The following contributors got their Debian Developer accounts in the last two months: * Evangelos Ribeiro Tzaras (devrts) * Andrea Bolognani (abologna) The following contributors were added as Debian Maintainers in the last two months: * Rylie Pavlik * Yuchin Tsai * Daniel Markstedt * Guido Berhörster * Renzo Davoli Congratulations!

Each year on August the 16th, we celebrate the Debian Project Anniversary. Several communities around the world join us in celebrating "Debian Day" with local events, parties, or gatherings. So, how about celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the Debian Project in 2025 in your city? As the 16th of August falls on a Saturday this year, we believe it is great timing to gather people around your event. We invite you and your local community to organize a Debian Day by hosting an event with talks, workshops, a bug squashing party, or OpenPGP keysigning gathering, etc. You could also hold a meeting with others in the Debian community in a smaller social setting like a bar/pizzeria/cafeteria/restaurant to celebrate. In other words, any type of celebrating is valid! Remember to add your city to the Debian Day wiki page There is a list of Debian Local Groups around the world. If your city is listed, talk to them to organize DebianDay together. To inspire you and your local community, see some photos from 2023 and 2024 Let's use hashtags #DebianDay #DebianDay2025 on social media.

The following contributors got their Debian Developer accounts in the last two months: * Moritz Schlarb (moschlar) * Sérgio de Almeida Cipriano Júnior (cipriano) * Mario Anthony Limonciello (superm1) The following contributor was added as Debian Maintainer in the last two months: * Martin-Éric Racine Congratulations!

Status: published The following contributors got their Debian Developer accounts in the last two months: * Moritz Schlarb (moschlar) * Sérgio de Almeida Cipriano Júnior (cipriano) * Mario Anthony Limonciello (superm1) The following contributor was added as Debian Maintainer in the last two months: * Martin-Éric Racine Congratulations!

We are pleased to announce that **EDF** has committed to sponsor DebConf25 as a **Platinum Sponsor**. **EDF** is a leading global utility company focused on low-carbon power generation. The group uses advanced engineering and scientific computing tools to drive innovation and efficiency in its operations, especially in nuclear power plant design and safety assessment. Since 2003, the EDF Group has been using Debian as its main scientific computing environment. Debian's focus on stability and reproducibility ensures that EDF's calculations and simulations produce consistent and accurate results. With this commitment as Platinum Sponsor, EDF is contributing to the annual Debian Developers' Conference, directly supporting the progress of Debian and Free Software. EDF contributes to strengthening the worldwide community that collaborates on Debian projects year-round. Thank you very much, EDF, for your support of DebConf25! ## Become a sponsor too! DebConf25 will take place **from 14th to July 19th 2025 in Brest, France,** and will be preceded by DebCamp, from 7th to 13th July 2025. DebConf25 is accepting sponsors! Interested companies and organizations may contact the DebConf team through sponsors@debconf.org, and visit the DebConf25 website at https://debconf25.debconf.org/sponsors/become-a-sponsor/.

Dear Debian community, This is bits from the DPL for April. ## End of 10 I am sure I was speaking in the interest of the whole project when joining the "End of 10" campaign. Here is what I wrote to the initiators: > Hi Joseph and all drivers of the "End of 10" campaign, On behalf of the entire Debian project, I would like to say that we proudly join your great campaign. We stand with you in promoting Free Software, defending users' freedoms, and protecting our planet by avoiding unnecessary hardware waste. Thank you for leading this important initiative. > >> Andreas Tille Debian Project Leader I have some goals I would like to share with you for my second term. ## Ftpmaster delegation This splits up into tasks that can be done before and after Trixie release. Before Trixie: ## ⁣1. Reducing Barriers to DFSG Compliance Checks Back in 2002, Debian established a way to distribute cryptographic software in the main archive, whereas such software had previously been restricted to the non-US archive. One result of this arrangement which influences our workflow is that all packages uploaded to the NEW queue must remain on the server that hosts it. This requirement means that members of the ftpmaster team must log in to that specific machine, where they are limited to a restricted set of tools for reviewing uploaded code. This setup may act as a barrier to participation--particularly for contributors who might otherwise assist with reviewing packages for DFSG compliance. I believe it is time to reassess this limitation and work toward removing such hurdles. In October last year, we had some initial contact with SPI's legal counsel, who noted that US regulations around cryptography have been relaxed somewhat in recent years (as of 2021). This suggests it may now be possible to revisit and potentially revise the conditions under which we manage cryptographic software in the NEW queue. I plan to investigate this further. If you have expertise in software or export control law and are interested in helping with this topic, please get in touch with me. The ultimate goal is to make it easier for more people to contribute to ensuring that code in the NEW queue complies with the DFSG. ## ⁣2. Discussing Alternatives My chances to reach out to other distributions remained limited. However, regarding the processing of new software, I learned that OpenSUSE uses a Git-based workflow that requires five "LGTM" approvals from a group of trusted developers. As far as I know, Fedora follows a similar approach. Inspired by this, a recent community initiative--the Gateway to NEW project--enables peer review of new packages for DFSG compliance before they enter the NEW queue. This effort allows anyone to contribute by reviewing packages and flagging potential issues in advance via Git. I particularly appreciate that the DFSG review is coupled with CI, allowing for both license and technical evaluation. While this process currently results in some duplication of work--since final reviews are still performed by the ftpmaster team--it offers a valuable opportunity to catch issues early and improve the overall quality of uploads. If the community sees long-term value in this approach, it could serve as a basis for evolving our workflows. Integrating it more closely into DAK could streamline the process, and we've recently seen that merge requests reflecting community suggestions can be accepted promptly. For now, I would like to gather opinions about how such initiatives could best complement the current NEW processing, and whether greater consensus on trusted peer review could help reduce the burden on the team doing DFSG compliance checks. Submitting packages for review and automated testing before uploading can improve quality and encourage broader participation in safeguarding Debian's Free Software principles. My explicit thanks go out to the Gateway to NEW team for their valuable and forward-looking contribution to Debian. ## ⁣3. Documenting Critical Workflows Past ftpmaster trainees have told me that understanding the full set of ftpmaster workflows can be quite difficult. While there is some useful documentation − thanks in particular to Sean Whitton for his work on documenting NEW processing rules – many other important tasks carried out by the ftpmaster team remain undocumented or only partially so. Comprehensive and accessible documentation would greatly benefit current and future team members, especially those onboarding or assisting in specific workflows. It would also help ensure continuity and transparency in how critical parts of the archive are managed. If such documentation already exists and I have simply overlooked it, I would be happy to be corrected. Otherwise, I believe this is an area where we need to improve significantly. Volunteers with a talent for writing technical documentation are warmly invited to contact me--I'd be happy to help establish connections with ftpmaster team members who are willing to share their knowledge so that it can be written down and preserved. Once Trixie is released (hopefully before DebConf): ## ⁣4. Split of the Ftpmaster Team into DFSG and Archive Teams As discussed during the "Meet the ftpteam" BoF at DebConf24, I would like to propose a structural refinement of the current Ftpmaster team by introducing two different delegated teams: 1. DFSG Team 2. Archive Team (responsible for DAK maintenance and process tooling, including releases) (Alternative name suggestions are, of course, welcome.) The primary task of the DFSG team would be the processing of the NEW queue and ensuring that packages comply with the DFSG. The Archive team would focus on maintaining DAK and handling the technical aspects of archive management. I am aware that, in the recent past, the ftpmaster team has decided not to actively seek new members. While I respect the autonomy of each team, the resulting lack of a recruitment pipeline has led to some friction and concern within the wider community, including myself. As Debian Project Leader, it is my responsibility to ensure the long-term sustainability and resilience of our project, which includes fostering an environment where new contributors can join and existing teams remain effective and well-supported. Therefore, even if the current team does not prioritize recruitment, I will actively seek and encourage new contributors for both teams, with the aim of supporting openness and collaboration. This proposal is not intended as criticism of the current team's dedication or achievements--on the contrary, I am grateful for the hard work and commitment shown, often under challenging circumstances. My intention is to help address the structural issues that have made onboarding and specialization difficult and to ensure that both teams are well-supported for the future. I also believe that both teams should regularly inform the Debian community about the policies and procedures they apply. I welcome any suggestions for a more detailed description of the tasks involved, as well as feedback on how best to implement this change in a way that supports collaboration and transparency. My intention with this proposal is to foster a more open and effective working environment, and I am committed to working with all involved to ensure that any changes are made collaboratively and with respect for the important work already being done. I'm aware that the ideas outlined above touch on core parts of how Debian operates and involve responsibilities across multiple teams. These are not small changes, and implementing them will require thoughtful discussion and collaboration. To move this forward, I've registered a dedicated BoF for DebConf. To make the most of that opportunity, I'm looking for volunteers who feel committed to improving our workflows and processes. With your help, we can prepare concrete and sensible proposals in advance--so the limited time of the BoF can be used effectively for decision-making and consensus-building. In short: I need your help to bring these changes to life. From my experience in my last term, I know that when it truly matters, the Debian community comes together--and I trust that spirit will guide us again. Please also note: we had a "Call for volunteers" five years ago, and much of what was written there still holds true today. I've been told that the response back then was overwhelming--but that training such a large number of volunteers didn't scale well. This time, I hope we can find a more sustainable approach: training a few dedicated people first, and then enabling them to pass on their knowledge. This will also be a topic at the DebCamp sprint. ## Dealing with Dormant Packages Debian was founded on the principle that each piece of software should be maintained by someone with expertise in it--typically a single, responsible maintainer. This model formed the historical foundation of Debian's packaging system and helped establish high standards of quality and accountability. However, as the project has grown and the number of packages has expanded, this model no longer scales well in all areas. Team maintenance has since emerged as a practical complement, allowing multiple contributors to share responsibility and reduce bottlenecks--depending on each team's internal policy. While working on the Bug of the Day initiative, I observed a significant number of packages that have not been updated in a long time. In the case of team-maintained packages, addressing this is often straightforward: team uploads can be made, or the team can be asked whether the package should be removed. We've also identified many packages that would fit well under the umbrella of active teams, such as language teams like Debian Perl and Debian Python, or blends like Debian Games and Debian Multimedia. Often, no one has taken action--not because of disagreement, but simply due to inattention or a lack of initiative. In addition, we've found several packages that probably should be removed entirely. In those cases, we've filed bugs with pre-removal warnings, which can later be escalated to removal requests. When a package is still formally maintained by an individual, but shows signs of neglect (e.g., no uploads for years, unfixed RC bugs, failing autopkgtests), we currently have three main tools: 1. The MIA process, which handles inactive or unreachable maintainers. 2. Package Salvaging, which allows contributors to take over maintenance if conditions are met. 3. Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs), which are limited to specific, well-defined fixes (which do not include things like migration to Salsa). These mechanisms are important and valuable, but they don't always allow us to react swiftly or comprehensively enough. Our tools for identifying packages that are effectively unmaintained are relatively weak, and the thresholds for taking action are often high. The Package Salvage team is currently trialing a process we've provisionally called "Intend to NMU" (ITN). The name is admittedly questionable--some have suggested alternatives like "Intent to Orphan"--and discussion about this is ongoing on debian-devel. The mechanism is intended for situations where packages appear inactive but aren't yet formally orphaned, introducing a clear 21-day notice period before NMUs, similar in spirit to the existing ITS process. The discussion has sparked suggestions for expanding NMU rules. While it is crucial not to undermine the autonomy of maintainers who remain actively involved, we also must not allow a strict interpretation of this autonomy to block needed improvements to obviously neglected packages. To be clear: I do not propose to change the rights of maintainers who are clearly active and invested in their packages. That model has served us well. However, we must also be honest that, in some cases, maintainers stop contributing--quietly and without transition plans. In those situations, we need more agile and scalable procedures to uphold Debian's high standards. To that end, I've registered a BoF session for DebConf25 to discuss potential improvements in how we handle dormant packages. These discussions will be prepared during a sprint at DebCamp, where I hope to work with others on concrete ideas. Among the topics I want to revisit is my proposal from last November on debian-devel, titled "Barriers between packages and other people". While the thread prompted substantial discussion, it understandably didn't lead to consensus. I intend to ensure the various viewpoints are fairly summarised--ideally by someone with a more neutral stance than myself--and, if possible, work toward a formal proposal during the DebCamp sprint to present at the DebConf BoF. My hope is that we can agree on mechanisms that allow us to act more effectively in situations where formerly very active volunteers have, for whatever reason, moved on. That way, we can protect both Debian's quality and its collaborative spirit. ## Building Sustainable Funding for Debian Debian incurs ongoing expenses to support its infrastructure--particularly hardware maintenance and upgrades--as well as to fund in-person meetings like sprints and mini-DebConfs. These investments are essential to our continued success: they enable productive collaboration and ensure the robustness of the operating system we provide to users and derivative distributions around the world. While DebConf benefits from generous sponsorship, and we regularly receive donated hardware, there is still considerable room to grow our financial base--especially to support less visible but equally critical activities. One key goal is to establish a more constant and predictable stream of income, helping Debian plan ahead and respond more flexibly to emerging needs. This presents an excellent opportunity for contributors who may not be involved in packaging or technical development. Many of us in Debian are engineers first--and fundraising is not something we've been trained to do. But just like technical work, building sustainable funding requires expertise and long-term engagement. If you're someone who's passionate about Free Software and has experience with fundraising, donor outreach, sponsorship acquisition, or nonprofit development strategy, we would deeply value your help. Supporting Debian doesn't have to mean writing code. Helping us build a steady and reliable financial foundation is just as important--and could make a lasting impact. Kind regards Andreas. PS: In April I also planted my 5000th tree and while this is off-topic here I'm proud to share this information with my fellow Debian friends.

The 26th edition of the Debian annual conference will be held in Brest, France, from July 14th to July 20th, 2025. The main conference will be preceded by DebCamp, from July 7th to July 13th. We invite everyone interested to register for the event to attend DebConf25 in person. You can also submit a talk or event proposal if you're interested in presenting your work in Debian at DebConf25. Registration can be done by creating an account on the DebConf25 website and clicking on "Register" in the profile section. As always, basic registration is free of charge. If you are attending the conference in a professional capacity or as a representative of your company, we kindly ask that you consider registering in one of our paid categories. This helps cover the costs of organizing the event while also supporting subsidizing other community members attendance. The last day to register with guaranteed swag is 9th June. We encourage eligible individuals to apply for a diversity bursary. Travel, food, and accommodation bursaries are available. More details can be found on the bursary information page. The last day to apply for a bursary is April 14th. Applicants should receive feedback on their bursary application by April 25th. The call for proposals for talks, discussions and other activities is also open. To submit a proposal, you need to create an account on the website and click the "Submit Talk Proposal" button in the profile section. The last day to submit and have your proposal considered for the main conference schedule, with video coverage guaranteed, is May 25th. DebConf25 is also looking for sponsors; if you are interested or think you know of others who would be willing to help, please get in touch with sponsors@debconf.org. All important dates can be found on the link here. See you in Brest!

Debian Med sprint in Berlin on 15 and 16 February The Debian Med team works on software packages that are associated with medicine, pre-clinical research, and life sciences, and makes them available for the Debian distribution. Seven Debian developers and contributors to the team gathered for their annual Sprint, in Berlin, Germany on 15 and 16 February 2025. The purpose of the meeting was to tackle bugs in Debian-Med packages, enhance the quality of the team's packages, and coordinate the efforts of team members overall. This sprint allowed participants to fix dozens of bugs, including release-critical ones. New upstream versions were uploaded, and the participants took some time to modernize some packages. Additionally, they discussed the long-term goals of the team, prepared a forthcoming invited talk for a conference, and enjoyed working together. More details on the event and individual agendas/reports can be found at https://wiki.debian.org/Sprints/2025/DebianMed.

Dear Debian community, this is bits from DPL for February. ## Ftpmaster team is seeking for new team members In December, Scott Kitterman announced his retirement from the project. I personally regret this, as I vividly remember his invaluable support during the Debian Med sprint at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He even took time off to ensure new packages cleared the queue in under 24 hours. I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Scott for his contributions during that sprint and for all his work in Debian. With one fewer FTP assistant, I am concerned about the increased workload on the remaining team. I encourage anyone in the Debian community who is interested to consider reaching out to the FTP masters about joining their team. If you're wondering about the role of the FTP masters, I'd like to share a fellow developer's perspective: > "My read on the FTP masters is: > >> * In truth, they are the heart of the project. >> * They know it. >> * They do a fantastic job." >> I fully agree and see it as part of my role as DPL to ensure this remains true for Debian's future. If you're looking for a way to support Debian in a critical role where many developers will deeply appreciate your work, consider reaching out to the team. It's a great opportunity for any Debian Developer to contribute to a key part of the project. ## Project Status: Six Months of Bug of the Day In my Bits from the DPL talk at DebConf24, I announced the Tiny Tasks effort, which I intended to start with a Bug of the Day project. Another idea was an Autopkgtest of the Day, but this has been postponed due to limited time resources-I cannot run both projects in parallel. The original goal was to provide small, time-bound examples for newcomers. To put it bluntly: in terms of attracting new contributors, it has been a failure so far. My offer to explain individual bug-fixing commits in detail, if needed, received no response, and despite my efforts to encourage questions, none were asked. However, the project has several positive aspects: experienced developers actively exchange ideas, collaborate on fixing bugs, assess whether packages are worth fixing or should be removed, and work together to find technical solutions for non-trivial problems. So far, the project has been engaging and rewarding every day, bringing new discoveries and challenges-not just technical, but also social. Fortunately, in the vast majority of cases, I receive positive responses and appreciation from maintainers. Even in the few instances where help was declined, it was encouraging to see that in two cases, maintainers used the ping as motivation to work on their packages themselves. This reflects the dedication and high standards of maintainers, whose work is essential to the project's success. I once used the metaphor that this project is like wandering through a dark basement with a lone flashlight-exploring aimlessly and discovering a wide variety of things that have accumulated over the years. Among them are true marvels with popcon >10,000, ingenious tools, and delightful games that I only recently learned about. There are also some packages whose time may have come to an end-but each of them reflects the dedication and effort of those who maintained them, and that deserves the utmost respect. Leaving aside the challenge of attracting newcomers, what have we achieved since August 1st last year? * Fixed more than one package per day, typically addressing multiple bugs. * Added and corrected numerous Homepage fields and watch files. * The most frequently patched issue was "Fails To Cross-Build From Source" (all including patches). * Migrated several packages from cdbs/debhelper to dh. * Rewrote many d/copyright files to DEP5 format and thoroughly reviewed them. * Integrated all affected packages into Salsa and enabled Salsa CI. * Approximately half of the packages were moved to appropriate teams, while the rest are maintained within the Debian or Salvage teams. * Regularly performed team uploads, ITS, NMUs, or QA uploads. * Filed several RoQA bugs to propose package removals where appropriate. * Reported multiple maintainers to the MIA team when necessary. With some goodwill, you can see a slight impact on the trends.debian.net graphs (thank you Lucas for the graphs), but I would never claim that this project alone is responsible for the progress. What I have also observed is the steady stream of daily uploads to the delayed queue, demonstrating the continuous efforts of many contributors. This ongoing work often remains unseen by most-including myself, if not for my regular check-ins on this list. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone pushing fixes there, contributing to the overall quality and progress of Debian's QA efforts. If you examine the graphs for "Version Control System" and "VCS Hosting" with the goodwill mentioned above, you might notice a positive trend since mid-last year. The "Package Smells" category has also seen reductions in several areas: "no git", "no DEP5 copyright", "compat <9", and "not salsa". I'd also like to acknowledge the NMUers who have been working hard to address the "format != 3.0" issue. Thanks to all their efforts, this specific issue never surfaced in the Bug of the Day effort, but their contributions deserve recognition here. The experience I gathered in this project taught me a lot and inspired me to some followup we should discuss at a Sprint at DebCamp this year. Finally, if any newcomer finds this information interesting, I'd be happy to slow down and patiently explain individual steps as needed. All it takes is asking questions on the Matrix channel to turn this into a "teaching by example" session. By the way, for newcomers who are interested, I used quite a few abbreviations-all of which are explained in the Debian Glossary. ## Sneak Peek at Upcoming Conferences I will join two conferences in March-feel free to talk to me if you spot me there. 1. FOSSASIA Summit 2025 (March 13-15, Bangkok, Thailand) Schedule: https://eventyay.com/e/4c0e0c27/schedule 2. Chemnitzer Linux-Tage (March 22-23, Chemnitz, Germany) Schedule: https://chemnitzer.linux-tage.de/2025/de/programm/vortraege Both events will have a Debian booth-come say hi! Kind regards Andreas.

We are pleased to announce that **Proxmox** has committed to sponsor DebConf25 as a **Platinum Sponsor**. Proxmox develops powerful, yet easy-to-use Open Source server software. The product portfolio from Proxmox, including server virtualization, backup, and email security, helps companies of any size, sector, or industry to simplify their IT infrastructures. The Proxmox solutions are based on the great Debian platform, and we are happy that we can give back to the community by sponsoring DebConf25. With this commitment as Platinum Sponsor, Proxmox is contributing to the Debian annual Developers' conference, directly supporting the progress of Debian and Free Software. Proxmox contributes to strengthen the community that collaborates on Debian projects from all around the world throughout all of the year. Thank you very much, Proxmox, for your support of DebConf25! ## Become a sponsor too! DebConf25 will take place **from 14 to 20 July 2025 in Brest, France,** and will be preceded by DebCamp, from 7 to 13 July 2025. DebConf25 is accepting sponsors! Interested companies and organizations may contact the DebConf team through sponsors@debconf.org, and visit the DebConf25 website at https://debconf25.debconf.org/sponsors /become-a-sponsor/.

Dear Debian community, this is bits from DPL for January. ## Sovereign Tech Agency I was recently pointed to Technologies and Projects supported by the Sovereign Tech Agency which is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. It is a subsidiary of the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation, SPRIND GmbH. It is worth sending applications there for distinct projects as that is their preferred method of funding. Distinguished developers can also apply for a fellowship position that pays up to 40hrs / week (32hrs when freelancing) for a year. This is esp. open to maintainers of larger numbers of packages in Debian (or any other Linux distribution). There might be a chance that some of the Debian-related projects submitted to the Google Summer of Code that did not get funded could be retried with those foundations. As per the FAQ of the project: "The Sovereign Tech Agency focuses on securing and strengthening open and foundational digital technologies. These communities working on these are distributed all around the world, so we work with people, companies, and FOSS communities everywhere." Similar funding organizations include the Open Technology Fund and FLOSS/fund. If you have a Debian-related project that fits these funding programs, they might be interesting options. This list is by no means exhaustive—just some hints I’ve received and wanted to share. More suggestions for such opportunities are welcome. ## Year of code reviews On the debian-devel mailing list, there was a long thread titled "Let's make 2025 a year when code reviews became common in Debian". It initially suggested something along the lines of: "Let's review MRs in Salsa." The discussion quickly expanded to include patches that have been sitting in the BTS for years, which deserve at least the same attention. One idea I'd like to emphasize is that associating BTS bugs with MRs could be very convenient. It’s not only helpful for documentation but also the easiest way to apply patches. I’d like to emphasize that no matter what workflow we use—BTS, MRs, or a mix—it is crucial to uphold Debian’s reputation for high quality. However, this reputation is at risk as more and more old issues accumulate. While Debian is known for its technical excellence, long-standing bugs and orphaned packages remain a challenge. If we don’t address these, we risk weakening the high standards that Debian is valued for. Revisiting old issues and ensuring that unmaintained packages receive attention is especially important as we prepare for the Trixie release. ## Debian Publicity Team will no longer post on X/Twitter The Press Team has my full support in its decision to stop posting on X. As per the Publicity delegation: * The team is in charge of deciding the most suitable publication venue or venues for announcements and when they are published. the team once decided to join Twitter, but circumstances have since changed. The current Press delegates have the institutional authority to leave X, just as their predecessors had the authority to join. I appreciate that the team carefully considered the matter, reinforced by the arguments developed on the debian-publicity list, and communicated its reasoning openly. Kind regards, Andreas.

The following contributors got their Debian Developer accounts in the last two months: * Ananthu C V (weepingclown) * Andrea Pappacoda (tachi) * Athos Coimbra Ribeiro (athos) * Gioele Barabucci (gioele) * Jongmin Kim (jmkim) * Shengqi Chen (harry) * Frans Spiesschaert (frans) The following contributors were added as Debian Maintainers in the last two months: * Tianyu Chen * Emmanuel FARHI * наб * Nicolas Schodet Congratulations!

We are pleased to announce that **Infomaniak** has committed to sponsor DebConf25 as a **Platinum Sponsor**. Infomaniak is Switzerland’s leading developer of Web technologies. With operations all over Europe and based exclusively in Switzerland, the company designs and manages its own data centers powered by 100% renewable energy, and develops all its solutions locally, without outsourcing. With millions of users and the trust of public and private organizations across Europe - such as RTBF, the United Nations, central banks, over 3,000 radio and TV stations, as well as numerous cities and security bodies - Infomaniak stands for sovereign, sustainable and independent digital technology. The company offers a complete suite of collaborative tools, cloud hosting, streaming, marketing and events solutions, while being owned by its employees and self-financed exclusively by its customers. With this commitment as Platinum Sponsor, Infomaniak is contributing to the Debian annual Developers' conference, directly supporting the progress of Debian and Free Software. Infomaniak contributes to strengthen the community that collaborates on Debian projects from all around the world throughout all of the year. Thank you very much, Infomaniak, for your support of DebConf25! ## Become a sponsor too! DebConf25 will take place from **14th to July 20th 2025 in Brest, France,** and will be preceded by DebCamp, from 7th to 13th July 2025. DebConf25 is accepting sponsors! Interested companies and organizations should contact the DebConf team through sponsors@debconf.org, or visit the DebConf25 website at https://debconf25.debconf.org/sponsors/become-a-sponsor/.

Dear Debian community, this is bits from DPL for December. Happy New Year 2025! Wishing everyone health, productivity, and a successful Debian release later in this year. # Strict ownership of packages I'm glad my last bits sparked discussions about barriers between packages and contributors, summarized temporarily in some post on the debian-devel list. As one participant aptly put it, we need a way to visibly say, "I'll do the job until someone else steps up". Based on my experience with the Bug of the Day initiative, simplifying the process for engaging with packages would significantly help. Currently we have 1. NMU The Developers Reference outlines several preconditions for NMUs, explicitly stating, "Fixing cosmetic issues or changing the packaging style in NMUs is discouraged." This makes NMUs unsuitable for addressing package smells. However, I've seen NMUs used for tasks like switching to source format 3.0 or bumping the debhelper compat level. While it's technically possible to file a bug and then address it in an NMU, the process inherently limits the NMUer's flexibility to reduce package smells. 2. Package Salvaging This is another approach for working on someone else's packages, aligning with the process we often follow in the Bug of the Day initiative. The criteria for selecting packages typically indicate that the maintainer either lacks time to address open bugs, has lost interest, or is generally MIA. Both options have drawbacks, so I'd welcome continued discussion on criteria for lowering the barriers to moving packages to Salsa and modernizing their packaging. These steps could enhance Debian overall and are generally welcomed by active maintainers. The discussion also highlighted that packages on Salsa are often maintained collaboratively, fostering the team-oriented atmosphere already established in several Debian teams. # Salsa ## Continuous Integration As part of the ongoing discussion about package maintenance, I'm considering the suggestion to switch from the current opt-in model for Salsa CI to an opt-out approach. While I fully agree that human verification is necessary when the pipeline is activated, I believe the current option to enable CI is less visible than it should be. I'd welcome a more straightforward approach to improve access to better testing for what we push to Salsa. ## Number of packages not on Salsa In my campaign, I stated that I aimed to reduce the number of packages maintained outside Salsa to below 2,000. As of March 28, 2024, the count was 2,368. As of this writing, the count stands at 1,928 [1], so I consider this promise fulfilled. My thanks go out to everyone who contributed to this effort. Moving forward, I'd like to set a more ambitious goal for the remainder of my term and hope we can reduce the number to below 1,800. [1] UDD query: SELECT DISTINCT count(*) FROM sources WHERE release = 'sid' and vcs_url not like '%salsa%' ; # Past and future events ## Talk at MRI Together In early December, I gave a short online talk, primarily focusing on my work with the Debian Med team. I also used my position as DPL to advocate for attracting more users and developers from the scientific research community. ## FOSSASIA I originally planned to attend FOSDEM this year. However, given the strong Debian presence there and the need for better representation at the FOSSASIA Summit, I decided to prioritize the latter. This aligns with my goal of improving geographic diversity. I also look forward to opportunities for inter-distribution discussions. ## Debian team sprints **Debian Ruby Sprint** I approved the budget for the Debian Ruby Sprint, scheduled for January 2025 in Paris. If you're interested in contributing to the Ruby team, whether in person or online, consider reaching out to them. I'm sure any helping hand would be appreciated. **Debian Med sprint** There will also be a Debian Med sprint in Berlin in mid-February. As usual, you don't need to be an expert in biology or medicine–basic bug squashing skills are enough to contribute and enjoy the friendly atmosphere the Debian Med team fosters at their sprints. For those working in biology and medicine, we typically offer packaging support. Anyone interested in spending a weekend focused on impactful scientific work with Debian is warmly invited. Again all the best for 2025 Andreas.

The theme "Ceratopsian" by Elise Couper has been selected as the default theme for Debian 13 "trixie". The theme is inspired by Trixie's (the fictional character from Toy Story) frill and is also influenced by a previously used theme called "futurePrototype" by Alex Makas. After the Debian Desktop Team made the call for proposing themes, a total of six choices were submitted. The desktop artwork poll was open to the public, and we received 2817 responses ranking the different choices, of which Ceratopsian has been ranked as the winner among them. We'd like to thank all the designers that have participated and have submitted their excellent work in the form of wallpapers and artwork for Debian 13. Congratulations, Elise, and thank you very much for your contribution to Debian!

This is bits from DPL for November. # MiniDebConf Toulouse I had the pleasure of attending the MiniDebConf in Toulouse, which featured a range of engaging talks, complementing those from the recent MiniDebConf in Cambridge. Both events were preceded by a DebCamp, which provided a valuable opportunity for focused work and collaboration. ## DebCamp During these events, I participated in numerous technical discussions on topics such as maintaining long-neglected packages, team-based maintenance, FTP master policies, Debusine, and strategies for separating maintainer script dependencies from runtime dependencies, among others. I was also fortunate that members of the Publicity Team attended the MiniDebCamp, giving us the opportunity to meet in person and collaborate face-to-face. Independent of the ongoing lengthy discussion on the Debian Devel mailing list, I encountered the perspective that unifying Git workflows might be more critical than ensuring all packages are managed in Git. While I'm uncertain whether these two questions--adopting Git as a universal development tool and agreeing on a common workflow for its use--can be fully separated, I believe it's worth raising this topic for further consideration. ## Attracting newcomers In my own talk, I regret not leaving enough time for questions--my apologies for this. However, I want to revisit the sole question raised, which essentially asked: Is the documentation for newcomers sufficient to attract new contributors? My immediate response was that this question is best directed to new contributors themselves, as they are in the best position to identify gaps and suggest improvements that could make the documentation more helpful. That said, I'm personally convinced that our challenges extend beyond just documentation. I don't get the impression that newcomers are lining up to join Debian only to be deterred by inadequate documentation. The issue might be more about fostering interest and engagement in the first place. My personal impression is that we sometimes fail to convey that Debian is not just a product to download for free but also a technical challenge that warmly invites participation. Everyone who respects our Code of Conduct will find that Debian is a highly diverse community, where joining the project offers not only opportunities for technical contributions but also meaningful social interactions that can make the effort and time truly rewarding. In several of my previous talks (you can find them on my talks page –just search for "team," and don't be deterred if you see "Debian Med" in the title; it's simply an example), I emphasized that the interaction between a mentor and a mentee often plays a far more significant role than the documentation the mentee has to read. The key to success has always been finding a way to spark the mentee's interest in a specific topic that resonates with their own passions. ## Bug of the Day In my presentation, I provided a brief overview of the Bug of the Day initiative, which was launched with the aim of demonstrating how to fix bugs as an entry point for learning about packaging. While the current level of interest from newcomers seems limited, the initiative has brought several additional benefits. I must admit that I'm learning quite a bit about Debian myself. I often compare it to exploring a house's cellar with a flashlight –you uncover everything from hidden marvels to things you might prefer to discard. I've also come across traces of incredibly diligent people who have invested their spare time polishing these hidden treasures (what we call NMUs). The janitor, a service in Salsa that automatically updates packages, fits perfectly into this cellar metaphor, symbolizing the ongoing care and maintenance that keep everything in order. I hadn't realized the immense amount of silent work being done behind the scenes--thank you all so much for your invaluable QA efforts. ## Reproducible builds It might be unfair to single out a specific talk from Toulouse, but I'd like to highlight the one on reproducible builds. Beyond its technical focus, the talk also addressed the recent loss of Lunar, whom we mourn deeply. It served as a tribute to Lunar's contributions and legacy. Personally, I've encountered packages maintained by Lunar and bugs he had filed. I believe that taking over his packages and addressing the bugs he reported is a meaningful way to honor his memory and acknowledge the value of his work. # Advent calendar bug squashing I’d like to promote an idea originally introduced by Thorsten Alteholz, who in 2011 proposed a Bug Squashing Advent Calendar for the Debian Med team. (For those unfamiliar with the concept of an Advent Calendar, you can find an explanation on Wikipedia.) While the original version included a fun graphical element —which we’ve had to set aside due to time constraints (volunteers, anyone?)— we’ve kept the tradition alive by tackling one bug per day from December 1st to 24th each year. This initiative helps clean up issues that have accumulated over the year. Regardless of whether you celebrate the concept of Advent, I warmly recommend this approach as a form of continuous bug-squashing party for every team. Not only does it contribute to the release readiness of your team’s packages, but it’s also an enjoyable and bonding activity for team members. Best wishes for a cheerful and productive December Andreas.

Debian continues participating in Outreachy, and we're excited to announce that Debian has selected two interns for the Outreachy December 2024 - March 2025 round. Patrick Noblet Appiah will work on Automatic Indi-3rd-party driver update, mentored by Thorsten Alteholz. Divine Attah-Ohiemi will work on Making the Debian main website more attractive by switching to HuGo as site generator, mentored by Carsten Schoenert, Subin Siby and Thomas Lange. * * * Congratulations and welcome Patrick Noblet Appiah and Divine Attah-Ohiemi! From the official website: _Outreachy provides three-month internships for people from groups traditionally underrepresented in tech. Interns work remotely with mentors from Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) communities on projects ranging from programming, user experience, documentation, illustration and graphical design, to data science._ The Outreachy programme is possible in Debian thanks to the efforts of Debian developers and contributors who dedicate their free time to mentor students and outreach tasks, and the Software Freedom Conservancy's administrative support, as well as the continued support of Debian's donors, who provide funding for the internships. Join us and help extend Debian! You can follow the work of the Outreachy interns reading their blogs (they are syndicated in Planet Debian), and chat with us in the #debian-outreach IRC channel and mailing list.

The following contributors got their Debian Developer accounts in the last two months: * Joachim Bauch (fancycode) * Alexander Kjäll (capitol) * Jan Mojžíš (janmojzis) * Xiao Sheng Wen (atzlinux) The following contributors were added as Debian Maintainers in the last two months: * Alberto Bertogli * Alexis Murzeau * David Heilderberg * Xiyue Deng * Kathara Sasikumar * Philippe Swartvagher Congratulations!

You may have seen this toot announcing OpenStreetMap's migration to Debian on their infrastructure. > 🚀 After 18 years on Ubuntu, we've upgraded the @openstreetmap servers to Debian 12 (Bookworm). 🌍 openstreetmap.org is now faster using Ruby 3.1. Onward to new mapping adventures! Thank you to the team for the smooth transition. #OpenStreetMap #Debian 🤓 We spoke with Grant Slater, the Senior Site Reliability Engineer for the OpenStreetMap Foundation. Grant shares: **Why did you choose Debian?** > There is a large overlap between OpenStreetMap mappers and the Debian community. Debian also has excellent coverage of OpenStreetMap tools and utilities, which helped with the decision to switch to Debian. > > The Debian package maintainers do an excellent job of maintaining their packages - e.g.: osm2pgsql, osmium-tool etc. > > Part of our reason to move to Debian was to get closer to the maintainers of the packages that we depend on. Debian maintainers appear to be heavily invested in the software packages that they support and we see critical bugs get fixed. **What drove this decision to migrate?** > OpenStreetMap.org is primarily run on actual physical hardware that our team manages. We attempt to squeeze as much performance from our systems as possible, with some services being particularly I/O bound. We ran into some severe I/O performance issues with kernels ~6.0 to < ~6.6 on systems with NVMe storage. This pushed us onto newer mainline kernels, which led us toward Debian. On Debian 12 we could simply install the backport kernel and the performance issues were solved. **How was the transition managed?** > Thankfully we manage our server setup nearly completely with code. We also use Test Kitchen with inspec to test this infrastructure code. Tests run locally using Podman or Docker containers, but also run as part of our git code pipeline. > > We added Debian as a test target platform and fixed up the infrastructure code until all the tests passed. The changes required were relatively small, simple package name or config filename changes mostly. **What was your timeline of transition?** > In August 2024 we moved the www.openstreetmap.org Ruby on Rails servers across to Debian. We haven't yet finished moving everything across to Debian, but we will upgrade the rest when it makes sense. Some systems may wait until the next hardware upgrade cycle. > > Our focus is to build a stable and reliable platform for OpenStreetMap mappers. **How has the transition from another Linux distribution to Debian gone?** > We are still in the process of fully migrating between Linux distributions, but we can share that we recently moved our frontend servers to Debian 12 (from Ubuntu 22.04) which bumped the Ruby version from 3.0 to 3.1 which allowed us to also upgrade the version of Ruby on Rails that we use for www.openstreetmap.org. > > We also changed our chef code for managing the network interfaces from using netplan (default in Ubuntu, made by Canonical) to directly using systemd-networkd to manage the network interfaces, to allow commonality between how we manage the interfaces in Ubuntu and our upcoming Debian systems. Over the years we've standardised our networking setup to use 802.3ad bonded interfaces for redundancy, with VLANs to segment traffic; this setup worked well with systemd-networkd. > > We use netboot.xyz for PXE networking booting OS installers for our systems and use IPMI for the out-of-band management. We remotely re-installed a test server to Debian 12, and fixed a few minor issues missed by our chef tests. We were pleasantly surprised how smoothly the migration to Debian went. > > In a few limited cases we've used Debian Backports for a few packages where we've absolutely had to have a newer feature. The Debian package maintainers are fantastic. > > What definitely helped us is our code is libre/free/open-source, with most of the core OpenStreetMap software like osm2pgsql already in Debian and well packaged. > > In some cases we do run pre-release or custom patches of OpenStreetMap software; with Ubuntu we used launchpad.net's Personal Package Archives (PPA) to build and host deb repositories for these custom packages. We were initially perplexed by the myriad of options in Debian (see this list - _eeek!_), but received some helpful guidance from a Debian contributor and we now manage our own deb repository using aptly. For the moment we're currently building deb packages locally and pushing to aptly; ideally we'd like to replace this with a git driven pipeline for building the custom packages in the future. **Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us.** > Thank you to all the awesome people who make Debian! * * * We are overjoyed to share this in-use case which demonstrates our commitment to stability, development, and long term support. Debian offers users, companies, and organisations the ability to plan, scope, develop, and maintain at their own pace using a rock solid stable Linux distribution with responsive developers. Does your organisation use Debian in some capacity? We would love to hear about it and your use of 'The Universal Operating System'. Reach out to us at Press@debian.org - we would be happy to add your organisation to our 'Who's Using Debian?' page and to share your story! ## About Debian The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. This operating system that we have created is called Debian. Installers and images, such as live systems, offline installers for systems without a network connection, installers for other CPU architectures, or cloud instances, can be found at Getting Debian.

Dear Debian community, this is Bits from DPL for October. In addition to a summary of my recent activities, I aim to include newsworthy developments within Debian that might be of interest to the broader community. I believe this provides valuable insights and foster a sense of connection across our diverse projects. Also, I welcome your feedback on the format and focus of these Bits, as community input helps shape their value. # Ada Lovelace Day 2024 As outlined in my platform, I'm committed to increasing the diversity of Debian developers. I hope the recent article celebrating Ada Lovelace Day 2024–featuring interviews with women in Debian–will serve as an inspiring motivation for more women to join our community. # MiniDebConf Cambridge This was my first time attending the MiniDebConf in Cambridge, hosted at the ARM building. I thoroughly enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere of both MiniDebCamp and MiniDebConf. It was wonderful to reconnect with people who hadn't made it to the last two DebConfs, and, as always, there was plenty of hacking, insightful discussions, and valuable learning. If you missed the recent MiniDebConf, there's a great opportunity to attend the next one in Toulouse. It was recently decided to include a MiniDebCamp beforehand as well. # FTPmaster accepts MRs for DAK At the recent MiniDebConf in Cambridge, I discussed potential enhancements for DAK to make life easier for both FTP Team members and developers. For those interested, the document "Hacking on DAK" provides guidance on setting up a local DAK instance and developing patches, which can be submitted as MRs. As a perfectly random example of such improvements some older MR, "Add commands to accept/reject updates from a policy queue" might give you some inspiration. At MiniDebConf, we compiled an initial list of features that could benefit both the FTP Team and the developer community. While I had preliminary discussions with the FTP Team about these items, not all ideas had consensus. I aim to open a detailed, public discussion to gather broader feedback and reach a consensus on which features to prioritize. * Accept+Bug report Sometimes, packages are rejected not because of DFSG-incompatible licenses but due to other issues that could be resolved within an existing package (as discussed in my DebConf23 BoF, "Chatting with ftpmasters"1]). During the "Meet the ftpteam" BoF ([Log/transcription of the BoF can be found here), for the moment until the MR gets accepted, a new option was proposed for FTP Team members reviewing packages in NEW: _ Accept + Bug Report _ This option would allow a package to enter Debian (in unstable or experimental) with an automatically filed RC bug report. The RC bug would prevent the package from migrating to testing until the issues are addressed. To ensure compatibility with the BTS, which only accepts bug reports for existing packages, a delayed job (24 hours post-acceptance) would file the bug. * Binary name changes - for instance if done to experimental not via new When binary package names change, currently the package must go through the NEW queue, which can delay the availability of updated libraries. Allowing such packages to bypass the queue could expedite this process. A configuration option to enable this bypass specifically for uploads to experimental may be useful, as it avoids requiring additional technical review for experimental uploads. Previously, I believed the requirement for binary name changes to pass through NEW was due to a missing feature in DAK, possibly addressable via an MR. However, in discussions with the FTP Team, I learned this is a matter of team policy rather than technical limitation. I haven't found this policy documented, so it may be worth having a community discussion to clarify and reach consensus on how we want to handle binary name changes to get the MR sensibly designed. * Remove dependency tree When a developer requests the removal of a package – whether entirely or for specific architectures – RM bugs must be filed for the package itself as well as for each package depending on it. It would be beneficial if the dependency tree could be automatically resolved, allowing either: a) the DAK removal tooling to remove the entire dependency tree after prompting the bug report author for confirmation, or b) the system to auto-generate corresponding bug reports for all packages in the dependency tree. The latter option might be better suited for implementation in an MR for reportbug. However, given the possibility of large-scale removals (for example, targeting specific architectures), having appropriate tooling for this would be very beneficial. In my opinion the proposed DAK enhancements aim to support both FTP Team members and uploading developers. I'd be very pleased if these ideas spark constructive discussion and inspire volunteers to start working on them--possibly even preparing to join the FTP Team. On the topic of ftpmasters: an ongoing discussion with SPI lawyers is currently reviewing the non-US agreement established 22 years ago. Ideally, this review will lead to a streamlined workflow for ftpmasters, removing certain hurdles that were originally put in place due to legal requirements, which were updated in 2021. # Contacting teams My outreach efforts to Debian teams have slowed somewhat recently. However, I want to emphasize that anyone from a packaging team is more than welcome to reach out to me directly. My outreach emails aren't following any specific orders--just my own somewhat naïve view of Debian, which I'm eager to make more informed. Recently, I received two very informative responses: one from the Qt/KDE Team, which thoughtfully compiled input from several team members into a shared document. The other was from the Rust Team, where I received three quick, helpful replies–one of which included an invitation to their upcoming team meeting. # Interesting readings on our mailing lists I consider the following threads on our mailing list some interesting reading and would like to add some comments. ## Sensible languages for younger contributors Though the discussion on debian-devel about programming languages took place in September, I recently caught up with it. I strongly believe Debian must continue evolving to stay relevant for the future. "Everything must change, so that everything can stay the same." -- Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard I encourage constructive discussions on integrating programming languages in our toolchain that support this evolution. ## Concerns regarding the "Open Source AI Definition" A recent thread on the debian-project list discussed the "Open Source AI Definition". This topic will impact Debian in the future, and we need to reach an informed decision. I'd be glad to see more perspectives in the discussions−particularly on finding a sensible consensus, understanding how FTP Team members view their delegated role, and considering whether their delegation might need adjustments for clarity on this issue. Kind regards Andreas.

_Ada Lovelace Day was celebrated on October 8 in 2024, and on this occasion, to celebrate and raise awareness of the contributions of women to the STEM fields we interviewed some of the women in Debian._ _Here we share their thoughts, comments, and concerns with the hope of inspiring more women to become part of the Sciences, and of course, to work inside of Debian._ This article was simulcasted to the debian-women mail list. ### _Beatrice Torracca_ **1. Who are you?** I am Beatrice, I am Italian. Internet technology and everything computer-related is just a hobby for me, not my line of work or the subject of my academic studies. I have too many interests and too little time. I would like to do lots of things and at the same time I am too Oblomovian to do any. **2. How did you get introduced to Debian?** As a user I started using newsgroups when I had my first dialup connection and there was always talk about this strange thing called Linux. Since moving from DR DOS to Windows was a shock for me, feeling like I lost the control of my machine, I tried Linux with Debian Potato and I never strayed away from Debian since then for my personal equipment. **3. How long have you been into Debian?** Define "into". As a user... since Potato, too many years to count. As a contributor, a similar amount of time, since early 2000 I think. My first archived email about contributing to the translation of the description of Debian packages dates 2001. **4. Are you using Debian in your daily life? If yes, how?** Yes!! I use testing. I have it on my desktop PC at home and I have it on my laptop. The desktop is where I have a local IMAP server that fetches all the mails of my email accounts, and where I sync and back up all my data. On both I do day-to-day stuff (from email to online banking, from shopping to taxes), all forms of entertainment, a bit of work if I have to work from home (GNU R for statistics, LibreOffice... the usual suspects). At work I am required to have another OS, sadly, but I am working on setting up a Debian Live system to use there too. Plus if at work we start doing bioinformatics there might be a Linux machine in our future... I will of course suggest and hope for a Debian system. **5. Do you have any suggestions to improve women's participation in Debian?** This is a tough one. I am not sure. Maybe, more visibility for the women already in the Debian Project, and make the newcomers feel seen, valued and welcomed. A respectful and safe environment is key too, of course, but I think Debian made huge progress in that aspect with the Code of Conduct. I am a big fan of promoting diversity and inclusion; there is always room for improvement. ### _Ileana Dumitrescu (ildumi)_ **1. Who are you?** I am just a girl in the world who likes cats and packaging Free Software. **2. How did you get introduced to Debian?** I was tinkering with a computer running Debian a few years ago, and I decided to learn more about Free Software. After a search or two, I found Debian Women. **3. How long have you been into Debian?** I started looking into contributing to Debian in 2021. After contacting Debian Women, I received a lot of information and helpful advice on different ways I could contribute, and I decided package maintenance was the best fit for me. I eventually became a Debian Maintainer in 2023, and I continue to maintain a few packages in my spare time. **4. Are you using Debian in your daily life? If yes, how?** Yes, it is my favourite GNU/Linux operating system! I use it for email, chatting, browsing, packaging, etc. **5. Do you have any suggestions to improve women's participation in Debian?** The mailing list for Debian Women may attract more participation if it is utilized more. It is where I started, and I imagine participation would increase if it is more engaging. ### _Kathara Sasikumar (kathara)_ **1. Who are you?** I'm Kathara Sasikumar, 22 years old and a recent Debian user turned Maintainer from India. I try to become a creative person through sketching or playing guitar chords, but it doesn't work! xD **2. How did you get introduced to Debian?** When I first started college, I was that overly enthusiastic student who signed up for every club and volunteered for anything that crossed my path just like every other fresher. But then, the pandemic hit, and like many, I hit a low point. COVID depression was real, and I was feeling pretty down. Around this time, the FOSS Club at my college suddenly became more active. My friends, knowing I had a love for free software, pushed me to join the club. They thought it might help me lift my spirits and get out of the slump I was in. At first, I joined only out of peer pressure, but once I got involved, the club really took off. FOSS Club became more and more active during the pandemic, and I found myself spending more and more time with it. A year later, we had the opportunity to host a MiniDebConf at our college. Where I got to meet a lot of Debian developers and maintainers, attending their talks and talking with them gave me a wider perspective on Debian, and I loved the Debian philosophy. At that time, I had been distro hopping but never quite settled down. I occasionally used Debian but never stuck around. However, after the MiniDebConf, I found myself using Debian more consistently, and it truly connected with me. The community was incredibly warm and welcoming, which made all the difference. **3. How long have you been into Debian?** Now, I've been using Debian as my daily driver for about a year. **4. Are you using Debian in your daily life? If yes, how?** It has become my primary distro, and I use it every day for continuous learning and working on various software projects with free and open-source tools. Plus, I've recently become a Debian Maintainer (DM) and have taken on the responsibility of maintaining a few packages. I'm looking forward to contributing more to the Debian community 🙂 ### _Rhonda D'Vine (rhonda)_ **1. Who are you?** My name is Rhonda, my pronouns are she/her, or per/pers. I'm 51 years old, working in IT. **2. How did you get introduced to Debian?** I was already looking into Linux because of university, first it was SuSE. And people played around with gtk. But when they packaged GNOME and it just didn't even install I looked for alternatives. A working colleague from back then gave me a CD of Debian. Though I couldn't install from it because Slink didn't recognize the pcmcia drive. I had to install it via floppy disks, but apart from that it was quite well done. And the early GNOME was working, so I never looked back. 🙂 **3. How long have you been into Debian?** Even before I was more involved, a colleague asked me whether I could help with translating the release documentation. That was my first contribution to Debian, for the slink release in early 1999. And I was using some other software before on my SuSE systems, and I wanted to continue to use them on Debian obviously. So that's how I got involved with packaging in Debian. But I continued to help with translation work, for a long period of time I was almost the only person active for the German part of the website. **4. Are you using Debian in your daily life? If yes, how?** Being involved with Debian was a big part of the reason I got into my jobs since a long time now. I always worked with maintaining Debian (or Ubuntu) systems. Privately I run Debian on my laptop, with occasionally switching to Windows in dual boot when (rarely) needed. **5. Do you have any suggestions to improve women's participation in Debian?** There are factors that we can't influence, like that a lot of women are pushed into care work because patriarchal structures work that way, and don't have the time nor energy to invest a lot into other things. But we could learn to appreciate smaller contributions better, and not focus so much on the quantity of contributions. When we look at longer discussions on mailing lists, those that write more mails actually don't contribute more to the discussion, they often repeat themselves without adding more substance. Through working on our own discussion patterns this could create a more welcoming environment for a lot of people. ### _Sophie Brun (sophieb)_ **1. Who are you?** I'm a 44 years old French woman. I'm married and I have 2 sons. **2. How did you get introduced to Debian?** In 2004 my boyfriend (now my husband) installed Debian on my personal computer to introduce me to Debian. I knew almost nothing about Open Source. During my engineering studies, a professor mentioned the existence of Linux, Red Hat in particular, but without giving any details. I learnt Debian by using and reading (in advance) The Debian Administrator's Handbook. **3. How long have you been into Debian?** I've been a user since 2004. But I only started contributing to Debian in 2015: I had quit my job and I wanted to work on something more meaningful. That's why I joined my husband in Freexian, his company. Unlike most people I think, I started contributing to Debian for my work. I only became a DD in 2021 under gentle social pressure and when I felt confident enough. **4. Are you using Debian in your daily life? If yes, how?** Of course I use Debian in my professional life for almost all the tasks: from administrative tasks to Debian packaging. I also use Debian in my personal life. I have very basic needs: Firefox, LibreOffice, GnuCash and Rhythmbox are the main applications I need. ### _Sruthi Chandran (srud)_ **1. Who are you?** A feminist, a librarian turned Free Software advocate and a Debian Developer. Part of Debian Outreach team and DebConf Committee. **2. How did you get introduced to Debian?** I got introduced to the free software world and Debian through my husband. I attended many Debian events with him. During one such event, out of curiosity, I participated in a Debian packaging workshop. Just after that I visited a Tibetan community in India and they mentioned that there was no proper Tibetan font in GNU/Linux. Tibetan font was my first package in Debian. **3. How long have you been into Debian?** I have been contributing to Debian since 2016 and Debian Developer since 2019. **4. Are you using Debian in your daily life? If yes, how?** I haven't used any other distro on my laptop since I got introduced to Debian. **5. Do you have any suggestions to improve women's participation in Debian?** I was involved with actively mentoring newcomers to Debian since I started contributing myself. I specially work towards reducing the gender gap inside the Debian and Free Software community in general. In my experience, I believe that visibility of already existing women in the community will encourage more women to participate. Also I think we should reintroduce mentoring through debian-women. ### _Tássia Camões Araújo (tassia)_ **1. Who are you?** Tássia Camões Araújo, a Brazilian living in Canada. I'm a passionate learner who tries to push myself out of my comfort zone and always find something new to learn. I also love to mentor people on their learning journey. But I don't consider myself a typical geek. My challenge has always been to not get distracted by the next project before I finish the one I have in my hands. That said, I love being part of a community of geeks and feel empowered by it. I love Debian for its technical excellence, and it's always reassuring to know that someone is taking care of the things I don't like or can't do. When I'm not around computers, one of my favorite things is to feel the wind on my cheeks, usually while skating or riding a bike; I also love music, and I'm always singing a melody in my head. **2. How did you get introduced to Debian?** As a student, I was privileged to be introduced to FLOSS at the same time I was introduced to computer programming. My university could not afford to have labs in the usual proprietary software model, and what seemed like a limitation at the time turned out to be a great learning opportunity for me and my colleagues. I joined this student-led initiative to "liberate" our servers and build LTSP-based labs - where a single powerful computer could power a few dozen diskless thin clients. How revolutionary it was at the time! And what an achievement! From students to students, all using Debian. Most of that group became close friends; I've married one of them, and a few of them also found their way to Debian. **3. How long have you been into Debian?** I first used Debian in 2001, but my first real connection with the community was attending DebConf 2004. Since then, going to DebConfs has become a habit. It is that moment in the year when I reconnect with the global community and my motivation to contribute is boosted. And you know, in 20 years I've seen people become parents, grandparents, children grow up; we've had our own child and had the pleasure of introducing him to the community; we've mourned the loss of friends and healed together. I'd say Debian is like family, but not the kind you get at random once you're born, Debian is my family by choice. **4. Are you using Debian in your daily life? If yes, how?** These days I teach at Vanier College in Montréal. My favorite course to teach is UNIX, which I have the pleasure of teaching mostly using Debian. I try to inspire my students to discover Debian and other FLOSS projects, and we are happy to run a FLOSS club with participation from students, staff and alumni. I love to see these curious young minds put to the service of FLOSS. It is like recruiting soldiers for a good battle, and one that can change their lives, as it certainly did mine. **5. Do you have any suggestions to improve women's participation in Debian?** I think the most effective way to inspire other women is to give visibility to active women in our community. Speaking at conferences, publishing content, being vocal about what we do so that other women can see us and see themselves in those positions in the future. It's not easy, and I don't like being in the spotlight. It took me a long time to get comfortable with public speaking, so I can understand the struggle of those who don't want to expose themselves. But I believe that this space of vulnerability can open the way to new connections. It can inspire trust and ultimately motivate our next generation. It's with this in mind that I publish these lines. Another point we can't neglect is that in Debian we work on a volunteer basis, and this in itself puts us at a great disadvantage. In our societies, women usually take a heavier load than their partners in terms of caretaking and other invisible tasks, so it is hard to afford the free time needed to volunteer. This is one of the reasons why I bring my son to the conferences I attend, and so far I have received all the support I need to attend DebConfs with him. It is a way to share the caregiving burden with our community - it takes a village to raise a child. Besides allowing us to participate, it also serves to show other women (and men) that you can have a family life and still contribute to Debian. My feeling is that we are not doing super well in terms of diversity in Debian at the moment, but that should not discourage us at all. That's the way it is now, but that doesn't mean it will always be that way. I feel like we go through cycles. I remember times when we had many more active female contributors, and I'm confident that we can improve our ratio again in the future. In the meantime, I just try to keep going, do my part, attract those I can, reassure those who are too scared to come closer. Debian is a wonderful community, it is a family, and of course a family cannot do without us, the women. _These interviews were conducted via email exchanges in October, 2024. Thanks to all the wonderful women who participated in this interview. We really appreciate your contributions in Debian and to Free/Libre software._

Dear Debian community, this are my bits from DPL for September. ## New lintian maintainer I'm pleased to welcome Louis-Philippe Véronneau as a new Lintian maintainer. He humorously acknowledged his new role, stating, "Apparently I'm a Lintian maintainer now". I remain confident that we can, and should, continue modernizing our policy checker, and I see this as one important step toward that goal. ## SPDX name / license tools There was a discussion about deprecating the unique names for DEP-5 and migrating to fully compliant SPDX names. Simon McVittie wrote: "Perhaps our Debian-specific names _are_ better, but the relevant question is whether they are _sufficiently_ better to outweigh the benefit of sharing effort and specifications with the rest of the world (and I don't think they are)." Also Charles Plessy sees the value of deprecating the Debian ones and align on SPDX. The thread on debian-devel list contains several practical hints for writing debian/copyright files. ## proposal: Hybrid network stack for Trixie There was a very long discussion on debian-devel list about the network stack on Trixie that started in July and was continued in end of August / beginning of September. The discussion was also covered on LWN. It continued in a "proposal: Hybrid network stack for Trixie" by Lukas Märdian. ## Contacting teams I continued reaching out to teams in September. One common pattern I've noticed is that most teams lack a clear strategy for attracting new contributors. Here's an example snippet from one of my outreach emails, which is representative of the typical approach: Q: Do you have some strategy to gather new contributors for your team? A: No. Q: Can I do anything for you? A: Everything that can help to have more than 3 guys :-D Well, only the first answer, "No," is typical. To help the JavaScript team, I'd like to invite anyone with JavaScript experience to join the team's mailing list and offer to learn and contribute. While I've only built a JavaScript package once, I know this team has developed excellent tools that are widely adopted by others. It's an active and efficient team, making it a great starting point for those looking to get involved in Debian. You might also want to check out the "Little tutorial for JS-Team beginners". Given the lack of a strategy to actively recruit new contributors--a common theme in the responses I've received--I recommend reviewing my talk from DebConf23 about teams. The Debian Med team would have struggled significantly in my absence (I've paused almost all work with the team since becoming DPL) if I hadn't consistently focused on bringing in new members. I'm genuinely proud of how the team has managed to keep up with the workload (thank you, Debian Med team!). Of course, onboarding newcomers takes time, and there's no guarantee of long-term success, but if you don't make the effort, you'll never find out. ## OS underpaid The Register, in its article titled "Open Source Maintainers Underpaid, Swamped by Security, Going Gray", summarizes the 2024 State of the Open Source Maintainer Report. I find this to be an interesting read, both in general and in connection with the challenges mentioned in the previous paragraph about finding new team members. Kind regards Andreas.

We are excited to announce and welcome Freexian into Debian Partners. Freexian specializes in Free Software with a particular focus on Debian GNU/Linux. Freexian can assist with consulting, training, technical support, packaging, or software development on projects involving use or development of Free software. All of Freexian's employees and partners are well-known contributors in the Free Software community, a choice that is integral to Freexian's business model. #### About the Debian Partners Program The Debian Partners Program was created to recognize companies and organizations that help and provide continuous support to the project with services, finances, equipment, vendor support, and a slew of other technical and non-technical services. Partners provide critical assistance, help, and support which has advanced and continues to further our work in providing the 'Universal Operating System' to the world. Thank you Freexian!

The following contributors got their Debian Developer accounts in the last two months: * Carlos Henrique Lima Melara (charles) * Joenio Marques da Costa (joenio) * Blair Noctis (ncts) The following contributors were added as Debian Maintainers in the last two months: * Taihsiang Ho Congratulations!

Dear Debian community, this are my bits from DPL for August. ## Happy Birthday Debian On 16th of August Debian celebrated its 31th birthday. Since I'm unable to write a better text than our great publicity team I'm simply linking to their article for those who might have missed it: https://bits.debian.org/2024/08/debian-turns-31.html ## Removing more packages from unstable Helmut Grohne argued for more aggressive package removal and sought consensus on a way forward. He provided six examples of processes where packages that are candidates for removal are consuming valuable person-power. I’d like to add that the Bug of the Day initiative (see below) also frequently encounters long-unmaintained packages with popcon votes sometimes as low as zero, and often fewer than ten. Helmut's email included a list of packages that would meet the suggested removal criteria. There was some discussion about whether a popcon vote should be included in these criteria, with arguments both for and against it. Although I support including popcon, I acknowledge that Helmut has a valid point in suggesting it be left out. While I’ve read several emails in agreement, Scott Kitterman made a valid point "I don't think we need more process. We just need someone to do the work of finding the packages and filing the bugs." I agree that this is crucial to ensure an automated process doesn’t lead to unwanted removals. However, I don’t see "someone" stepping up to file RM bugs against other maintainers' packages. As long as we have strict ownership of packages, many people are hesitant to touch a package, even for fixing it. Asking for its removal might be even less well-received. Therefore, if an automated procedure were to create RM bugs based on defined criteria, it could help reduce some of the social pressure. In this aspect the opinion of Niels Thykier is interesting: "As much as I want automation, I do not mind the prototype starting as a semi-automatic process if that is what it takes to get started." The urgency of the problem to remove packages was put by CharlesPlessy into the words: "So as of today, it is much less work to keep a package rotting than removing it." My observation when trying to fix the Bug of the Day exactly fits this statement. I would love for this discussion to lead to more aggressive removals that we can agree upon, whether they are automated, semi-automated, or managed by a person processing an automatically generated list (supported by an objective procedure). To use an analogy: I’ve found that every image collection improves with aggressive pruning. Similarly, I’m convinced that Debian will improve if we remove packages that no longer serve our users well. ## DEP14 / DEP18 There are two DEPs that affect our workflow for maintaining packages—particularly for those who agree on using Git for Debian packages. DEP-14 recommends a standardized layout for Git packaging repositories, which benefits maintainers working across teams and makes it easier for newcomers to learn a consistent repository structure. DEP-14 stalled for various reasons. Sam Hartman suspected it might be because 'it doesn't bring sufficient value.' However, the assumption that git-buildpackage is incompatible with DEP-14 is incorrect, as confirmed by its author, Guido Günther. As one of the two key tools for Debian Git repositories (besides dgit) fully supports DEP-14, though the migration from the previous default is somewhat complex. Some investigation into mass-converting older formats to DEP-14 was conducted by the Perl team, as Gregor Hermann pointed out.. The discussion about DEP-14 resurfaced with the suggestion of DEP-18. Guido Günther proposed the title Encourage Continuous Integration and Merge Request-Based Collaboration for Debian Packages’, which more accurately reflects the DEP's technical intent. Otto Kekäläinen, who initiated DEP-18 (thank you, Otto), provided a good summary of the current status. He also assembled a very helpful overview of Git and GitLab usage in other Linux distros. ## More Salsa CI As a result of the DEP-18 discussion, Otto Kekäläinen suggested implementing Salsa CI for our top popcon packages. I believe it would be a good idea to enable CI by default across Salsa whenever a new repository is created. ## Progress in Salsa migration In my campaign, I stated that I aim to reduce the number of packages maintained outside Salsa to below 2,000. As of March 28, 2024, the count was 2,368. Today, it stands at 2,187 (UDD query: `SELECT DISTINCT count(*) FROM sources WHERE release = 'sid' and vcs_url not like '%salsa%' ;`). After a third of my DPL term (OMG), we've made significant progress, reducing the amount in question (369 packages) by nearly half. I'm pleased with the support from the DDs who moved their packages to Salsa. Some packages were transferred as part of the Bug of the Day initiative (see below). ## Bug of the Day As announced in my 'Bits from the DPL' talk at DebConf, I started an initiative called Bug of the Day. The goal is to train newcomers in bug triaging by enabling them to tackle small, self-contained QA tasks. We have consistently identified target packages and resolved at least one bug per day, often addressing multiple bugs in a single package. In several cases, we followed the Package Salvaging procedure outlined in the Developers Reference. Most instances were either welcomed by the maintainer or did not elicit a response. Unfortunately, there was one exception where the recipient of the Package Salvage bug expressed significant dissatisfaction. The takeaway is to balance formal procedures with consideration for the recipient’s perspective. I'm pleased to confirm that the Matrix channel has seen an increase in active contributors. This aligns with my hope that our efforts would attract individuals interested in QA work. I’m particularly pleased that, within just one month, we have had help with both fixing bugs and improving the code that aids in bug selection. As I aim to introduce newcomers to various teams within Debian, I also take the opportunity to learn about each team's specific policies myself. I rely on team members' assistance to adapt to these policies. I find that gaining this practical insight into team dynamics is an effective way to understand the different teams within Debian as DPL. Another finding from this initiative, which aligns with my goal as DPL, is that many of the packages we addressed are already on Salsa but have not been uploaded, meaning their VCS fields are not published. This suggests that maintainers are generally open to managing their packages on Salsa. For packages that were not yet on Salsa, the move was generally welcomed. ## Publicity team wants you The publicity team has decided to resume regular meetings to coordinate their efforts. Given my high regard for their work, I plan to attend their meetings as frequently as possible, which I began doing with the first IRC meeting. During discussions with some team members, I learned that the team could use additional help. If anyone interested in supporting Debian with non-packaging tasks reads this, please consider introducing yourself to debian-publicity@lists.debian.org. Note that this is a publicly archived mailing list, so it's not the best place for sharing private information. Kind regards Andreas.