-waving) that need reconciliation with Debian proper - volunteer to coordinate a specific DEX activity - help with NMUs that might be needed when changes that need integration hit non-responsive maintainers. You might help by preparing, reviewing, and uploading NMUs (according to best practices, of course) I've also replied to various media queries [3,4] about DEX. [1] http://dex.alioth.debian.org/ [2] http://www.debian.org/News/2011/20110318 [3] http://www.muktware.com/n/18/2011/843/ubuntu-calls-home-work-closely-debian-announces-dex [4] http://www.itwire.com/opinion-and-analysis/open-sauce/45956-debian-launches-derivatives-exchange-project Another highlight since last report is surely the frenetic activity that the -devel and -project mailing lists are going through. While the load might be high, I encourage all of you to review ongoing discussions on important topics such as: source-only / throw-away uploads, time-based freezes, release goals (that you're welcome to propose!), /run support, blends/sub-project role in Debian web presence, etc. Let me also remind you that the Release Team is keen to receive feedback about last release cycle, in order to do even better in the next one. That's the chance to get past old itched and turn them into useful feedback. The Release Team requested feedback at <feedback@release.d.o>, and you can also participate in some of the threads above which are related to release procedures. Communication ------------- I've enjoyed spreading the Debian verb in a few occasions lately: - I've been interviewed by a Bosnian local team, excited by the forthcoming DebConf11 (publishing is forthcoming) - I've delivered the talk "Debian: 17 years of Free Software, do-ocracy, and democracy" in Taipei, Taiwan for the local SLAT association. (Event page [5] and slides [6] are available.) SLAT has also kindly prepared an honorary, who has been donated to support the Debian project, thanks! - An old FOSDEM interview about Debian and Squeeze has been aired today by Radio Campus Tours [7,8] (French only) Looking forward: - I'll be at LinuxTag in Berlin [9] to deliver on May 12nd the talk "Debian: 18 years and counting" - I'll then be in Athens on May 20-22 to talk at the annual conference of the Greek Free and Open Source Software Society [10] - I've been invited to attend the forthcoming Ubuntu Developer Summit [11], but due to a clash with the above I won't be able to attend. In case you are interested to attend and ready to be a Debian representative there please get in touch to me ASAP, so that I can consider delegating the task to you. [5] http://www.slat.org/slat//modules/eguide/event.php?eid=67 [6] http://git.upsilon.cc/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=talks/20110321-taipei.git [7] http://www.radiocampustours.com/2011/04/elangagement-4-le-fosdem/ [8] http://www.radiocampustours.com/media/podcast/elangagement/elangagement0411.mp3 [9] http://www.linuxtag.org/2011/ [10] http://www.ellak.gr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6874/ [11] http://uds.ubuntu.com/ Relationships with others ------------------------- As a Project, we have accepted the kind invitation of the GNOME Foundation to be present at the GNOME.Asia summit [12]. Josselin Mouette has been able to attend on behalf of Debian. His company, EDF, has also kindly accepted to sponsor his expenses; thanks to both! A report of Joss' attendance is available [13]. I've discussed a bit more about the relationships among Debian and the FSF with John Sullivan, who has in the mean time become the new executive director at FSF. There are no specific news since my last post [14] on the matter to share, but we'll be soon seeking feedback on various topics from the Debian community at large. I've also discussed quite a bit with the gNewSense community manager, Graziano Sorbaioli, who has reached out to me to see how can we avoid to duplicate various kind of technical efforts. [12] http://www.gnome.asia/ [13] http://np237.livejournal.com/31322.html [14] http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2011/02/squeeze_debian_and_the_FSF/ DebConf ------- Together with the DebConf team, we have agreed to keep common accounts / earmarks for Debian and DebConf at the various trusted organizations. The only exceptions to that rule will be the time windows around each DebConf edition. They will start at the first expense and ending shortly after conference end (max 2 months). You can check the archives of the debconf-team mailing list for the gory details. On behalf of Debian and in collaboration with the DebConf team, I've also signed an agreement with the Bosnian DIVA NGO. The organization will be trusted to hold some Debian money for the duration of DebConf11, to facilitate local expenses and donations of local sponsors. More details can be found at <master:/srv/leader/archive/letters/*-diva.pdf>. Sprints and other expenses -------------------------- Quite a lot of sprints activities [15] have happened recently, great! - several sprints have happened: ftp-master [16], groupware [17] (check the links for reports about them) - the following sprints have been (pre-)approved and are now forthcoming: alioth [18], release team - I've approved reimbursement for various expenses such as: Andreas Tille presentation of Debian-Med at Med@Tel (see report [19]), disk replacement for ries.d.o, Debian-Med sprint [20] If you want a sprint too... you know the drill: just read the doc! [15] [15] http://wiki.debian.org/Sprints [16] http://wiki.debian.org/Sprints/2011/FtpMasterSprint [17] http://wiki.debian.org/GroupwareMeeting2011-04-01to03 [18] http://wiki.debian.org/Sprints/2011/AliothSprint [19] http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2011/04/msg00005.html [20] http://wiki.debian.org/Sprints/2011/DebianMedSprint Now let's all go back to inflate some -devel thread! Cheers. PS as usual, the boring day-to-day activity log is available at <master:/srv/leader/news/bits-from-the-DPL.*> -- Stefano Zacchiroli -o- PhD in Computer Science \ PostDoc @ Univ. Paris 7 zack@{upsilon.cc,pps.jussieu.fr,debian.org} -<>- http://upsilon.cc/zack/ Quando anche i santi ti voltano le spalle, | . |. I've fans everywhere ti resta John Fante -- V. Capossela .......| ..: |.......... -- C. Adams
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