FOSDEM: Pride and Success in 2009
Over the weekend the Free and Open Source Software Developers' European Meeting (FOSDEM) took place in Brussels. In his keynote, Mozilla's Mark Surman hoped for Open Source's success and Debian key contributor Bdale Garbee supported its social contract. As an aside, Debian Lenny's target release date was reconfirmed.
In his welcoming keynote, "Free. Open. Future?", Mozilla Foundation executive director Mark Surman highlighted how 2008 had brought a flood of new netbooks that provided opportunities for Linux users as never before. Four and half million new users could study, copy, modify and redistribute code. His Open Source chant of "Study, Copy, Modify, Share" was for him a lead-in to likely success for the open platform in 2009 ("How can open win?"). He especially saw opportunities in open mobility. As a starting point he named hardware such as the Openmoko platform, then, naturally, software and the Web, calling out to the audience, "Take one of the blind spots on the map and fill it."
Former Debian project lead Bdale Garbee, who is now Linux chief technologist at HP, pulled in Debian by association in his own keynote. At first he kept everyone in suspense over developments at Debian. But his main point was the concept of freedom and he invited everyone to reread the Debian Social Contract with the Free Software Community, thereby defending the project's decision to use free software only. "Debian has the weight to carry such a decision," he asserted, based on the recent referendum on Debian Lenny.
One of the success factors Garbee attributes to the Debian project is that so many packages from individual maintainers are integrated into the distro. Calling out to the audience at FOSDEM for Debian maintainers, a few dozen of the roughly thousand attendees raised their hands. Garbee also hailed the simple structure of the bug tracking system that Debian has maintained since 1994 as a key success factor: users record bugs by e-mail and follow their resolution status over the Web. Garbee ended with recognizing from his work at HP how many projects include Debian, especially through his membership on the HP Open Source Review Board. He said that he often runs into Debian in places where it might not have been obvious at first glance.

As for Lenny, Garbee assured users not to worry, that things would not change much. However, he deferred any questions about its actual release to Debian project lead Steve McIntyre and his release team. Linux Magazine Online later pulled McIntyre aside at FOSDEM and he avowed that the release would fall on Valentine's Day. Along with the release will be the official announcement of the project's new project secretary, a position to be filled after Manoj Srivastava's departure the end of last December.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora 39 Beta is Now Available for Testing
For fans and users of Fedora Linux, the first beta of release 39 is now available, which is a minor upgrade but does include GNOME 45.
-
Fedora Linux 40 to Drop X11 for KDE Plasma
When Fedora 40 arrives in 2024, there will be a few big changes coming, especially for the KDE Plasma option.
-
Real-Time Ubuntu Available in AWS Marketplace
Anyone looking for a Linux distribution for real-time processing could do a whole lot worse than Real-Time Ubuntu.
-
KSMBD Finally Reaches a Stable State
For those who've been looking forward to the first release of KSMBD, after two years it's no longer considered experimental.
-
Nitrux 3.0.0 Has Been Released
The latest version of Nitrux brings plenty of innovation and fresh apps to the table.
-
Linux From Scratch 12.0 Now Available
If you're looking to roll your own Linux distribution, the latest version of Linux From Scratch is now available with plenty of updates.
-
Linux Kernel 6.5 Has Been Released
The newest Linux kernel, version 6.5, now includes initial support for two very exciting features.
-
UbuntuDDE 23.04 Now Available
A new version of the UbuntuDDE remix has finally arrived with all the updates from the Deepin desktop and everything that comes with the Ubuntu 23.04 base.
-
Star Labs Reveals a New Surface-Like Linux Tablet
If you've ever wanted a tablet that rivals the MS Surface, you're in luck as Star Labs has created such a device.
-
SUSE Going Private (Again)
The company behind SUSE Linux Enterprise, Rancher, and NeuVector recently announced that Marcel LUX III SARL (Marcel), its majority shareholder, intends to delist it from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by way of a merger.