blog/archives/2010/07zack's home pagehttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/archives/2010/07/zack's home pageikiwiki2010-07-29T23:52:19ZDebConf BoF HOWTOhttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2010/07/DebConf_BoF_HOWTO/2010-07-29T23:52:19Z2010-07-29T23:48:46Z
<p>Here at <a href="http://debconf10.debconf.org">DebConf10</a> the
<a href="http://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/">schedule</a> is
starting to get really packed of events, which is great! About a
half of those events are <strong><acronym title=
"Birds of a Feather">BoF</acronym></strong>s (in the IETF sense),
i.e. <strong>discussion sessions</strong> among people interested
in specific topics. (Other conferences use "BoF" to refer to
impromptu, non-scheduled, and spontaneous events, while at DebConf
we have traditionally submitted, reviewed, and scheduled BoFs in
advance.)</p>
<p>As most DebConf regulars, I've attended quite some BoFs in the
past and I share with others the impression that the
<strong>quality</strong> and <strong>usefulness for the
project</strong> of BoFs varies substantially from BoF to BoF.
That's why I'd like to share a <strong>BoF recipe</strong>, which
comes from possibly the <a href=
"https://penta.debconf.org/dc8_schedule/events/238.en.html">best
organized BoF I've ever attended</a>. As it happens with all good
recipes (and with free software), I've took the liberty of
customizing it a bit.</p>
<hr />
<h1>DebConf BoF HOWTO</h1>
<h2>have a coordinator</h2>
<p>A good BoF should have a <strong>coordinator</strong>, which is
usually (but not necessarily) the person who proposed the BoF in
the first place. The role of the coordinator encompasses at least 2
tasks: preparing the BoF in advance (read below) and moderating the
discussion to ensure everybody get a chance to participate.</p>
<h2>prepare in advance</h2>
<p>A good BoF is more than just getting together, vaguely knowing
the BoF topic, and ... discuss. Mind you, it <em>might</em> work
very well that way too, but the chances of having a successful BoF
are much higher if attendees arrive <em>prepared</em>.</p>
<p>That is quite simple to achieve. It just takes the BoF
coordinator to prepare some <a href=
"http://lists.debconf.org/lurker/message/20080712.235543.c0310e7e.en.html">
<strong>working questions</strong></a> and/or <em>detailed</em>
discussion topics, and advertise them as such. That way potential
participants can make up their minds, recall experiences that they
want to share, note down comments they want to bring into the
discussion, etc. In my experience, the BoF time will then be used
in a much more productive, exciting, and ultimately <em>fun</em>
way.</p>
<p>Most BoFs can also benefit from <em>a few</em> introductory
slides on the BoF topic, to ensure all participants start from a
common ground. The last slide could contain a brief recap of the
working questions, so that the audience have them handy.</p>
<h2>don't be exclusive</h2>
<p>Debian is not a company and Debian contributors are not
employees, therefore we cannot <em>expect</em> all relevant people
to attend a specific BoF, just if they had to. As usual, the risk
of cutting off community members who cannot attend should be
mitigated as much as possible. To that end,
<strong>minutes</strong> are just great; after the BoF, minutes
should be posted where appropriate, and possibly uploaded to Penta
as event attachments.</p>
<p>... but taking minutes is just boring and not everyone is good
at that <small>(for instance, yours truly used to suck at taking
minutes, even if I'm trying to get better ...)</small>. If you have
a trusted participant which is good at taking minutes, great, go
for it!</p>
<p>If you don't, use <strong>collaboration</strong>. During past
DebConfs as well as at <a href=
"http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-m/">UDS</a> this year, I've been
shown a nice way of doing that. It takes a dedicated projector in
the BoF room showing some real-time, collaborative editing facility
(e.g. <a href=
"http://packages.debian.org/sid/gobby-infinote">gobby</a>). With
such a setup, people usually just start taking minutes
collaboratively, although explicitly inviting the audience to do
that is a very good idea.</p>
<p>Ideally, the room should have two projectors, one for supporting
slides, another for collaborative minutes taking. In case there is
only one, as it is usually the case for DebConf, it's probably
better to use it for minutes and switch to them as soon as
supporting slides are over.</p>
<hr />
<h1>gobby.debian.net for BoF minutes at DebConf10</h1>
<p>For DebConf10, the DebConf team has setup a gobby (infinote)
server at <code>gobby.debian.net</code>. Just do the following in
order to be ready for collaborative minutes taking:</p>
<pre><code> # apt-get install gobby-0.5
$ gobby-0.5 -c gobby.debian.net
</code></pre>
<p><small>(Note: you shouldn't use the non versioned
<code>gobby</code> package as it uses a different protocol and
doesn't support undo, which is quite risky; see <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/590753">Debian bug #590753</a> for more
background.)</small></p>
<p>As the naming convention for DebConf10 minutes, using document
names that start with <code>dc10-</code> sounds sensible.</p>
<hr />
<h1>comments welcome!</h1>
<p>So, what do you think of the above suggestions? Do you have
further best practices to share on BoF organization at DebConf?
Leave a comment or mail me. In the end it would be nice to author a
proper "DebConf BoF HOWTO" document for further reference.</p>
<p><small>Thanks to <a href=
"http://info.comodo.priv.at/blog/archives/cat_5/">Gregor</a> for
his feedback on early versions of this post.</small></p>
debian meeting sponsoring guidelineshttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2010/07/debian_meeting_sponsoring_guidelines/2010-07-26T10:46:21Z2010-07-26T10:46:21Z
<h1>How to have a Debian meeting without turning into a secret
cabal (redux)</h1>
<p>Brief status update on my past <a href=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2010/06/debian_meeting_guidelines_RFC/">RFC about
Debian meeting sponsoring guidelines</a>. I've now actually
<strong>drafted the <a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/DPL/SponsoringGuidelines">guidelines</a></strong>,
integrating the received feedback.</p>
<p>The result is <strong>now available on the Debian wiki at
<a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/DPL/SponsoringGuidelines">Teams/DPL/SponsoringGuidelines</a></strong>.
Feel free to comment further and improve the wording. I'll then
make the text "more official" by announcing it to
<code>-project</code> or <code>d-d-a</code>, as suggested.</p>
RCBC - release critical bugs contesthttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2010/07/RCBC_-_release_critical_bugs_contest/2010-07-25T07:34:15Z2010-07-25T07:33:45Z
<p>Recipe for <strong>RCBC - Release Critical Bug squashing
Contest</strong>:</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><strong><a href=
"http://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf10/RCBC#RC_Bug_Squashing_Contest">
squash RC bugs for 2 weeks</a></strong> , <small>from July 25th to
August 7th</small><br />
help the release of <a href=
"http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/">Debian Squeeze</a><br />
<strong>earn fame and glory</strong> <small>(for
sure)</small><br />
win a <a href=
"http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/GuruPlug">GuruPlug</a>
and other geeky gadgets <small>(maybe)</small><br />
<div style="text-align: right"><small>read on for more info
...</small></div>
</div>
<p>It has been a while since my last post in the <a href=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/hacking/debian/rcbw/"><strong>RCBW</strong></a>
tradition. Luckily, the tradition is in very good health of its
own, thanks to <a href=
"http://blog.schmehl.info/Debian/rc-squashing-squeeze-1">many</a>
<a href="http://blog.spang.cc/posts/RC_bug_squashing/">others</a>
<a href=
"http://info.comodo.priv.at/blog/archives/2010/07/#e2010-07-04T21_45_04.txt">
that</a> <a href=
"http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~cjwatson/blosxom/2010/06/04#2010-06-04-hacking-on-grub2">
have</a> <a href=
"http://alfie.ist.org/blog/2010/03/15#RC-squashing-2.en">picked</a>
up the habit of SPAM-ing planet with good news for Debian,
encouraging others to do the same.</p>
<p>With all that RC-obsessed people around and with the Squeeze
release forthcoming, can <a href=
"http://debconf10.debconf.org">DebConf10</a> be devoid of geeky
RC-squashing activities? Of course not! Thanks to the orga team we
expect the conference to contain a <strong>2-week long RC bug
squashing pride</strong> with tutorials, <a href=
"https://penta.debconf.org/dc10_schedule/events/609.en.html">BoF</a>s,
a permanent bug squashing party, ... and <a href=
"http://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf10/RCBC#RC_Bug_Squashing_Contest">
a contest</a>!</p>
<p>I won't indulge much on the contest as the <a href=
"http://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf10/RCBC#RC_Bug_Squashing_Contest">
wiki page</a> contains all rules and gory details. Obviously, all
usual rules and best practices of bug squashing parties will apply;
coordination will happen on <code>#debian-bugs</code>.</p>
<p><strong>Get involved</strong>, it starts today, and it's
<strong>open to everyone</strong> (DebConf10 attendees as well as
Debian enthusiasts abroad, regular RC squashers as well as casual
bystanders, etc).</p>
<p>All this wouldn't have been possible without the help of many
people that love Debian, so <strong>many thanks</strong> to:</p>
<ul>
<li>the sponsors of RCBC:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.marvell.com/">Marvell</a>, for offering a
<a href=
"http://www.plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/GuruPlug">GuruPlug</a><br />
<small>(of course, the winner of this device is expected to help
with Debian support for it <code>*g*</code>)</small></li>
<li><a href="http://www.hp.com/go/debian">HP</a>, for offering
t-shirts</li>
<li><a href="http://www.informit.com/">Pearson</a>, for offering
books</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>micah - who dragged me into this <small>(it hasn't been
hard)</small></li>
<li><a href=
"http://info.comodo.priv.at/blog/archives/cat_5/">gregoa</a> and
<a href="http://blog.dogguy.org/">mehdi</a> - the almighty judges -
who have been transitively dragged into this <small>(it hasn't been
hard either)</small></li>
</ul>
<p><small><em>PS</em> a corresponding announcement is in the
<a href=
"http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-announce">debconf-announce</a>
pipeline already</small></p>
debian podcast planninghttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2010/07/debian_podcast_planning/2010-07-22T15:05:15Z2010-07-22T15:05:15Z
<h1>This Week In Debian</h1>
<p>I've been contacted by Jonathan Nadeau of <a href=
"http://www.frostbitesystems.com/">Frostbite Systems</a>, a company
selling computer hardware with pre-installed GNU/Linux distros,
including Debian (of course!). <small>(Usual disclaimer applies: I
haven't tried their products, I've just skimmed through their
website ...)</small> Both for promotion and as a service to the
communities, Jonathan has started various <a href=
"http://frostbitemedia.org/">podcasts</a>, such as <a href=
"http://frostbitemedia.org/node/8"><em>This Week in
Fedora</em></a>.</p>
<p>Jonathan has contacted me to check whether Debian is interested
in having a <strong>This Week in Debian podcast</strong>, which
will be discussing weekly Debian-related topics, interviewing at
each episode someone from the community.</p>
<p>So, folks, are you interested in seeing that happen?<br />
Personally I like the idea, as I'm myself an eager podcast listener
and I've always missed something Debian-specific.</p>
<p>To make it a reality however we need to <strong>plan and record
some episode in advance</strong>, to ensure the podcast will have
enough "buffer" to start. That's why I've created the <a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/ThisWeekInDebian"><strong>ThisWeekInDebian
wiki page</strong></a>, where interested people should drop a line,
proposing a topic and volunteering to speak about it. <strong>Any
Debian-related topic</strong> is a good candidate: a team, an
initiative, a general discussion about a relevant project aspect,
etc. You don't even need any particular upfront preparation, as
it'll be interview-like. So, what are you waiting for? Drop a line
to <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/ThisWeekInDebian">the wiki
page</a>.</p>
<p><small>Jonathan will attend <a href=
"http://debconf10.debconf.org">DebConf10</a> so, in case you are
attending, that can be a nice occasion to record some episode in
person (otherwise recordings usually happen over the
net).</small></p>