Quoting Andreas Tille: > Am Fri, Mar 22, 2024 at 09:23:12AM +0530 schrieb Nilesh Patra: > > I am interested in knowing about what the current candidates think about > > accounting bits in Debian and how they think about spending the money. > > I admit my knowledge about how Debian money is spent is currently low > and incomplete. Same here :D > Here is a list of things I know / have heard about: > > 1. DebConf (and MiniDebConfs) > In my perception the money usage for DebConf is transparet enough > I have no idea about MiniDebConfs. > > 2. Smaller in person meetings (Bug squashing parties, team sprints) > Sprint organisers have to estimate their budget and need confirmation. > Confirmed budget is payed. > I have no idea whether those data are published somewhere. > > 3. Infrasturture hardware > I was always happy to see that it worked from my mere developer > point of view and did not read the reports about this but I > know there are some reports. > > 4. Hardware for developers > I once profited from a Debian sponsored laptop in exchange for some > review[1]. I know that other DDs also got hardware which is for > different reasons interesing to make sure Debian runs properly. > I have no idea whether there is some list about this (in terms of > transparent usage of the money) > > 5. There is probably way more missing in this list. > > > As I have read and from time to time observed, the finances in the project > > do not have a lot of transparency and there are updates posted semi-occasionally > > on -private and sometimes in DPL talks. Jonathan also wrote about it in one of their > > previous campaigns. > > I would love to be transparent about money. Currently I have no idea > how time consuming this process compared to DPL tasks in general might > be. I'd love to get help here which is also a way to increase > transparency if more eyes are looking onto this topic. > > > Itd also be good to know if there's a plan on where the budget > > shall be best spent. > > I have no idea how to measure "best" usage objectively. I strongly > believe that in person meetings are very important so I consider the > money for item 1. and 2. of my list above spent well and would encourage > people to organise those events which should be supported by Debian > money. > > Its probably without question that we need good infrastructure hardware. > If bottlenecks might be spotted which can be fixed quickly with existing > money I'm all for it. > > > I would like to know if the candidates for this term have any plans about it or any thoughts > > in general. > > In general I think that people donating money to Debian expect their > money to be spent for the progress of Debian (rather than filling up > our bank account[2]). > > I'm also open to exploring new ways to allocate funds. I'm hopeful that > we can derive some positive insights from the Debian Developer's Survey > on the Usage of Money in Debian[3]. Personally, I'm open to discussing > whether to compensate contributors for important tasks that either > nobody wants to do or lacks people with sufficient time capacity to > undertake those tasks. I recall the various pros and cons raised during > past discussions on this matter, but if people believe it's time to > initiate a fresh discussion, I'm very receptive to that. > > BTW, I don't believe that only the DPL can initiate such a discussion. > But for sure I'm very open for suggestions and will support any > initiative to make Debian better. In principle yes, but it is finally upto DPL to approve most of the things about payments. > As a very personal note what I think about money: In my eyes money has > a great power to divide people. Discussion about it is usually heated > and it is hard to find a good consensus due to very different > perspectives onto that matter specifically since there is hardly a > technical proof what is right and what is wrong. This makes a great > difference to other decisions we have to draw inside Debian. > > > Both of your platforms have only a (very) vague idea about it and I'd like to know more > > specifics about it. > > If you want to know more details please be more specific in your > question. No, your answer is really good and answers most of what I wanted to know. Since we are yet to find out more details about accounting, I suppose you'd be able to grok the same in more details if you are elected. I'd bring up this topic again if I feel there's a need for more transparency and detailing -- maybe after a few months or so. > > PS: I urge _only_ the candidates to reply to this mail 😀 > > I'm personally interested into specific proposal how people consider > money well spent and might answer these in different treads (since > Nilesh wants only replies from candidates). Precisely for this reason - to prevent this thread from becoming a (potentially) mega thread :) Best, Nilesh
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