Bits from the DPL -- April-May 2016

Hi,

Thanks!
=======

First, I'd like to  thank everyone who voted for me  and allowed me to
be elected as DPL. More generally, I'd like to thank everyone who took
part in  the election. I  consider DPL  elections as a  very important
event for our project and I believe it help us, each individual DD, to
discuss important  plans for the project  and try to make  things move
forward.

I'd also like  to thank Neil McGovern  for his work as a  DPL. The DPL
job  is  very  time  consuming   and  requires  great  motivation  and
dedication during the whole term!

Last but not  least, in order to simplify and  ease communication with
project members and contributors, here are  a few simple rules you may
want to follow:
- If you think you have something to tell me, contact me!
- If you think there is something I may find interesting, contact me!
- If you  think I may have  something to say on  some subject, contact
  me!
- If  you need  some  support to  help you  moving  forward with  your
  project, contact me!
- If you still  hesitate, contact me… and we will  discuss about that!
  :-)

ZFS On Linux
============

As you might  have noticed already, zfs-linux[1] has  been accepted in
the “contrib”  archive area recently.   It an important  milestone for
us, and  will help  more users  to take advantage  of ZoL  while still
using their favorite Linux distribution, Debian.

It  is important  to note  that CDDL  is an  open source  license, and
complies with DFSG. Unfortunately, it  is incompatible with GPLv2.  In
order to avoid putting our users  at risk of violating GPL, we decided
that “contrib” was the right place for zfs-linux. Conservancy provided
more details on the issue [2].

This  event  has been  covered  by  some  media already  [3,4,5].  The
confusion  around  the  subject  shows   that  this  is  not  an  easy
topic. Publicity  team published  a statement  to help  clarifying the
what, why and how in [6].

[1] https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/zfs-linux
[2] https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2016/feb/25/zfs-and-linux/
[3]
http://news.softpedia.com/news/after-years-of-hard-work-z...
[4] http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/open-source/72834-...
[5] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/16/zfs_comes_to_debi...
[6] https://bits.debian.org/2016/05/what-does-it-mean-that-zf...


Newmaint: Call for help!
========================

The process leading to acceptation of new Debian Maintainers is mainly
administrative today and is handled by  the Newmaint team. In order to
simplify  this process  further,  the team  wants  to integrate  their
workflow   into   nm.debian.org's   interface  so   that   prospective
maintainers can  send their application  online and the  Newmaint team
review it from within the website.

We need your help to  implement the missing pieces into nm.debian.org.
It is written in Python and  using Django. If you have some experience
with that, you  should definitely join the  newmaint-site mailing list
[7] and ask for  the details. Enrico or someone else  in the list will
do their  best to share  their vision and  explain the needed  work in
order to get this properly implemented!

It doesn't matter  if you're already a Debian Developer  to be able to
contribute to this project. Anyone can step up and help!

[7] http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/n...


Communication about technical work
==================================

We are often too  focused on our day to day work or  after a long term
objective without  noticing that  we are  making progress  towards one
longstanding goal. Recently, I was really pleased to see the Java Team
blog  [8] coming  up on  our Planet.  It would  be great  if we  could
publish more posts of the same  kind. Advertising what we do in Debian
is very important and helps  our (prospective) users better understand
our vision.

If you don't want  to setup a blog engine, remember  you can reach out
to the  Publicity team and  use bits.debian.org [9] to  advertise your
work!

[8] http://java.debian.net/blog/
[9] https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Publicity/bits.debian.org


Debian Sun Camp
===============

Tincho and Ana are organizing the Debian Sun Camp [10], May 26-29. The
main goal  of this event  is to socialize  and hack with  Debian folks
under the sun! I already booked my tickets and hope to meet you there.
It is still time to organize your trip to Lloret de Mar and join us!

[10] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2016/03/ms...


ITWire interview
================

I answered an interview for ITWire which has been published in [12].

[12]
http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/open-source/72513-...


Assets
======
- Approved expenses for MiniDebConf at Curitiba, Brazil. (3000 BRL)
- Approved expenses for MiniDebConf at Vienna, Austria. (Up to 3000€)
- Approved expenses for CubaConf at Havana, Cuba. (Up to 300 USD)
- Approved purchase of two video capture cards for the Video
  team and which will be used during DebConf16. (300 USD)
- Approved  budget (Up  to  15k USD)  to  help GSoC/Outreachy  interns
  attend DebConf 16.
- Approved  budget   extension  (of   13k  USD)  for   DebConf  travel
  sponsorship. The goal is obviously to encourage more contributors to
  attend the conference.


Day-to-day log
==============
My day-to-day log of DPL activities is available on master:
- /srv/leader/news/bits-from-the-DPL.txt.201604
- /srv/leader/news/bits-from-the-DPL.txt.201605

-- 
Mehdi Dogguy