Debian conference coming to World Heritage city Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain

July 22nd, 2009

Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain, 22 July 2009 - Come 24 July, the city of Cáceres in the autonomous community of Extremadura in western Spain will be the temporary home for almost 300 attendees of the annual conference of the Debian project. The Debian project is the team behind the free and open-source Debian GNU/Linux operating system.

The conference takes place at Residencia Muñoz Torrero, Ronda de San Francisco, 2. The event is sponsored by HP, the government of Extremadura, Telefonica and many other supporters. Registration is required to attend this free event.

On Friday 24 July, the conference opens its doors to host talks and presentations geared at the general public. Developers and users will be on site to answer questions. No registration is required to attend the open day, and everyone is welcome. Admission is free of charge.

More information is available from the conference website, https://debconf9.debconf.org/.

The government of Extremadura is very supportive of free software, says César Gómez Martín, a civil servant from Cáceres and one of the local organisers. In addition to our gnuLinEx initiative, a complete computer software solution for all Extremadura schools and official institutions built on Debian, we are keen to support free software projects and events. We are happy to sponsor DebConf, and excited to host the conference in the beautiful city of Cáceres.

Prior to the conference, more than a hundred contributors to the Debian Project gathered on-site to cooperate in solving problems and adding features to the the computer operating system.

The personal interaction at such an event trumps Debian's usual round-the-clock, global collaboration over the Internet. The main benefit of meeting in person regularly is improved communication due to the better bandwidth through real-life interaction, a technology which is also becoming quite popular in the wider Debian community says Debian developer Holger Levsen.

As an additional highlight a wine made from organically grown Tempranillo grapes in Extremadura has been produced by the DebConf9 organisers to celebrate this event, and the use of free software in the world. Debian and wine are made and enjoyed worldwide, as expressed in the sentiment written on the bottle: Share the wine, share the software.

While DebConf is mainly focused on direct communication and collaboration, participation for people abroad is also possible via live video streams and IRC (Internet Relay Chat). As has been happening since 2006, the world will be able to follow along as the talks happen, and recordings will be made freely available for download for those who miss the live sessions. See http://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf9/Streams for more information.

About Debian

Debian GNU/Linux is a free computer operating system. Over three thousand volunteers from all over the world work together to create and maintain Debian software. Translated into 27 languages, and supporting a huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal operating system.

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.

DebConf9 starts on Friday 24 July, and ends Thursday 30 July 2009. The conference will be held in Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain.

DebConf will be preceded by DebCamp, from Thursday 16 July to Thursday 23 July 2009. DebCamp is a smaller, less formal event giving an opportunity for group work on Debian projects.

On Friday 24 July 2009, DebConf Open Day will take place at the site. The Open Day is a short conference aimed at Debian users, and others interested in learning more about free software.

More information about DebConf9 can be found on the conference website: https://debconf9.debconf.org/

Contact Information

For further information, please visit the DebConf web pages at https://www.debconf.org/, send mail to <press@debconf.org> or call Martin Krafft at +41 32 5119511 (also speaks German) or Anto Recio at +34 617806594 (also speaks Spanish).