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First Debian Conference : the program



[I have set the Reply-to : please respect it, and please remember, for
the future of the thread to Cc me : I have absolutely no time at the
moment to skim debian-devel]

The First Debian Conference will take place at Bordeaux, from the
5th to the 9th of July 2000, riding piggy-back on the organisation of
the Libre Software Meeting (LSM) to be held there at the same time.

The LSM is sponsored by the FSF, and RMS will be here, giving a
conference about the HURD. The event will be covered by at least one
television.

THE PRINCIPLES
--------------

The main aim of this First Debian Conference will be to stage an
event entirely in keeping with the requisites of classical theatre :
   -- unity of Place  : Bordeaux
   -- unity of Time   : 5th to 9th July 2000
   -- unity of Action : working for the benefit of Debian and the Free
Software movement
where, for the first time, "Debian" will take form as a physical entity in
its own right.

The main idea behind that is to initiate a tradition : every year, in a
different country, a couple of months after the election of the Leader,
Debian will be "realize" somewhere, so that the Leader can get in touch with
the developers, and the developers get in touch with each other. 
This will be the place to solve [a part of] the problems, and an
opportunity to fix an objective for the release of the new version.
This will be the opportunity to discuss, during 5 days, of the future of
Debian.
This will be work.
And there will be some amusements, too...

This is definitively not just "another show" ; this is special.

At the end of the event, the "national federation" that accepts to
accommodate the next Debian Conference will be announced [think of this
like a kind of Debian's Olympiads, for the principle].

THE PROGRAM
-----------

Speech from the Throne (wednesday, the 5th of July, AM) :
  the morning is reserved for the Speech from the Throne, which will 
  boot the event. It's not my role to define what has to be tackled 
  by the Leader, but I suppose that the opportunity could be grasped 
  to explain where the Leader wants to conduct Debian, and what are the 
  goals of the Conference.

Developer's course of study :
  from the 5th PM to the 6th night, a succession of conferences about the
  use of the Debian packaging utils. This course is intended, both for
  the candidates, and as a perfection for actual developers.
  I think that a kind of "chronological" order (of use) is a good thing.
  Because I'm not precisely a toughened developer, I do need the help of
  the toughened ones in order to precise the cursus. 
  For example, at the moment, is envisaged a conference about :
  
    o buildd [James Troup ; ev. Roman Hodek]

  [Note : I think that the team processing the new candidates has to be
  here to discuss and recruit ;) --- Dale Scheetz ?]
  
Debian's utils [Conference and coding parties ; the conferences can be
held in the Developer's course of study : the new candidates will have
the opportunity to join the coding parties after] :
  Since 5th to PM to... the end ;) Since the developers are gathered,
  the main designers of the utils can explain and conduct coding parties
  At the moment, are envisaged :
  
    o package pools [Anthony Towns ; Ben Collins ? Jason Gunthorpe ?]
	
  Of course, the boot-floppies [Adam di Carlo], debconf and all the
  utils [Joey Hess], apt [Jason Gunthorpe], etc... are all mandatory
  subjects. How to improve the Quality process [QA-team], too.

HURD [absolutely mandatory] :
  Debian is _the_ distribution of the HURD ; RMS will give a
  conference, so Debian GNU/HURD developers, it's time to show
  your work to the ignorant ones :)
  The HURD _is_ a priority.

DEBIAN related projects / new projects :
  There will be developers of the Free World ; the LSM is the place for
  the new projects. At the moment :
    o SiteROCK (a network monitoring station based on Debian/Linux)
	[Christoph Lameter]

[This list is not exhaustive : please propose !]

On Saturday the 8th, will be held the public performances :
  o Public presentation of Debian (potato ?)
  Please note that if potato is still not released, the Debian
  Conference is _not_ the place to finish it : it can only be a side
  effect. It's better to solve the problems that delay the releases than
  to do a botch-up, letting unresolved the problems !
  
  o Debian and its Users :
  Use of Debian and Free software for the ones with disabilities [Joseph
  Carter]
  
The Sunday will see the conclusion (announce of the next conference),
and will be used for recreation.

A LIST FOR DISCUSSING THE DEBIAN TOPICS
---------------------------------------

A mailing list is now dedicated to the organization of the Debian
Conference (there will be only debian subjects).
To subscribe please sent a message to `sympa@lsm.abul.org' with the
Subject `subscribe debian' (the list is : debian@lsm.abul.org).

LET'S TALK ABOUT MONEY : SPONSORING
-----------------------------------

The Debian Conference is not a commercial event : this is not Free
Software, this is Libre one.
At the moment, the french developers and users have the first mission to
accommodate the Conference, and the next "national federation"
accommodating the second Conference will have exactly the same role.
Of course, we are organizing the funding of the event, but our
ressources will not be boundless !

Because we are initiating something, it's better to initiate good
habits. That is, that every member of Debian, and every "national
federation" of Debian members, try to find sponsors for themselves.
Advantages :
- you show to the enterprises near you that human ressources in the
  world of the Free Software exist ; and that you are one of these ;)
- you make some publicity for Debian and the Free Software.

The Debian Conference is the annual one : it's not just another
trade-show !

This not means that we have no money. This only means that in a
cooperative development, you can not rely upon a small group that will
do everything !

I am designing a way for the french to organize the search for funds. If
you want some ideas, please get in touch with me (and if you have
some...).

-- 
Thierry LARONDE <thierry.laronde@polynum.com>
10, rue du Bel Air, 74000 ANNECY / Tel.-Fax : 33.(0)4.50.67.46.61
website : http://www.polynum.com
/home du SDF (Site Debian Francophone) : http://www.polynum.com/debian/



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