Bits from DPL

--6h2mN2fEjgyAYX/2
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Dear Debian community,

this is bits from DPL for January.


Sovereign Tech Agency
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

I was recently pointed to Technologies and Projects supported by the
Sovereign Tech Agency[st1] 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[st2]:
"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 [st3] and
FLOSS/fund[st4]. If you have a Debian-related project that fits these
funding programs, they might be interesting options. This list is by no
means exhaustive=E2=80=94just some hints I=E2=80=99ve received and wanted t=
o share. More
suggestions for such opportunities are welcome.

[st1] https://www.sovereign.tech/tech
[st2] https://www.sovereign.tech/faq#does-the-sovereign-tech-agency-invest-=
or-support-projects-outside-of-germany-or-the-european-union
[st3] https://www.opentech.fund/
[st4] https://floss.fund/


Year of code reviews
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

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" [cr1]. 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=E2=80=99s not only helpful for
documentation but also the easiest way to apply patches.

I=E2=80=99d like to emphasize that no matter what workflow we use=E2=80=94B=
TS, MRs, or a
mix=E2=80=94it is crucial to uphold Debian=E2=80=99s reputation for high qu=
ality.
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=E2=
=80=99t
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 [cr3].

[cr1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2025/01/msg00267.html
[cr2] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2025/01/msg00457.html
[cr3] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2025/01/msg00004.html


Debian Publicity Team will no longer post on X/Twitter
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D

The Press Team has my full support in its decision to stop posting on
X[x1].  As per the Publicity delegation [x2]:

  * 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.

[x1] https://micronews.debian.org/2025/1738154246.html
[x2] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2023/11/msg00006.html


Kind regards
    Andreas.


--6h2mN2fEjgyAYX/2
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=DRcK
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--6h2mN2fEjgyAYX/2--