Communication
————-

I’ve delivered the classic “bits from DPL” talk [10] at DebConf. I won’t
discuss it here, but both slides [11] and recordings [10] are available.

[10] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/569.en.html
[11] http://git.upsilon.cc/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=talks/201008-debconf10-dpl.git;a=blob_plain;f=dpl-bits.pdf;hb=pdf

I’ve also had two interviews with social science researchers (Gabriella
Coleman and Fernando) on several Debian/DPL-related topics. The texts
will be available, although it might take some time to write it down as
the interviews were tape recorded.

CUT (Constantly Usable Testing) BoF
———————————–

Before DebConf10 we had yet another discussion that stumbled upon Joey
Hess’ CUT proposal [6]. As I’m mean *g*, I started annoying^Wprodding
Joey to have a CUT BoF at DebConf10. He agreed and ended up organizing,
together with Lucas Nussbaum, one of the most crowded BoF of the
conference [7]. I’m personally quite excited about CUT, as it has the
potential to provide a quite unique in the context of today FOSS
distributions.

After the BoF, an Alioth project has been spawned [8] and discussions
are flourishing on its mailing list [9]. If you are interested check out
the archives or wait for a summary on -project which AFAIK is being
prepared these days.

[6] http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/debian/cut/
[7] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/681.en.html
[8] https://alioth.debian.org/projects/cut
[9] https://alioth.debian.org/mail/?group_id=100532

RC squashing activities
———————–

I’ve hosted a BoF on RC bug squashing via NMUs [12]. While it is not
strictly DPL-ish, I mention it here because it gave to the participants
the clear impression that (properly done!) NMUs are welcome and
considered a very useful tool to release in a more “collaborative”
manner. Such a culture is important for the sustainability of our
release process and to help the release team, especially these days,
when we are close to the Squeeze release. Watch the video and go NMU an
RC bug fix

[12] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/609.en.htm

Along the same lines, shortly before DebConf10 Micah Anderson contacted
me to organize some RC bug squashing activity during the conference. The
result of discussions with him, Gregor Hermann, and Mehdi Dogguy (in
fact, they did most of the work) has been RCBC [3,4] a Release Critical
Bug squashing Contest, with prize contributions from generous sponsors
such as Marvell, HP, and Pearson. RCBC stats are impressive, with more
than 200 bugs fixed in both Squeeze and Lenny. For more info see check
the wiki page and the closing DebConf10 plenary [5].

[3] http://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf10/RCBC#RC_Bug_Squashing_Contest
[4] http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2010/07/RCBC_-_release_critical_bugs_contest/
[5] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/645.en.html

init system(s)
————–

When I attended the Ubuntu Development Summit (UDS) a few months ago, I
chatted with Scott James Remnant (Upstart upstream) about how to best
evaluate Upstart support in Debian. One of my suggestions has been to
have a BoF on the matter at DebConf, which he kindly volunteered to
organize [13]. The BoF has been attended by people as varies as upstream
authors, boot loader maintainers, policy team, etc.

While I’m by no mean an authoritative voice in wrapping up the BoF, I’m
quite excited at an idea which was quite popular during the BoF: instead
of *transitioning* from one init system to another, Debian can rather
show how to *support* multiple init systems. The first needed step to go
there will be support in policy for that and AFAIK it will be worked on
by the policy team in the near future; check the policy BTS for info.

[13] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/635.en.html

Derivatives
———–

After my talk at UDS a few months ago, I invited Ubuntu folks to do the
same at our conferences. Jorge Castro—Ubuntu responsible of
collaboration with upstream—has kindly accepted and delivered an
interesting “Collaboration between Ubuntu and Debian” talk [18].

Additionally, Matt Zimmerman hosted a “Debian derivatives BoF” [19].
Unfortunately the BoF room didn’t have video coverage, but minutes have
(just) been posted to the -derivatives@lists.d.o mailing list.

[18] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/636.en.html
[19] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/669.en.html

Collaboration with SFLC
———————–

Being in New York I took the chance to meet in person some FOSS
sensitive entities which are in the area and care about Debian. In
particular, I’ve been talking a lot with Eben Moglen and other people
from SFLC (which, BTW, has contributed to the success of DebConf10, both
in terms of monetary sponsoring and in terms of events organized
for/with us) about collaboration possibilities.

During the question time of the “Patent Absurdity” video projection
[14], we have announced the start of collaboration in writing reports
that will help Debian, and other distribution like us, to better
understand and document legal implications of our day to day
activities. A proper collaboration announcement is being prepared and
will follow soon.

[14] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/613.en.html

DebConf & Debian
—————-

Following some pre-DebConf10 discussions among myself and the DebConf
orga team on the topic of conference budget, a couple of BoFs have been
organized. In particular, Pablo Duboue has hosted one on the topic of
travel sponsorship [15], while myself and Holger Levsen have hosted one
on the long outstanding issue of the (formal) relationship between
DebConf and Debian [16]. Of course, no decision has been taken during
the BoFs, as not all interested parties could be assumed to be present.
On both subjects, discussions will re-start shortly on the debconf-team
mailing list, aiming at clarifying both aspects before the full “release
cycle” of DebConf11.

[15] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/622.en.html
[16] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/658.en.html
[17] http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-team

Wrap up
=======

The above pointers to DebConf10 events are by no means exhaustive, they
are only those somehow related to DPL activity. There is interesting
stuff for the Debian community in possibly any single DebConf10 event.
Thanks to the outstanding work of the video team, recordings of almost
all DebConf10 events are available [1]. In case you have missed a
specific event or the conference all together, I encourage you to check
out the recordings. In the same spirit, I encourage all speakers and
event organizers to provide slides, minutes, and other support material
as attachments in Penta [2] and to post them to the most relevant
mailing lists, so that they are more widely available.

[1] http://video.debian.net
[2] http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events.en.html

Happy Squeeze hacking,
Cheers.

PS the usual boring day-to-day activity log, including DebConf10 days,
is available at

– Stefano Zacchiroli -o- PhD in Computer Science \ PostDoc @ Univ. Paris 7 zack@{upsilon.cc,pps.jussieu.fr,debian.org} -<>- http://upsilon.cc/zack/ Dietro un grande uomo c’è ..| . |. Et ne m’en veux pas si je te tutoie sempre uno zaino ………..| ..: |…. Je dis tu à tous ceux que j’aime

One conference track, for instance, covered Java packaging, which has changed a lot since Sun opened up Java’s licensing. There were sessions on coordinating with the Ubuntu project and on working with enterprise projects such as Samba.

More information is available at http://debconf10.debconf.org/.

Every year, DebConf allows new and existing Debian project participants
from around the world to assemble, share knowledge and ideas, make
collaborative contributions to Debian, and build tighter community
bonds. Conference costs are largely supported by corporate sponsors who
find significant interest in supporting Debian and DebConfs.

For the first time, Debconf will host “tracks”, featuring a cluster of
talks linked by a common theme. These include tracks on Science/Math,
Java, Enterprise Systems, Debian Community Outreach, and Media and Art
in Debian. Other talks will cover technical, licensing, and community
issues by a host of Debian developers and other leaders in the Free
Software community. Eben Moglen, Chairman of the Software Freedom Law
Center and Professor of Law at Columbia University will be our plenary
speaker on August 3, at 10:00 AM [1].

1: http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/641.en.html

DebConf includes Debian Day, being held on August 1st, when the
conference opens its doors to anyone interested in finding out more
about Debian and Free Software. During this event, there will be a full
day of talks on a variety of subjects such as Free Software advocacy,
Free Software usability, and a number of talks on the Debian project and
operating system itself. One of the hilights of this years Debian Day
will be the talk by the Honourable Gale Brewer, member of the New York
City Council, on “How Government can Foster Freedom in Technology” at
04:00 PM [2]

2: http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/674.en.html

More information on Debian Day, including a schedule, are available at

http://www.debianday.org/.

Video Streams for most talks available
————————————–

Similar to previous years, people unable to attend the conference will
be able to participate by watching video streams and comment via IRC
channels. More details about the video streams are available at
http://debconf10.debconf.org. To comment on sessions, please join the
irc channels #debconf-davis and #debconf-interschool respectively on
irc.debian.org. The complete schedule of the conference is available in
different formats at
http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/index.en.html but please note,
that new events and ad hoc sessions will be added during the
conference.

About Debian
————

Debian is a free computer operating system. Over three thousand
volunteers from all over the world work together to create and maintain
Debian software. Translated into over 30 languages, and supporting a
huge range of computer architectures, Debian calls itself the “universal
operating system” and is the largest free software project in the world.
In the United States, Debian is backed by Software in the Public
Interest, Inc., a not-for-profit public charity as described in section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

About DebConf
————-

DebConf is the Debian Project’s developer conference. In addition to a
full schedule of technical, social and policy talks, DebConf provides an
opportunity for developers, contributors and other interested people to
meet in person and work together more closely. It has taken place
annually since 2000 in locations as varied as Canada, Finland, and
Mexico. More information about DebConf is available from

http://debconf.org/.

More Information
—————-

More information about DebConf10 can be found on the conference website
at http://debconf10.debconf.org/ or by contacting the DebConf Global
Press Team at press@debconf.org.

– To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-announce-REQUEST@lists.debian.org with a subject of “unsubscribe”. Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20100730203404.GH31676@melusine.alphascorpii.net

More (and up-to-date) information is available at [0], so keep watching
it.

[0] http://people.debian.org/~anibal/ksp-dc10/ksp-dc10.html

About DebConf
————-

DebConf is the Debian Project’s developer conference. In addition to a
full schedule of technical, social and policy talks, DebConf provides an
opportunity for developers, contributors and other interested people to
meet in person and work together more closely. It has taken place
annually since 2000 in locations as varied as Canada, Finland, Mexico,
Scotland, Argentina and Spain.

DebConf10 will take place in New York City from Sunday August 1st
through Saturday August 7th.

DebConf will be preceded by DebCamp, from Sunday July 25th through
Saturday July 31st. DebCamp is a smaller, less formal event intended for
group work on Debian projects.

If you or your company are interested in sponsoring DebConf by donating
money or lending equipment, please contact the sponsorship team at
sponsors@debconf.org

More information about DebConf10 can be found on the conference website:

https://debconf10.debconf.org/

About Debian
————

The Debian Project is an association of Free Software developers who
volunteer their time and effort in order to produce an excellent free,
cross-platform operating system. More information about Debian is
available at http://www.debian.org/

About New York City
——————-

New York City is the most populous city in the United States. It spans
five counties, and is the seat of the New York metropolitan area, one of
the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New
York is a center of worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion,
entertainment, international affairs.

=== Reconfirmation ===

If you registered to attend, you should have already received an email about
this, but a public reminder is always good

June 10th is the last day to reconfirm your attendance to DebConf10, you must
reconfirm if you asked for sponsored food or accommodation or received travel
funding from us.

You can reconfirm by checking the ‘Reconfirm Attendance’ box in your
Pentabarf’s account [0]. Also please set your arrival and departure dates,
and indicate your room preferences if you are staying in our accommodation
(regardless of payment). Information on the room options is here:

http://debconf10.debconf.org/accommodation.xhtml

If you have decided not to come to DebConf10, we are sorry about it, but
we ask you to please state this by unchecking the ‘I want to attend this
conference box’. This will save you from further emails from us asking
you to reconfirm.

Attendess paying for their stay should get an email in the next day or two
explaining the exact amount they have to pay.

If you have any problem, doubts or question, please mail us at
registration@debconf.org

[0] https://penta.debconf.org/penta/submission/dc10/person

=== Provisional list of talks ===

We are happy to announce that a provisional list of talks has been published
at:

https://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events.en.html

The accepted events will show up as speakers reconfirm.
A draft of the schedule will be published in the next week or two.

There will be opportunities for ad-hoc events to be scheduled during DebConf,
so if you missed the event submission deadline and still want to hold an
event, please go and submit your event in pentabarf. Likewise, there will be
opportunities for events which you plan with friends once you are at DebConf.
Details on the scheduling of these events will be available at the conference.

=== Attendees mailing list ===

Finally, we would like to remind you about the attendee’s list that you can
use to coordinate your trip with other attendees, talk about possible social
events, etc.

http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-discuss

=== Useful links ===
DebConf10 website: http://debconf10.debconf.org/

Getting to New York City: http://debconf10.debconf.org/travel.xhtml

DebConf10 Venue: http://debconf10.debconf.org/venue.xhtml

Free events before, during and after DebConf:

http://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf10/TouristActivities

About DebConf
- ————-
DebConf is the Debian Project’s developer conference. In addition to a full
schedule of technical, social and policy talks, DebConf provides an
opportunity for developers, contributors and other interested people to meet
in person and work together more closely. It has taken place annually since
2000 in locations as varied as Canada, Finland, Mexico, Scotland, Argentina
and Spain.

DebConf10 will take place in New York City from Sunday August 1st through
Saturday August 7th.

DebConf will be preceded by DebCamp, from Sunday July 25th through Saturday
July 31st. DebCamp is a smaller, less formal event intended for
group work on Debian projects.

If you or your company are interested in sponsoring DebConf by donating money
or lending equipment, please contact the sponsorship team at
sponsors@debconf.org

More information about DebConf10 can be found on the conference website:

https://debconf10.debconf.org/

About Debian
- ————
The Debian Project is an association of Free Software developers who
volunteer their time and effort in order to produce an excellent free,
cross-platform operating system. More information about Debian
is available at http://www.debian.org/

About New York City
- ——————-
New York City is the most populous city in the United States. It spans five
counties, and is the seat of the New York metropolitan area, one of the
most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York
is a center of worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion, entertainment,
international affairs.

Since I’ll not be coming to Debconf, it would be nice if somebody could take some umbrellas to New York