Re: Contribute your skills to Debian in Montreal, April 14 2017

Join us in Montreal, on April 14 2017, and we will find a way in which
you can help Debian with your current set of skills! You might even
learn one or two things in passing (but you don't have to).

Debian is a free operating system for your computer. An operating system
is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer
run. Debian comes with dozens of thousands of packages, precompiled
software bundled up for easy installation on your machine. A number of
other operating systems, such as Ubuntu and Tails, are based on Debian.

The upcoming version of Debian, called Stretch, will be released later
this year. We need you to help us make it awesome :)

Whether you're a computer user, a graphics designer, or a bug triager,
there are many ways you can contribute to this effort. We also welcome
experience in consensus decision-making, anti-harassment teams, and
package maintenance. No effort is too small and whatever you bring to
this community will be appreciated.

Here's what we will be doing:

* We will triage bug reports that are blocking the release of the
upcoming version of Debian.

* Debian package maintainers will fix some of these bugs.

= Goals and principles =

This is a work in progress, and a statement of intent. Not everything is organized and confirmed yet.

We want to bring together a heterogeneous group of people. This goal will guide our handling of sponsorship requests, and will help us make decisions if more people want to attend than we can welcome properly. In other words: if you're part of a group that is currently under-represented in computer communities, we would like you to be able to attend.

We are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of level of experience, gender, gender identity and _expression_, sexual orientation, disability, personal appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, age, religion, nationality, or other similar personal characteristic. Attending this event requires reading and respecting the Debian Code of Conduct, that sets the standards in terms of behaviour for the whole event, including communication (public and private) before, while and after.

The space where this event will take place is unfortunately not accessible to wheelchairs. Food (including vegetarian options) should be provided for lunch. If you have any specific needs regarding food, please let us know when registering, and we will do our best.

= What we will be doing =

This will be an informal session to confirm and fix bugs in Debian. If you have never worked with Debian packages, this is a good opportunity to learn about packaging and bugtracker usage.

Bugs flagged as Release Critical are blocking the release of the upcoming version of Debian. To fix them, it helps to make sure the bug report documents the up-to-date status of the bug, and of its resolution. One does not need to be a programmer to do this work! For example, you can try and reproduce bugs in software you use... or in software you will discover. This helps package maintainers better focus their work.

We will also try to actually fix bugs by testing patches and uploading fixes into Debian itself. Antoine Beaupré, a seasoned Debian developer, will be available to sponsor uploads and teach people about basic Debian packaging skills.

= Where? When? How to register? =

See https://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2017/04/ca/Montreal for the exact
address and time.

--
Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle
And the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.
- Buddha