From 80b8c6f22a206056d2bfe58296883918969d9ea0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kurt Roeckx Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2024 22:46:41 +0100 Subject: Add candidates --- english/vote/2024/platforms/20140827_2.jpg | Bin 0 -> 282111 bytes english/vote/2024/platforms/Makefile | 12 + english/vote/2024/platforms/index.wml | 11 + english/vote/2024/platforms/tille.wml | 479 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ english/vote/2024/vote_001.wml | 12 +- 5 files changed, 509 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) create mode 100644 english/vote/2024/platforms/20140827_2.jpg create mode 100644 english/vote/2024/platforms/Makefile create mode 100644 english/vote/2024/platforms/index.wml create mode 100644 english/vote/2024/platforms/tille.wml (limited to 'english') diff --git a/english/vote/2024/platforms/20140827_2.jpg b/english/vote/2024/platforms/20140827_2.jpg new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..5e974959787 Binary files /dev/null and b/english/vote/2024/platforms/20140827_2.jpg differ diff --git a/english/vote/2024/platforms/Makefile b/english/vote/2024/platforms/Makefile new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..e131f190235 --- /dev/null +++ b/english/vote/2024/platforms/Makefile @@ -0,0 +1,12 @@ +# If this makefile is not generic enough to support a translation, +# please contact debian-www. + +WMLBASE=../../.. +CUR_DIR=vote/2024/platforms +SUBS= + +include $(WMLBASE)/Make.lang + +index.$(LANGUAGE).html: index.wml \ + $(wildcard $(ENGLISHSRCDIR)/$(CUR_DIR)/../../[0-9]*/vote_*.wml) \ + $(TEMPLDIR)/template.wml $(TEMPLDIR)/votebar.wml diff --git a/english/vote/2024/platforms/index.wml b/english/vote/2024/platforms/index.wml new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..bd94ddf467a --- /dev/null +++ b/english/vote/2024/platforms/index.wml @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +#use wml::debian::template title="Platforms for Project Leader Candidates" BARETITLE="true" +#use wml::debian::votebar +#include "$(ENGLISHDIR)/vote/style.inc" + +

+ The following is the platform statement from the + candidates for the Debian Project Leader elections, 2024. +

+ diff --git a/english/vote/2024/platforms/tille.wml b/english/vote/2024/platforms/tille.wml new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..0f62add7c5a --- /dev/null +++ b/english/vote/2024/platforms/tille.wml @@ -0,0 +1,479 @@ +#use wml::debian::template title="Platform for Andreas Tille" BARETITLE="true" NOHEADER="true" +#include "$(ENGLISHDIR)/vote/style.inc" + +
+ + + + + +
+

Andreas Tille
+ DPL Platform
+ 2024-03-16 +

+ +tille@debian.org
+Debian Developer page
+Debian related talks
+Private homepage
+ +		  +
+Image of Andreas Tille +
+
+ +

1. Introduction

+ +

My name is Andreas Tille. It took me more than 25 years with the +Debian account tille to run for DPL.

+ +

+I am married and a proud grandfather (thanks to my son and +daughter-in-law). I am also a father of two adopted daughters (all +thanks to Debian) and one of these daughters made me a grandfather +again. My background as a +physicist has fostered a keen interest in practical applications of IT +solutions in science. I have a lifelong passion for various sports, +particularly swimming. Concerned about our environment and the climate +crisis, I have dedicated myself to planting numerous trees. I am an avid +cyclist and have chosen not to own a car, prioritizing sustainable +transportation methods. +

+ +

+For me, among other things, freedom means not being available at all +times. That's why I decided against owning a smartphone, for instance. +Therefore, it is important for you to know that as your potential DPL, +there may be times when I am offline and cannot be reached. I value +freedom deeply, and I am grateful for the privilege of making choices +that are sound with my values. +

+ +

2. Why I am running for DPL

+ +

Short answer

+ +

+Debian has been a significant part of about half of my +life. While contributing packages has been the primary part of my +involvement, I feel compelled to give back more to my friends and the +community. +

+ +

Long answers

+

+After initiating the Debian Med project, I have learned a lot about +managing a team of volunteers. While I was frequently addressed as the +Debian Med leader, I usually refused the term "leader" since I was not +elected for this position (and there is no point in having such a leader +position for a small team at all). However, I actually fulfilled tasks +a leader is expected to do, like establishing a friendly climate amongst +the team members and caring for the healthy growth of the team. I +learned that leading volunteers is way harder than leading employees, +and I consider it a great challenge to motivate volunteers to enjoy +working for the team. +

+

+In evaluating my capacity to build an effective team, I place value on +two qualities that I consider instrumental in achieving success: +my background as a physicist and my experience as an athlete. +These personal attributes have played a significant role in shaping my +ability to lead and collaborate effectively, contributing to my own +success in assembling and managing teams. As a physicist, I possess a +keen sense to identify logical and sensible solutions. This analytical +skill enables me to make informed decisions and navigate complex +challenges effectively. Furthermore, my experience as a sportsman has +instilled in me a strong sense of persistence and determination. I am +committed to applying both of these qualities as DPL, leveraging my +analytical mindset to make strategic decisions and my persistence to +drive initiatives forward and overcome obstacles. +

+

+As you can read in the stats +section of my developer page, I have uploaded numerous packages and +fixed many bugs. But Debian is not only about uploading packages. It's +about technical and social problems, reaching out to newcomers, and +ensuring that we remain relevant within the IT universe. +

+

+Especially at Debian Conferences but also at other events, I have met +many very knowledgeable people whom I would love to work with and from +whom I would happily take advice on the new tasks that I might have to +tackle. +

+ + +

What makes me afraid about running for DPL

+

+I love Debian because it enables me, as a volunteer, to choose the tasks +I love to do. Luckily, there are so many challenging tasks I have +enjoyed over the years. I have mostly worked in the background - +although making some presentations in various talks has occasionally +brought me into the spotlight. Being in the spotlight is something I +really don't enjoy, which was one reason I resisted for years when my +Debian friends suggested that I run for DPL. +

+

+I also anticipate that there are several non-technical tasks awaiting +the DPL, which may not be as pleasant as the work I am currently doing in +Debian. However, I approach these challenges with optimism. The +prospect of establishing a DPL advisory board, from which I can seek +guidance and support in navigating difficult questions, alleviates any +apprehension I may have about these tasks. +

+

+Finally, I am a bit concerned about the workload I'll leave to my +teammates since I plan to stop my uploading work to fully concentrate on +DPL tasks. +

+ + +

Short summary

+

+I am uncertain whether it's possible to initiate significant changes +within Debian during a single DPL term, despite recognizing the need +across various aspects. I aim to be realistic and sincere in my +commitments, avoiding the temptation to make promises that I may not be +able to fulfill. Instead, I prioritize laying a solid foundation for +future DPLs to effectively implement necessary changes. I hereby commit +to leveraging the experience I gather for the benefit of those future +DPLs. +

+ +

3. Agenda

+ +

3.1. Ensuring Debian stays relevant in a changing OS ecosystem

+ +

External perception

+

+Sometimes I wonder whether Debian is a victim of its own success by +being the most frequently derived distribution. Countless times I've +encountered Linux newbies who never heard about Debian but know what +Ubuntu is. While this somehow fits my personality as stated above, to +stay in the background, it would probably attract more contributors if +Debian were more widely known amongst people who do not consider +themselves Linux experts. +

+ +

Reaching Out to Learn

+

+I will try to establish contact with other distributions. From +derivatives, I would like to create some kind of wish list for what we, +as their upstream, could do better or what we possibly can learn. I also +plan to talk to distributions with different technical bases like +ArchLinux, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Nix, etc., to see whether we can learn from +them to solve problems in terms of organization of work and +infrastructure. Maybe we will be able to draw some conclusions, for +instance, why ArchWiki is famous for good documentation but +wiki.debian.org is not. +

+ +

Preparing for future

+

+For the Trixie release, we are facing the 64-bit time_t transition. This +ensures that 32-bit architectures in Trixie and later will be capable of +handling timestamps referring to times beyond 2038. Since other major +distributions decided to drop 32-bit architectures, Debian might be even +more relevant to work nicely in special hardware applications. That's +another challenge we are facing to prepare Debian for the future. +

+ +

Packaging standards

+

+To uphold Debian's esteemed standard of excellence, I am dedicated to +addressing areas where improvements can be made. While +we are appreciated for our high quality packages, there is a list of +'smelly packages' (see Debian +Trends). My goal is to reduce the barriers to updating these +packages and ensure that they meet current packaging standards. This +includes encouraging contributors to maintain Git repositories on Salsa, +preferably within team spaces, as the default method for maintaining a +package. +

+ +

Outreach

+

+I am committed to investing my energy in outreach projects targeting +younger developers to ensure Debian's future relevance. By engaging with +and empowering the next generation, we can foster innovation and sustain +Debian's position as a leading force in the open-source ecosystem. +Through mentorship and educational initiatives, we can inspire emerging +developers to contribute, ensuring Debian's continued impact for years +to come. +

+ +

3.2. Work of infrastructure and packaging teams

+ +

Infrastructure teams

+

+Debian heavily depends on the work of various infrastructure teams like +DSA, the release team, the ftpmaster team, and others. If I am elected +as DPL, I will engage with the members of all those teams to identify +and solve problems. In the past, I have proposed enhancements for the +work of the ftpmaster team. I admit that among several reasons for my +DPL candidature, one is to enhance the process of integrating new +packages. +

+ +

Reduce manual work

+

+I am also considering ways to streamline and automate tasks wherever +possible. One example that comes to mind is the process of removing +packages for specific architectures, which currently relies on manual +intervention of ftpmaster triggered by a bug report. While I appreciate +the value of having an additional pair of eyes checking dependencies in +the past, we now have autopkgtests that signal potential chain of +dependency issues. I believe that implementing sensible tooling can +significantly reduce manual workload, speeding up processes and +providing maintainers with greater control. +

+ +

Cooperation

+

+In addition to my own packaging work, I have always prioritized strong +team maintenance. To assess team sustainability, I have established +some team metrics. It has shown that teams in Debian can vary greatly. +It ranges from a large number of people cooperating very closely, +teams with lots of members just using a common team space and follow a +common policy, to teams that are less than a hand full of really +active people doing all the work. I hope that I will be able to +advertise a cooperative team culture of many active contributors, +including creating a friendly environment for new team members. In +Blends teams we sometimes succeeded in teaching and involving upstream +developers as well as users of the software we are packaging. That's +why I am very much in favor of promoting Blends more strongly. +

+ +

Team culture

+

+I have gained insight into several teams within Debian. I am a big +advocate for teams since they lower the barrier to updating and fixing +packages that are no longer "private". However, I have also observed +packages becoming "team orphaned" when the original uploader silently +moved on to other tasks while relying on other team members to maintain +the original work. To address this, I would like to promote a stronger +team culture to monitor problems within the entire team for every +member. +

+ +

Building redundancy

+

+I envision a future where every crucial task in Debian - whether it's +maintaining infrastructure or managing non-leaf packages - is handled by +at least two individuals to ensure comprehensive backup and support. +History has shown us instances where contributors have had to prioritize +personal commitments or unforeseen circumstances over their Debian +responsibilities, such as pursuing ultra-marathons or navigating the +demands of parenthood. As volunteers may inevitably need to step away +from their Debian tasks, it's essential that we establish mechanisms to +manage such transitions effectively. This is why I hold reservations +about the 'traditional' model of package ownership by a single +maintainer. +

+ +

+In other words: If you think single maintainership of packages +is the right way to cope with future problems for Debian you should +probably rank me below "None of the above". +

+ +

Packaging standards, salvaging packages

+

+I am a strong proponent of the adoption of Debian-wide packaging +standards that aim to streamline workflows and provide easier access for +both contributors moving between teams as well as for newcomers. I +envision the implementation of standards such as making maintenance +mandatory on Salsa, utilizing Salsa CI for continuous integration, +ensuring autopkgtests for packages, and leveraging janitor tools, among +others. In the long run, I believe these efforts could facilitate +package uploads directly from Salsa, further improving efficiency and +collaboration within the Debian ecosystem. +As a precondition for this goal, I advocate for implementing our +salvage mechanism +to transfer packages not yet hosted on Salsa to team repositories whenever +feasible otherwise in "debian-team". +

+ + +

3.3. Outreach and fostering a friendly environment inside Debian

+ +

Face to face meetings

+

+Having worked in Debian for nearly half of my life, I have had the great +pleasure of meeting many wonderful people. I appreciate the social +environment Debian has established, and I am committed to enhancing it +even further. As I value in-person meetings like DebConf, MiniDebConfs, +and team meetings, I will support these to the best of my ability. As a +follow-up to the BoF Face-to-face +Debian meetings in a climate crisis at DebConf23 , I would encourage +everyone to minimize air travel whenever possible. Fortunately, I've +noticed a tendency among Debian community members to prefer land travel +over flights anyway. +

+ +

Outreach

+

+One of the things I am most proud of in my work in Debian is the fact +that my pet project, Debian Med, has attracted an average of one new +developer per year of its existence. That's about 2% of the number of +Debian developers. This was achieved by participating in outreachy +projects and by finding our own means to attract contributors in both +directions (upstream and downstream). If I am elected as DPL, I will +continue to actively reach out to new contributors and have some rough +ideas on how to do so. +

+ +

Tiny tasks

+

+For instance, I envision organizing a continuous bug squashing party, +where contributors come together to address random bugs, thus exploring +all corners of Debian. Drawing from my experience as one of the top 10 +bug squashers within Debian, I am keen to implement initiatives such as +these. Creating a script to select a random bug from the Bug Tracking +System (BTS) and featuring it as the topic of a dedicated Matrix channel +would be straightforward. +This approach could showcase to newcomers the readily accessible +opportunities to contribute, serving as a motivating factor. +Additionally, I believe that offering guidance on +where to seek help within Debian is crucial for attracting and +supporting new contributors. I am fully committed to facilitating such +efforts, provided that my responsibilities as DPL allow me sufficient +time to do so. +

+ +

Fostering Collaboration

+

+In a similar vein, I am considering implementing autopkgtests for a +random package each day within another dedicated Matrix channel. I aim +to leverage the expertise of Outreachy students whom I have mentored in +these tasks over the past couple of years. Their valuable insights and +experience will be instrumental in ensuring the success of this +initiative. Additionally, I hope to attract other experienced Debian +contributors to join these efforts. By bringing together newcomers and +long-term contributors, we can foster collaboration and further enhance +the effectiveness of our initiatives. +

+ +

Diversity

+

+Within the Debian community, there exists an uneven distribution in +terms of gender representation and geographic diversity. Currently, +there is a notable over representation of male contributors originating +from countries typically considered industrialized. +

+ +

Inclusivity

+

+I have observed that the makeup of our developer community often +reflects the diversity present within our user base, albeit to varying +degrees. Therefore, it stands to reason that actively working to +increase the representation of underrepresented groups among Debian +contributors could serve to better align the project with the diverse +needs and perspectives of our user base. By fostering greater +inclusivity and diversity within our contributor pool, we can enhance +the relevance and effectiveness of our project, ensuring that it remains +accessible and beneficial to a broader range of individuals and +communities. +

+ +

Lower barriers

+

+As part of my commitment to fostering inclusivity and diversity within +the Debian community, I am actively exploring ways to make it easier for +newcomers to start contributing. While we have made significant progress +in addressing geographic disparities through our translation efforts, +there is still room to further strengthen this endeavor. Therefore, I +intend to offer support to the localization team to ensure that we +continue to improve accessibility for contributors from all regions. +Additionally, in tackling gender imbalances, it's crucial to acknowledge +the various societal factors at play. For instance, I've encountered the +argument that in many cultures, women have less leisure time than men, +which can hinder their ability to participate in open-source projects. +As a potential solution, we might consider introducing tasks such as bug +squashing, autopkgtest writing, and other short-term assignments that +require minimal time commitments. This approach aims to lower barriers +to entry and encourage participation from individuals with diverse +backgrounds and time constraints, as these tasks are self-contained and +do not necessitate ongoing maintenance. +

+ +

Make joining Debian fun and profit

+

+The localization team wiki +explicitly mentions the availability of small but valuable tasks, +emphasizing that even dedicating just an hour a week can contribute +significantly. Similarly, the ideas I've presented above, such as the +'bug of the day' and 'autopkgtest of the day,' offer small, +self-contained tasks that can be completed within a short time frame. +Moreover, simply observing how others tackle these tasks collaboratively +could serve as an engaging entry point for newcomers. Ultimately, my +goal is to make joining Debian an enjoyable and rewarding experience. +

+ + +

3.4. Navigating Constructive Criticism: Embracing Feedback for Growth and Success

+ +

Learn from people who left

+

+Within the vibrant landscape of the Free Software world, Debian +inevitably encounters criticism -- a testament to its significance. +While the proliferation of derivatives might initially appear positive, +it also signifies unmet needs within Debian itself, implicitly prompting +reflection and critique. Past instances, such as the departures of +longstanding contributors like Joey Hess and Michael Stapelberg, +underscore the importance of addressing criticism. For instance, Michael +Stapelberg's comprehensive +articulation of reasons for leaving Debian serves as a valuable +source of insight and reflection for the community. I will put this +article under my pillow, specifically the strong words about striving +towards more unification and a cultural shift from "this package is +my domain, how dare you touch it" to a shared sense of ownership. I +also fully subscribe to the need for unique workflows to possibly profit +from Debian-wide changes. +

+ +

Consulting experts

+

+I find several compelling ideas in this article, that I believe are +highly relevant. I am eager to engage with the Debian community to +identify longstanding issues that have yet to be addressed. I am +committed to facilitating discussions with knowledgeable experts, to +actively seek solutions to these challenges. +

+ + +

4. Thank You for Your Trust

+ +

+If you choose to vote for me, I am committed to ensuring transparency in +my work. I intend to maintain a daily log in a public Git repository, +provided the information can be shared with a public audience. +Additionally, I will send a monthly summary to debian-devel-announce to +keep you informed about my activities and progress. +

+ +

+As pillars of our community, your support is paramount to me. Debian +holds a significant place in my life, and I am committed to serving you +diligently. I place my trust in your judgment to choose the right +leader. Thank you for dedicating your time to review my platform and for +considering casting your vote in my favor. +

+ + +

A. Changelog

+ +

This platform is version controlled in a git repository.

+ + + +
+ +
diff --git a/english/vote/2024/vote_001.wml b/english/vote/2024/vote_001.wml index 503d16910ed..8b18ac2daa3 100644 --- a/english/vote/2024/vote_001.wml +++ b/english/vote/2024/vote_001.wml @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ Debian Project Leader Elections 2024 -P +D # meanings of the tag: # P: proposed # D: discussed @@ -55,10 +55,12 @@

Please note that the new term for the project leader shall start on 2024-04-21.

-# -#
    -#
  1. Jonathan Carter [] [nomination mail] [platform] -#
+ +
    +
  1. Andreas Tille [] [nomination mail] [platform] +
  2. Sruthi Chandran [] [nomination mail] +# [platform] +
#

# The ballot, when ready, can be requested through email -- cgit v1.2.3