My Linux Rig

Notes from Stefano Zacchiroli’s Talk to the New York Linux Users Group

Last night I went to see Debian Project Leader Stefano Zacchiroli speak to the New York Linux Users Group. The slides are available here and the video is available, so I’m not going to recap in-depth. But a few things were very interesting:

• Stefano’s laptop crashed during the talk, which was pretty funny. He was a good sport and handled it calmly. I’m sure he was glad to be in front of a Linux-friendly crowd.
• He said Wheezy should be ready March or April 2013. If you look at the slides from his January talk, you’ll see that was pushed from February/March 2013. Which is very Debian.
• He divided Debian into three components: the product/operating system; the project; and the community. It was a very cool way to consider the distribution.
• He said 78% of Ubuntu comes directly from Debian, with another 12% of Ubuntu representing patched Debian packages. The rest of Ubuntu comes directly from Ubuntu.
• Stefano called bug reporting a moral obligation for anyone using free software. I’m going to try and be better about fulfilling that obligation.
• Someone asked Stefano about guided Debian membership paths for non-technical people. He said it’s something Debian wants to work on. Given the rigorous structures and mentoring Debian has for technical members looking to join the project, they’re well-positioned to come up with something interesting.

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