[Posted a week ago](https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/04/msg00006.html),
already deferred back then, this report is even more deferred now! But as there
are people interest in knowing what the "DPL job" is about even among non
debian-devel-announce subscribers, here is a blog-conveyed reproduction, for
the records.
----
Dear project members,
here is my monthly DPL activity report, this time for last March. It is
delayed by a couple of weeks because, myself being both incumbent and candidate
DPL, I preferred not to use d-d-a during the voting period unless really
needed. Apologies for the delay (or the unneeded paranoia, you name it).
As a side effect of the delay, the results of the DPL election are now
known. I'd like to thank all the people who took part in the elections: voters,
people who asked questions on -vote, the secretary, and obviously Gergely and
Wouter, without whom the campaign wouldn't have allowed to discuss relevant
aspects of Debian "politics".
Thanks for your trust. I'll do my best to match your expectations.
... and just to remind you what you've just asked for, here goes the
BigMonthlyBlurb!
Highlight: long-term hardware replacement planning
==================================================
The highlight for this month is long term planning of hardware
replacement. It's something I've been discussing with DSA for quite a while and
on which DSA has worked hard during the [recent sprint][1]. As a result, we now
have a quite ambitious 5-year hardware replacement plan that will guarantee
that all machines in production are under warranty at any given time (with the
nice side effect of generally better performances, as they go hand in hand with
newer hardware).
[1]: https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2012/03/msg00032.html
The current estimated cost per year is 29'000 USD. That does not yet include
buildds and porter-boxes, so it is expected to increase a bit to cover all our
hardware needs. But we expect it not increase too much, as we tend to get
explicit hardware donations to cover arch-specific needs.
Given the current state of Debian finances and donation trends, the plan
*looks* sustainable for at least 2-3 years. But this assessment still needs to
be refined as soon as, together with the auditors, we'll manage to obtain the
history of past Debian transactions, in particular from SPI. We've been waiting
for this for about 5 months now, but I'm positive it could become a reality in
the next weeks. In the meantime, it is surely safe to start with the plan for
the next 1-1.5 years, so I'll give green light to DSA for the first
acquisitions as soon as they're ready for it.
When implemented, this plan will increase our ability to rely on hardware. But
it also means we will need to become a bit more organized about
fund-raising. The discussion started with [the sprint report][1] has some
insights about how to do that. As part of this, we'll also need to share
resources (e.g. contact databases, people, etc.) among the yearly DebConf
fund-raising initiatives and the initiatives mentioned in the aforementioned
discussion.
Ongoing discussions
===================
- A couple of important clarifications on how to deal with trademark-encumbered
software in the Debian archive have been [posted to -project][2]. It seems to
me there might be consensus on the overall topic, but we need to write down
guidelines for maintainers (and possibly a project position statement?). I
could use some help on that front, so if you've followed the discussion
and/or have an interest in trademark and free software, please get in touch.
[2]: https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2012/03/msg00000.html
- To put an end to the long and glorious life of [DEP-5][3], I've marked it as
ACCEPTED given that it has been "implemented" in February via inclusion in
the debian-policy package. You still have some time to port your
debian/copyright-s to it before the Wheezy freeze.
[3]: http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep5/
- I've been contacted by the DuckDuckGo about a revenue sharing agreement for
the inbound traffic they already get from Debian browsers. I've
[informed -project][4] proposing to accept it and that has spawned a
discussion that has won us an [LWN article][5]. I haven't yet summarized the
thread proposing a way forward; I'll do so shortly.
[4]: https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2012/03/msg00092.html
[5]: https://lwn.net/Articles/490517/
- as part of a [discussion on unofficial "debian" repositories][9], I've
proposed to open up the list of *.debian.net domains. As nobody disagreed,
consensus has been quickly reached and the [announced change][10] is now
imminent. Thanks to Carsten Hey and Gerfried Fuchs for their help in figuring
out the details of the last discussion on the matter and DSA for their
feedback.
[9]: http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2012/03/msg00123.html
[10]: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/03/msg00008.html
Summer of Code
==============
[Debian has been accepted][11] as an organization for the Google Summer of
Code. At the time these bits go out, the student application deadline has also
elapsed. In March I've contributed a few project ideas and chased potential
mentors for them, when I thought the project could be important for Debian and
the prospective student. I'm happy that [one][12] (a dak building block needed
for the implementation of PPAs and more) has found both mentors and
students. We'll see if any of the corresponding student proposal is retained
and how it goes.
[11]: https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2012/03/msg00031.html
[12]: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/soc-coordination/2012-March/001184.html
Communication
=============
I've given an interview, about Debian and Free Software in general, to
[La Repubblica][6], one of the major newspapers in Italy. The interview is
[available][7] [online][8], but only in Italian. If some kind (and
Italian-speaking) soul would like to translate it into English, I'll be happy
to publish the translation as well. (**update 22/04/2012:** Matteo
Cortese has contributed an English translation of the interview, which I'll
make available shortly)
[6]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Repubblica
[7]: http://www.repubblica.it/tecnologia/2012/03/26/news/intervista_debian-30986031/
[8]: http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2012/03/intervista_per_la_Repubblica/
Legal stuff
===========
In order to transfer ownership of the Debian trademark in Japan to SPI, I've
contacted the current owners (all Japanese Debian Developers or contributors)
to do the needed paperwork. I've been blessed by the help of Kenshi Muto that
has taken the matter in his hands. He is now navigating through Japanese
trademark procedures, a subject neither myself nor SPI lawyers were familiar
with. Thanks also to Jonathan McDowell who has done the needed paperwork,
SPI-side.
Sprints
=======
Plenty of sprints and sprint reports in March!: [Debian Med][13], [DSA][1],
[DAM/FrontDesk][15]. Everything should also be available from the
[wiki sprint page](http://wiki.debian.org/Sprints) where you can find info to
organize your team sprint.
[13]: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/03/msg00009.html
[15]: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2012/03/msg00014.html
Assets miscellanea
==================
- I've signed the annual memorandum of understanding with the financial entity
that will help us with local expenditures for DebConf12 in Nicaragua. This
year is ISIC, with whom we have an important trust path via Norman Garcia
Aguilar, member of the DebConf orga team.
- After discussion with auditors, we've resolved to set a
[1 year deadline for reimbursement requests][16]. The reason is that it's a
PITA to keep track of longer-running requests (yes, they do happen!) and
they add uncertainty to our available finances. There can be exceptions, but
please help on this front by timely requesting reimbursements after travels
or other expenses.
[16]: https://lists.debian.org/debian-sprints/2012/03/msg00001.html
Cheers.
----
PS the boring day-to-day activity log for March is available at
`master:/srv/leader/news/bits-from-the-DPL.txt.201203`
[[!tag lang/english planet-debian bits debian dpl]]