Hello Debianites
Herewith follows some bits from the DPL.
In this edition:
1. Decisions
1.1. GR: Change the resolution process
1.2. GR: Voting secrecy
1.3. Public statements on world events
1.4. DPL Election
1.5. Community structure and processes
2. Bookworm preliminary freeze dates available
3. News from sponsors / partners
3.1. Freexian survey
3.2. Microsoft sponsoring LWN for DDs
4. Meetings
4.1. DPL/DAM/CT Sprint
4.2. Debian Montréal meetups
4.3. Debian Reunion
4.4. DebCamp and DebConf
5. Debian Publicity
== 1. Decisions ==
We've been quite busy making decisions, and it doesn't seem like we're slowing
down on that front any time soon.
1.1. GR: Change the resolution process
During previous votes, several problems have been discovered with the
constitutional mechanisms used to prepare either a vote for the TC or for a GR.
This resolution addresses these issues along with another issue where the role
of the TC chair wasn't clearly defined in the event of a tie.
https://www.debian.org/vote/2021/vote_003
1.2. GR: Voting secrecy
Several developers have expressed that our public voting system had an effect
on their vote. Sometimes this could affect whether they voted at all or have
simply made them feel uneasy at times.
This GR passed the resolution of making all votes private, similar to the DPL
elections.
https://www.debian.org/vote/2022/vote_001
1.3. Public statements on world events
A GR proposal was made to provide a statement on the war in Ukraine, and while
it didn't result in a vote, it does seem to remain an unanswered question of
how we want to deal with situations like these in the future. I hope that we
can follow up on that point another time, since I do believe there are ways in
which we can be more socially responsible as a project.
https://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2022/03/msg00259.html
1.4. DPL Election
The DPL election for the 2022 term has concluded. I'm happy to be serving a 3rd
term as DPL, thank you all for your trust and support!
https://www.debian.org/vote/2022/vote_002
1.5. Community structure
Over the years, the Debian Account Managers (DAM) have had to take on an
increasing amount of responsibility within the project, mostly because there
were no other structure put in place to take on those responsibilities. In
recent years, the Debian Community Team (CT) has helped alleviate some of this,
but it's been clear from feedback from DAM, CT and the general Debian community
that we need some reform so that responsibilities are better distributed, and
that we have teams that can serve the project's needs without burning out
individuals within those teams.
Russ Allbery pondered whether a better moderation structure / team might help
alleviate some of the problems:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2022/02/msg00062.html
Discussion on this is mostly stalled at this point, there's been a lot going on
recently, and hopefully we can continue this soon and find some concrete ideas.
== 2. Bookworm preliminary freeze dates available ==
The release team have announced preliminary freeze dates for the Debian 12
(bookworm) release.
2022-01-12 - Milestone 1 - Transition and toolchain freeze 2022-02-12 -
Milestone 2 - Soft Freeze 2022-03-12 - Milestone 3 - Hard Freeze - for key
packages and packages without autopkgtests To be announced - Milestone 4 - Full
Freeze
The freeze is meant to be short, so please plan accordingly with these dates in
mind.
https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2022/03/msg00006.html
== 3. News from sponsors / partners ==
3.1. Freexian survey
Freexian has been looking at various ways to fund Debian Developers and the
work that their work on Debian projects. The Debian Developers behind Freexian
have put together a survey about usage of money in Debian.
You need to be a Debian Developer in order to participate, the survey closes on
23rd of April. More details about this survey, and a direct link to the survey
is available below:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2022/04/msg00002.html
https://surveys.debian.net/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=347114&lang=en
3.2. Microsoft sponsoring LWN for DDs
Linux Weekly News is a great source of news on what's happening in the free
software world, and having it available for free to our members is a valuable
resource. Currently 520 accounts are associated with Debian, and the Linux
Systems Group at Microsoft has picked up the bill for this again this year. If
you're a Debian Developer who wishes to activate their subscription, please
visit the MemberBenefits wiki page.
https://lwn.net/ https://wiki.debian.org/MemberBenefits
== 4. Meetings ==
4.1. DPL, DAM, CT Sprint
In January, the DPL, DAM and CT had a sprint to discuss a bunch of outstanding
topics. This occurred over a few video calls, since the pandemic got in the way
of having an in-person sprint.
Sprint report:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2022/02/msg00017.html
4.2. Debian Montréal
The Debian Québec local group are planning to have in-person meetings in
Montréal again. For details, sign up to their mailing list, linked on their
wiki page:
https://wiki.debian.org/LocalGroups/DebianQuebec
4.3. Debian Reunion
2020 was set to be our biggest year of MiniDebConf events to date.
Unfortunately the pandemic has put quite a harsh dampener on that. Fortunately,
things are kicking off again and Debian Reunion will be a MiniDebConf style
event with a few days of working together followed by two days of talks.
The event is taking place the last week of May in Hamburg, Germany. Talks will
be streamed, so add the event to your calendar even if you can't make it in
person!
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEvents/de/2022/DebianReunionHamburg
4.4. DebCamp and DebConf
DebConf is set to be an in-person event again this year. DebCamp takes place
from 2022-07-10 to 2022-07-16, followed by DebConf which will take place from
2022-07-17 to 2022-07-24 in Prizren, Kosovo. Bursaries are available for people
who require funding to attend, and the Call for Proposals for talks and events
are open. Follow the links below for further details.
Thank you to our platinum sponsors Lenovo, Infomaniak, Innovation & Training
Park Prizren and Google.
https://debconf22.debconf.org/ https://debconf22.debconf.org/about/bursaries/
https://debconf22.debconf.org/cfp/
== 5. Debian Publicity ==
Some of these items are probably better suited for Bits from Debian than Bits
from the DPL, so if you ever have some free time, please consider writing a bit
for them (it's just some markdown in git), they can help you get started on
#debian-publicity (just be patient if you ask a question, they aren't awake 24h
a day!). If you're working on something interesting and don't have time to
write about it, also let them know, perhaps it would be fun for someone else to
write about it.
https://bits.debian.org/
Thanks for reading! Keep well and happy hacking!
-Jonathan
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