news 28 Posted March 12, 2017 Dear fellow developers, Here is my report for January and February 2017. (Sorry for the second post. I forgot a paragraph and I thought it was important enough to issue an updated bits mail). Stretch Freeze ============== As planned, the Release Team announced the freeze of Stretch [1]. It is now our turn to squash bugs and help them to make the release! [1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2017/02/msg00001.html As a reminder, I have announced in [2] that Debian is willing to reimburse up to USD 100 (or equivalent in your local currency) for your travel and accommodation expenses for participating in Bug Squashing Parties. [2] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2016/12/msg00001.html I am aware of the following BSPs: - https://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2017/03/de/credativ (17-19 March in Germany) - https://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2017/03/br/Curitiba (18-19 March in Brazil) - https://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2017/05/fr/Paris/Announcement (13-14 May in France) - https://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2017/05/ch/Zurich (5-7 May in Switzerland) If there are no Bug Squashing Parties next to your city, can you organize one? It is also time to start documenting "The most exciting new things in Stretch"! If you have ideas, please submit them to the Release Team for inclusion in the release announcement. Other ways to help include testing upgrades and installations and filing reports for experienced issues. Last but not least, if your package is affected by an RC-bug and you do not have time or the skills to fix it, please consider tagging it with “help†so that other bug squashers can help you. DebConf Committee ================= It was my pleasure to announce [3] the creation of the DebConf Committee as an official team of the Debian project. [3] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2017/01/msg00003.html This new delegation officially deprecates the former delegation made for DebConf Chairs and which is no longer valid. Unlike DebConf Chairs, the DebConf Committee's role is twofold: 1) Organize the bid process and make final decisions about who will organize DebConf; 2) Provide support to DebConf team and share their experience of DebConf organization. As last resort, the DebConf Committee has a special power and can override specific decisions in the context of DebConf organization. Recently, the DebConf Committee reached their first decision and announced [4] DebConf18 will be hosted in Hsinchu, Taiwan. [4] https://lists.debconf.org/lurker/message/20170215.171536.9b1203f9.en.html Roadmap ======= During DebConf16, I have gathered a list of potential volunteers for the roadmap team or people generally interested in the idea of a roadmap for Debian. Recently, I have tried to start a discussion [5] about organizational aspects of this new activity. Everyone is more than welcome if you want to join the discussion! [5] http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/debian-roadmap/ After Stretch's release, a discussion with a wider audience will take place. Open Source day at EPITA ======================== EPITA (School of Computer Science & Advanced Techniques), a well-recognized french engineering school organized an event about Open Source in the IT industry. The goal was to introduce the subject to students and show them the complexity and wealth of this ecosystem. There was a hundred students. They didn't know all about what is Open Source and why it is important. At the end of the day, I think this was fixed and they learnt about Debian and how to contribute to it. I was invited to give a talk about Debian. I described how we are organized, how we work and our philosophy. I also participated in a round-table where the question was the importance of Open Source in the IT industry. Overall, it was quite a productive day. I have received feedback from some students and I was happy to help them to find internships with tasks related to Debian. It was also a great opportunity to meet with representatives from the French government and other known companies using and promoting Open Source. I believe this is will help us to build new partnerships and to find new sponsors. During the conference, I was made aware of a very nice initiative by the DISIC [6]. They have published a FOSS contribution policy template [7] with the following goals (from the github page): - Define a template free/open-source contribution policy that governments can instantiate - Increase contributions from civil servants and subcontractors working for governments - Help governments interact and work together - Propose best practices on engaging with open-source communities and contribute new projects [6] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direction_interminist%C3%A9rielle_du_num%C3%A9rique_et_du_syst%C3%A8me_d'information_et_de_communication_de_l'%C3%89tat [7] https://github.com/DISIC/foss-contrib-policy-template We have noticed that DISIC share interests with Debian (FOSS, no external influence, reproducible builds, etc...). We have agreed to meet again to talk about Debian support in corporate environments (Yes, they are big Debian users) and pontentially hear them talking about their goals and strategy during a Debian event. Assets ====== - Approved expense of CAD 185.11 to buy the cloth for on-site accommodation for DebConf17. - Approved expense of USD 1040 for two Debian contributors to attend and give a talk at FOSSASIA 2017. - Approved budget of EUR 750 for listmaster sprint. - Approved budget of EUR 3300 (max EUR 5000) to organize a BSP at Paris, France. - Approved budget of EUR 1000 for 10th Debian Groupware Meeting (sprint). In other news, SPI recently published a treasurer reports for 2016 [8]. I wanted to thank them for their efforts! Now, we can start working on a financial report for 2016. [8] http://www.spi-inc.org/treasurer/reports/ Day-to-day log ============== My day-to-day log of DPL activities is available on master.debian.org: - /srv/leader/news/bits-from-the-DPL.txt.201701 - /srv/leader/news/bits-from-the-DPL.txt.201702 Cheers, -- Mehdi Share this post Link to post
