Hi Andreas, This is very well written and I enjoyed reading the mail and the amazing progress during your tenure quite a lot.
Thank you for serving as DPL for 2 terms and kudos on the progress! And as I said on matrix chan - welcome back to Debian Med! On 06/05/26 1:56 pm, Andreas Tille wrote: > Dear Debian community, > > This is Bits from a past DPL. > > 1. Congratulations to Sruthi > ============================ > > I'm glad to see that so many Debian Developers have placed their trust > in Sruthi. I share the view that she will do an excellent job in this > role. > > Dear Sruthi, I wish you all the best for your term as Debian Project > Leader. > > Fun fact: Indian media reported on the new DPL with a delay of about two > days[c01]. By coincidence, I saw this while a German TV crew was > recording my screen--over two years after I had started as DPL, and after > my term had already ended. > > [c01] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2079IJSx6g > > > 2. Looking back > =============== > > Different people will remember my tenure for different reasons. Some may > associate it with the creation of the DFSG team and the introduction of > an annual review of delegations[b01]. Others gave feedback they > appreciated how certain difficult situations were handled along the > way[b02]. > > On a more personal note, I'm pleased that during this time the publicity > team decided to stop posting on X[b03]. That felt like a step aligned with > Debian's values. > > There were also several important developments in Debian during this > period, such as the adoption of tag2upload and the release of Trixie. > These achievements were driven by the work of many contributors across > the project. My role in them was limited, but I want to acknowledge and > thank everyone involved. > > One topic I cared about was improving diversity in Debian, particularly > regarding gender and geographic representation. This is not an area > where results can easily be measured, and change tends to happen slowly. > > Seeing a woman from India as the next DPL is an encouraging development. > I have confidence that this perspective will help keep the topic on the > agenda. > > Not everything I had hoped for could be completed. In particular, I > would have liked to see progress on improving the MIA process. > > And while it did not quite happen during my tenure, I still look forward > to the day when we might announce Debian-powered robots on the > moon.[b04] > > After looking back, you might wonder what my future involvement in > Debian will look like. That question is easy to answer: I have promised > the Debian Med team that I will return to working with them--and that is > exactly what I intend to do. > > [b01] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/04/msg00235.html > [b02] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00392.html > [b03] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2025/02/msg00001.html > [b04] https://www.federico.io/pdf/DeLaCroix.Rossi.ea.AERO24.pdf > > > 3. Some statistics > ================== > > 3.1. Bug of the Day > ------------------- > > One initiative during my tenure was the "Bug of the Day" project[s01]. > The goal was to provide approachable entry points for newcomers, and I > have received some indications that this worked in individual cases. > > At the same time, the effort also served as a QA and integration > activity. Since 2024-08-01, more than 600 packages have been processed. > These packages were migrated from various version control systems--many > still referencing Alioth, but also other VCS or none at all--to Salsa. > > For each package, at least one bug was closed. In addition, we evaluated > whether packages are still needed, or whether removal would be a better > use of limited maintainer time. > > > 3.2. Salsa Migration of Teams > ----------------------------- > > In January 2025, it was observed that a significant number of > team-maintained packages were still not (visibly) hosted on Salsa[s02]. > At that time, more than 600 packages still referenced Alioth in their > Vcs fields, despite Alioth having been shut down years earlier. This did > not even include packages with missing Vcs fields, which likely added > another ~100 cases. > > I worked with the respective teams to improve this situation. Today, the > picture looks very different. > > For illustration, the following query (expanded to also include missing > Vcs fields and excluding known exceptions) now returns only very few > remaining cases: > > SELECT maintainer_name, COUNT(*) > FROM ( SELECT DISTINCT ON (source) * FROM sources WHERE release = 'sid' ORDER > BY source, version DESC ) s > WHERE > (vcs_url ~* '/(git|svn|alioth|anonscm).debian.org' or vcs_url is null or > vcs_url = '') > AND maintainer ~* '(team|group|lists|force|maintainers)' > AND extra_source_only IS NOT True > AND maintainer_name not in ('PCP Development Team', -- maintain Debian > packaging in the upstream PCP git repo > 'Linaro Packagers', -- Uploader declared to > prefer staying outside Salsa > 'GRUB Maintainers', 'Debian EFI team', -- > auto generated source > 'XFS Development Team' -- maintained by > upstream at git.kernel.org > ) > AND s.source NOT IN ( -- No packages scheduled for removal > SELECT affected_sources FROM bugs WHERE bugs.source = > 'ftp.debian.org' AND title LIKE 'RM:%' AND done = '' -- do not include > packages with removals pending > ) > GROUP BY maintainer_name > ORDER BY count DESC; > maintainer_name | count > --------------------------------+------- > Debian LibreOffice Maintainers | 3 > Debian GCC Maintainers | 2 > Debian Mirror Team | 1 > Debian VSquare Team | 1 > Debian Wine Party | 1 > Debian Mactel | 1 > Ayatana Packagers | 1 > (7 rows) > > The result currently lists only seven teams with a total of ten > affected packages. This suggests that the issue has been largely > resolved. This reduces friction for collaboration and lowers the > barrier for contributions across teams. > > > 3.3. More numbers > ----------------- > > Some of the goals I set at the beginning of my term can be illustrated > with figures based on numbers from trends.debian.net. > > The number of packages not hosted on Salsa has decreased significantly: > > * 2024-03-01: 4801 > * 2026-03-01: 2083 > > At the time of writing, this number has dropped below 2000, which was > the target I had set for the end of my term. > > Looking at version control more broadly, the situation has also > improved. Today, fewer than ten packages are maintained in a version > control system other than Git, and roughly 1000 packages still lack any > VCS. I intend to continue checking whether maintainers actively prefer > alternative approaches or whether support for migration would be helpful > to enable easier collaboration. > > Beyond hosting, there has also been progress in simplifying and unifying > packaging tooling. For example, the use of cdbs has effectively been > phased out (from 1571 packages on 2024-03-01 to none today). Similarly, > packages using old long debhelper have been reduced from 891 to around > 500. > > Moving towards a smaller set of well-understood and actively maintained > tools helps reduce complexity and makes it easier to adapt Debian > packaging to future needs. > > > [s01] > https://salsa.debian.org/qa/tiny_qa_tools/-/wikis/Tiny-QA-tasks#bug-of-the-day > [s02] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2025/01/msg00148.html > > > > 4. Conclusions > ============== > > The past two years have been a valuable experience for me, both within > Debian and beyond (confirmed by my wife ;-) ). > > One thing I learned is that it is worth tackling tasks even if they > initially seem too large. Progress may be gradual, but it is often > possible with persistence and support from others. In that regard, I > have also learned that I can rely on my fellow Debian Developers. The > willingness to collaborate, to step in, and to move things forward > together remains one of Debian’s strongest qualities. > > On a personal level, I learned that changes in role can reveal a lot > about how we relate to each other. I came to particularly value those > who treat others consistently, independent of any position or title. > > A reassuring takeaway for me is seeing how projects continue to thrive > beyond individual involvement. Debian Med, which has been close to me > for most of my time in Debian, continues to progress without my direct > participation. The same applies to work in the R packaging team. > Stepping back can create space for others to contribute, and that is a > healthy and necessary dynamic in a volunteer-driven project. > > Serving as DPL also reinforced that the role requires both dedication > and a clear vision. Equally important is communicating that vision in a > way that others can engage with and build upon. > > Thank you to everyone who contributed, collaborated, disagreed > constructively, and kept Debian moving forward. These two years have > enriched my life, and a major reason for that has been the cooperation > within this community. > > > Kind regards > Andreas. >
