Mar del Plata to host 8th Debian conference

August 8th, 2008

Mar del Plata, Argentina, 8 August 2008 - The Debian Project, the team behind the free Debian GNU/Linux operating system, is inviting members of the public and the press to its annual conference, DebConf 8, which takes place from 10 August to 16 August at the Hotel Dorá in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Over 100 events have been scheduled with speakers from all parts of the world, such as Debian Project leader Steve McIntyre and Hewlett Packard's Open Source & Linux Chief Technologist, Bdale Garbee. The topics include global team organisation, internationalisation, development internals and policy, virtualisation, and systems & network administration. In tutorial sessions, attendants can gain hands-on experience in various subjects. Development and brainstorming takes place in the two "hack labs", and peripheral events, such as a world cheese party, allow for extensive networking.

The full schedule is available on the conference website: http://penta.debconf.org/dc8_schedule/.

Celebrations will be in order on Saturday, 16 August, when the Debian Project turns 15 years of age. Founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly Free, community project, the project has grown to one of the largest and most influential open source projects.

Jörg Jaspert, one of the conference organisers, is excited: Of all the Debian conferences I have experienced, this is the best prepared. Thank you to the local team for all their work! The local organiser team – 40 volunteers from all over the country – have dedicated almost an entire year of their time to make this event happen.

Attending the conference is free of charge, although visitors are required to register on-site. More information is available from the conference website: https://debconf8.debconf.org.

The language of presentation is English, although many Spanish speakers are available to help and answer questions.

All events are recorded and streamed over the Internet. More information is available at: https://debconf8.debconf.org/video.

On Wednesday, 13 August, no events will take place as conference attendees take a day off to experience local sites and culture.

Following DebConf 8, Debian Day will take place on 18 August in Buenos Aires. Debian Day is a free-of-charge, one-day software users' conference. The event provides a friendly, personal atmosphere for individuals who are interested in free and open-source software to meet the people behind the project and obtain free advice.

About Debian

The Debian Project is an association of Free Software developers who volunteer their time and effort in order to produce the completely free operating system Debian GNU/Linux.

About DebConf

DebConf is the Debian Project's developer conference. In addition to a full schedule of technical, social and policy talks, DebConf provides an opportunity for developers, contributors and other interested people to meet in person and work together more closely. It has taken place annually since 2000 in locations as varied as Canada, Finland and Mexico.

Contact Information

For further information, please visit the DebConf web pages at https://www.debconf.org/ or send mail to <press@debconf.org>.