Re: What activities do you want to take up in NITC Calicut minidebconf.
Hello Shirish,
> @Vipin as far as having a sid mirror, my question/query is/would be
> why a sid mirror and not a testing mirror ?
> A testing mirror would be far more effective than a sid mirror for
> benefit of Debian as we are in the throes of Wheezy release. Sid is
> great/cool but it's going to be a long time before the packages in Sid
> make their way to the next release. If there is some personal itch you
> want to scratch that could be done.
This was for the packaging session. Also most the debian users at
college are using sid and there wont be any takers for the testing
mirror after fossmeet.
> IMO What is now needed are more eyes for all the open bugs See
> http://udd.debian.org/bugs.cgi?release=wheezy&merged=ign&rc=1
Yup. We need a lot help to identify bite sized bugs that can worked on
by someone relatively inexperienced. There is a 'to be fixed at mini
debconf' bug list on the wiki that is empty now.
> If you want to be a bit creative in mirroring, you could do number of things :-
>
> a. Have something like 4 GB RAM for the server/host system and see if
> you can integrate debdelta in your mirroring efforts. This should
> lessen your network load both in the short-term and long-term on the
> mirrors as well as reduced efforts from your side as well. (In fact
> there is an open bug for a long time to integrate debdelta
> functionality into libapt and there was a half-finished
> implementation for the same in GSOC 2011. See
> https://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode2011#DebDelta_APT_Native_Integration
> . If somebody wants to work/play on this that would be awesome. I have
> the address of the git repo. where that half-finished implementation
> is , just have to hunt for it in my mail box. )
>
> While I could share backgrounder of debdelta and why it's a useful
> service and how everybody would gain if we have it in multiple package
> managers (either CLI or GUI based) the best person to get would
> probably be Michael Vogt. If somebody would be looking to take a shot
> at that or/and also use the deity mailing list where people working on
> libapt often meet up and discuss things. APT Development Team
> <deity@lists.debian.org> . I am focusing the apt library because if we
> are able to have debdelta than most package managers which use libapt
> would benefit immediately which would increase the cost-to-benefit
> ratio immensely.
We used the apt-mirror script the last time we had to setup a mirror.
I'll look into debdelta. Maybe students can work on this and probably
propose it as a project for next GSoC if it happens.
> b. The other fun thing you could do if you want to is to have 2-3
> archs as a service. For instance have i386,amd64 and maybe Armhf so
> that people who might want to work on ARM chips would also benefit.
> What could be a fun thing if some of our packaging gurus would like to
> take up in a future session somewhere down the line is setting up a
> cross-compiling build system and such.
We have limited resources so I am not sure if it is possible :(
> Note:- Before the end of this week we should have RC-1 of Wheezy
> Release in our hands so that should be something to be looked forward
> to play with. What could be done is to see if d-i is behaving properly
> or not and if we find some buggy behavior which is reproducible than
> report it and asking them to fix it or/and share workarounds in the
> errata after Wheezy release.
Will make sure all ISO's are available at the college network.
> Note 2 :- We could demo the raspberry pi and also share some of the
> work we have been doing in Pandav Nagar, Pune using the pi as a means
> to cut through the digital divide.
>
>>>> d. We could also do an OSM walk if that is something you wanna play
>>>> with as well ?
>>>> e. Share about IRC and stuff ?
>>>
>>> I would like to do the both for sure but still havent decided on the
>>> approach , this time I am thinking of ways to make it ( session )
>>> more interactive . So the classroom /lab rooms should be adopted to a
>>> multi way discussion / sessions which I tried the last time I was at
>>> Nitte .
>
> I don't see any reason for not going that way, I'm guessing we would
> have a room or two
> apart from the lab. where we can discuss stuff. Vipin could fill us in on this.
We have classrooms booked for the period of the conference. Any urge
for quick BoF's will be satisfied :)
>>> Also lets not forget Aaron Swartz , we should plan out something as a
>>> tribute to him like freeing up knowledge theme or something like that
>>> .
>>
>> We had a discussion regarding this and an Aaron Memorial Keynote was
>> suggested at FOSSMeet. We have not yet fixed on this.
>
> AFAIK Praveen and Hrishi are making a presentation on that. It's on
> github somewhere and I haven't yet gone through it but that's sorta
> covered. If Praveen shares the git repo. address we could have a look
> at it and see if there's any way we could add value to the document
> but that's totally upto them.
The git repo is at: https://gitorious.org/pirateparty-in/a2k/
I have also put in some patches to this repo. I am not sure if the
presentation is complete. Praveen could tell us more.
> One of the things we could play with is the idea of Open access and
> sharing some of the success stories and strategies with Open access in
> India and seeing how that could be taken up in a broader way or
> something. If the institute is willing up to have an Open access
> policy on any academic publishing they might be doing that would be
> cool and awesome and would perhaps be a fitting tribute to Aaron as
> well. (Just an idea/suggestion.)
>
> Another way to do this would be is to have an open fora where the
> panel is shared by the college mgmt. and at least let them take our
> views for consideration if nothing else.
Brilliant Idea :D I'll approach few senior faculty for this. Hope this
gets done.
>>> I understand I have been putting up some vague ideas with no concrete
>>> proposals . Everyone can pitch in and suggest .
>>
>> The wiki page for the event is here:
>> http://wiki.debian.org/DebianIndia/MiniDebConf2013/Calicut
>> Please do add your suggestions and proposals here.
>
> I would prefer to have the discussions here and once something is
> finalized then to put it up on the wiki. I have shared a few ideas,
> see which ones can be worked on and which ones will require more
> effort from our side.
>
>> Once again, please ping me for anything that you may need at the ground. Thanks.
>
> @Vipin looking forward to your feedback on the lot before. It would be
> nice if you could discuss with your friends and see what could be
> taken up immediately and which things would perhaps need more effort
> and planning.
I have put in my thoughts above. Definitely.
--
Regards,
Vipin Nair
National Institute of Technology, Calicut
http://github.com/swvist
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