gmane.linux.debian.conference.general

[idea] wheezy released -> fund campaign again?

Hideki Yamane — 2013-05-06T06:27:43

Hi,

 We've happily released Wheezy, so users look into it now.
 So, just an idea, how about do DebConf funding campaign, again?
 Maybe some of users want to donate, IMHO.

Accomodation for families at Le Camp ?

Olivier Berger — 2013-05-03T21:18:49

Hi.

I intend to participate to the Debconf, and thought of the possibility
to come with my wife and son in order to try a mix of hacking and
holidays in the mountains, instead of leaving home for a week...

I would like to know when/how we may expect to have confirmation for
booking of "rooms for families", typically thinking of a 2 beds room in
which we'd add our own foladable baby bed, if there's enough room (which
would need to be confirmed).

There are additional details I've missed in the accomodation page : 
 - is such an option possible (for the baby bed) ? 
 - should I register in pentabarf my wife (and my son ?) if I'd like to
   come with my family ?

What would be the extra costs for children (food mainly ?) ?

Are there any other families planing to come together, so we can imagine
some group activities for the non-hacker accompanying ones, etc ?

I'm also a bit doubtful of the coexistence of hackers with a tendency
for nightly activities (potentially noisy) and young children in same
facilities :-/ 

Btw, I'm not sure I understand whether there will only be
Debianers/Debconfers at Le Camp of if general public/clients will also
share the facilities... can we expect some very "ordered" (Switzerland,
yes ;) general behaviour, or a much more relaxed/heterodox ambiance, at
night time, for instance ? Besides the anti-harassment policy warning,
I'm not sure I've read anything mentioning sex, drugs and R&R ;-) I'm
just curious of how people feel it will be like...

I'm not completely shure this family trip is a likely option, and maybe
I should just come alone (my lack of prior experience of the Debconf
doesn't help much, either) ?

What are your comments / suggestions ?

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

pentabarf open?

Timo Juhani Lindfors — 2013-04-27T15:38:09

Hi,

I just noticed that I can select "I want to attend this conference [X]"
in pentabarf. Does this mean that

  "Currently we are still evaluating some possible new conference
   management systems"

    -- http://debconf13.debconf.org/

is simply out of date information?

Online maps of Switzerland?

Christian PERRIER — 2013-04-27T10:16:43

Adieu,

Are there online versions of high detail maps of Switzerland, similar
to what we have in France on the "Geoportail" web site of Institut
Géographique National (IGN) : http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/accueil

I usually use these to prepare my runs and it would greatly help if
there are similar maps for Switzerland, particularly, of course, the
Vaumarcus area.

Admitedly, OSM has some bits that seem mapped but this doesn't seem,
yet, to be complete enough (of course, I highly suspect that, after
one week or more of Debconf, that could improve quite a lot).


_______________________________________________
Debconf-discuss mailing list
Debconf-discuss< at >lists.debconf.org
http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-discuss

Question about acomodation and bike renting.

Marcin Kulisz — 2013-04-25T20:21:13

Hi all,
I'm planning to go to debconf13 (my 1st debconf ever :-) ) only problem I have
is an ultimatum from my better half (read wife) that we must cycle a bit around
and visit CERN.
Therefore I'd like to ask if any of you know about any bicycle hire nearby
LaCamp (or in the area)?
Any hints about good accommodation for couple?
Thx a lot in advance for any information.

PS please cc me in as I'm not subscribed to this list

getting to Switzerland, travel planning

Daniel Pocock — 2013-04-18T18:29:56


The main wiki page with core details is here, it is gradually being updated:

  https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf13/Travel


I've put some notes on my blog about some of the options people have
getting to Switzerland with some examples of costs when combined with
sight-seeing/other activities beyond DebConf13:

  http://danielpocock.com/switzerland-arrival-costs


I hope this will be helpful, feel free to ask questions here on the list
or #debconf

paypal donation cannot be used in Japan

Hideki Yamane — 2013-03-26T03:07:19

Hi,

 Some of Japanese users complained that they want to donate to DebConf13
 matching fund but somehow they couldn't.

 I asked to paypal support and she said "due to Japanese law restriction,
 paypal cannot support donation".

 Can anyone solve (add another way to) this?

coming to Switzerland?

Daniel Pocock — 2013-03-18T21:35:31


I've had some questions from people about planning their trip to
Switzerland, so I'm going to post some travel ideas on my blog

Here is the first:

  http://danielpocock.com/switzerland-glacier-express

cost of living in .ch

Holger Levsen — 2013-01-21T15:33:12

Hi,

I recommend to read http://wingolog.org/archives/2012/12/05/geneva - it gives 
quite some interesting insights.


cheers,
Holger

Frab (or whatever): Call for help

Gunnar Wolf — 2013-01-15T13:45:42

Hi guys,

As you know, I have taken up the task of adequating Frab to serve us
as a Pentabarf replacement. However, I have not been able to devote as
much resources as I'd like, and I really don't want to end up failing
late and hard. Read: Staying with Pentabarf is untenable, we *really*
want to move away from it.

Frab is a very readable, clean system. Its main shortcoming for our
collective point of view is that it is built completely in The Rails
Way, which means, it needs to live in its own Ruby Gems ecosystem
(which means, it lives in a parallel universe to that of Debian
packages, and it is full of some practices we regard as pernicious).

Now, I'm asking for your help because... If I have to take the task by
myself (as I have done), I know I will end up failing. I am quite
short on time preparing the course I will soon start teaching, and I
know that (at least for the first semester) it will take me even more
time once classes start, late this month.

The (very) little I have done so far is just to check how easy/hard to
install is Frab (answer: It is not trivial, but the instructions
work... Sometimes - That is, depending on the status of each of the
branches. I have been told by the Frab devs that "master" is now in a
proper state). Setting up a VM with the needed environment is quite
easy. The needed task is now to bribe Ganneff into setting up an
official instance - But there is not *too* much hurry for that as the
installation would first require having Frab usable for us.

Then comes programming. Out of the currently active controllers, most
of the Pentabarf functionality we use is there, we only need to
implement four controllers: In order of perceived complexity,

- Assassins
- Travel sponsorship
- Volunteer
- Video

The Frab developers request we implement those as plugins, and not on
the main tree, which makes sense and adds just a little complexity
hurdle.

As for the personal information, I am less confident our changes are
doable as plugins. They are quite trivial to add in the base MVC - The
fields we use (and which are mostly references to other tables, most
per-conference-instance catalogs) are:

- accomodation_preferences
- arrived
- debcamp_option
- debcamp_work_plan
- disabilities
- food_preferences
- nickname
- reconfirmed
- role_in_debian
- role_in_deconf
- room_preference

Adjusting Frab to gather that basic information, if not done in a
plugin fashion, is probably a simple work that should not take more
than one evening (tops). Looking at our history, I think the natural
way for us is to fork off master and start our own branch, trying to
follow and sync along. Things will get messier along the years, as
conference-specific fields and logic will accumulate. For example, we
have used fields which have shown to be inoperant
(i.e. photo_or_film_ok) and I'm not including here anymore, but in
some instances we will want to keep for historical values. Some others
follow a wrong model, but historical data depends on them
(i.e. dc_conference_person was split after DC11 into role_in_debian
and role_in_debconf).

Anyway - The task is not *so* big, but I know I need help. Also, I
need to no longer be the only guy who understands (or fakes
understanding of) the Beast. Please step up and help!

proposals for DebConf14 +

Daniel Pocock — 2013-01-14T19:49:21




Clearly, everybody was frustrated at various times with the decision
making processes from country selection through to budget approval and
venue selection for DebConf13.

Here are my suggestions about how it could be changed:

a) only one-off sponsorship (e.g. local university or government money)
to be handled by local team - ongoing sponsors and industry sponsors to
be managed by Debian global fund-raising - I believe this overlaps with
comments from some other people about how these relationships could be
best managed

b) in lieu of the above, Debian itself would guarantee to contribute EUR
50,000 (or maybe more) to DebConf (currently it is cost-neutral for
Debian) - so the bidders won't feel that they have to start with nothing
each new DebConf year.  Furthermore, they will be able to go to local
authorities, venues, etc and say "we have at least EUR 50,000 to spend
and 300 people will come, will you help our event?" and it sounds a lot
better than saying "we have no budget yet, but we want your help"

c) the bid teams would have to provide more evidence (e.g. final venue
prices and at least one major sponsor, or evidence of government help)
but those things would also be easier to get thanks to (b)

d) the bid decision would then happen slightly later (e.g July instead
of March) - but on the other hand, the decision would give the team an
immediate authorisation to sign a contract, not leaving them in limbo
for 6-8 months


In particular, I don't think it is about blaming the venue, the country
or the people, (is any country perfect?), it's just about optimizing the
process

Insider manipulation of DC13 site selection,and apparent coverup

Ian Jackson — 2012-12-12T11:54:05

For a period during the deliberations for DC13 site selection some
"anonymous" "donors" were offering money to Debconf on condition that
Vaumarcus was selected.  This offer (actually a loan) was withdrawn
when the donors got cold feet.

These "anonymous donors" were in fact not third parties at all.  They
were persons in positions of responsibility helping to organise
Debconf 13.  At least one the Debconf chairs knew this; furthermore
this information was not disclosed to at least one other Debconf
chair, who therefore remained ignorant of the true circumstances and
was dependent on rumour and hearsay.

Worse, the only public statement on this the matter by members of the
Debconf organisation wrongly claims that the "donors" were not in
positions of authority or governance in relation to Debconf.

I'm told that the DC13 contract with the venue has already been
signed, although this information is not public as far as I can tell.
If it had not then I would have asked for:
  - Withdrawal of the "anonymous donors" from Debconf organisation
  - Reconsideration of the choice of Switzerland as host country
  - Reconsideration of the site selection by a committee not
    tainted by this manipulation

As it is it is difficult to see the best way forward.  If it is
possible to hold a Debconf without the participation of the "anonymous
donors" in positions of responsibility, they should be asked to step
aside.

I have also heard that - perhaps in response to agitation from people
like myself - the DC13 fundraising group have "further extended the
culture of secrecy" (as my source puts it) by moving to a
newly-restricted repository.

As far as I can tell (murk still abounds) these problems arise from
the attitudes of the DC13 local team.  Switzerland is known abroad for
many things.  One of them is its culture of banking secrecy.  I would
like it to be completely clear to everyone that within Debconf a
culture of banking secrecy, or of secrecy in general, is wholly
unacceptable.

Now we are unfortunately stuck with the situation.  In some sense the
local team have the entire project over a barrel because they can
threaten to walk away and leave us with a large bill.  So perhaps I am
doing harm by posting this message.  However, I really felt I couldn't
sit on this information any longer.

At the very least we should make sure that nothing like this can ever
happen again.

Ian.


Timeline as far as I know:

On the 30th of November an informant emailed me with various
allegations which now seem to have been substantially true.

As a result I asked, in public, amongst other things:

  > 6. Were the proposed donors in positions of authority or governance in
  >    relation to Debconf ?  Examples of people in positions of authority
  >    or governance in relation to Debconf include the DPL, the DPL
  >    helpers tasked with Debconf-related tasks, people involved with
  >    Debconf accounting on behalf of SPI or FFIS, and of course members
  >    of the Debconf global or local teams.

On the 4th of December one of the Debconf chairs, Holger, responded in
public:

  >   6. Were the proposed donors in positions of authority or governance in
  >      relation to Debconf ? 
  
  no

My informant had told me the alleged names of the "anonymous donors"
and that did not accord with the answer I was given.  So I immediately
wrote to another of the Debconf chairs, who had already emailed me to
tell me they didn't know the details either, to put these names to
Holger and ask Holger to consider whether his answer needed to be
corrected.

On the 6th of December a member of one of the DC13 teams responded to
me in private email with the contradictory answer:

  >   6. Were the proposed donors in positions of authority or governance in
  >      relation to Debconf ?  Examples of people in positions of authority
  >      or governance in relation to Debconf include the DPL, the DPL
  >      helpers tasked with Debconf-related tasks, people involved with
  >      Debconf accounting on behalf of SPI or FFIS, and of course members
  >      of the Debconf global or local teams.

  According to your examples, yes.

I chased the other Debconf chair again and they chased Holger, but
without success.  I asked the DC13 team member's permission to forward
their email to -discuss.  They consented but said they thought it
wouldn't help improve the situation.  I didn't want to drop them in
it.

However, that DC13 team member did tell me that the DPL was fully
informed, with all the details, before the DPL approved the DC13
budget.

I also asked a senior and respected project member for advice about
how to proceed, as I felt I needed a second opinion.  Unfortunately
they weren't able to recommend more besides perhaps starting further
private discussions.

Today, having slept on it I think I can sit on this no longer.

DebConf12 Final Report Broken Link

Zaki Akhmad — 2012-12-12T08:39:05

Hello,

I found broken link for DebConf12 Final Report[1] at DebConf13 website[2].

[1]http://media.debconf.org/dc12/report/DebConf12_FinalReport.pdf
[2]http://debconf13.debconf.org/

what do we think we can do better for dc13?example: random venue

Ana Guerrero — 2012-12-01T16:38:05

Hi,

I have shared this for IRC, but I'm told if it is not in the list it doesn't count.
And also not everybody has the time to follow by IRC.

It has been said a few times that le camp have the same standars that a youth hostel,
so I went to see how a swiss youth hostel looks like [1] and what possibilities they
offered. I evaluated quickly one of them: http://www.youthhostel.ch/en/hostels/st-moritz

If you look at the info provided in that page, the site looks nice, also look for
Google images of saint moritz. There is a lake, a forest and also mountains.
It is close to the nature with spectacular views. For me, it has the image of what
is sold from Switzerland.

The hostel provides 306 beds in rooms of 2 and 4 beds where people do not need to carry
sleeping bags or similar to sleep. Some of the room provide WC/shower inside (that also
are the expensiver ones). Rooms are big and they offer fourniture such as tables and chairs.
(see photos)
The place is also fully qualified for handicapped people, more info at:
http://www.youthhostel.ch/en/hostels/st-moritz/handicap

It provides plenty of common rooms we can use: 5 'day rooms', 2 games rooms and a big hall.
The only issue with the rooms is we lack of a big auditorium, the biggest room is similar
to the one we had in debconf8, this is balanced by the fact we can have plenty of small 
hacklabs that provide working in group easier and also impromptu BOFs.

If you look at the sourrounding in Google Maps, you can see several hotels reachable by
foot. The youth hostel is not in the middle of the town, but in the exterior part (close
to the forest):
https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Youth+Hostel+St.+Moritz+Bad,+Via+Surpunt,+Saint+Moritz,+Switzerland&aq=0&oq=youth+hostel+saint+moritz&sll=37.6,-95.665&sspn=47.028011,93.076172&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=Youth+Hostel+St.+Moritz+Bad,+Via+Surpunt,+Saint+Moritz,+Switzerland&hnear=&radius=15000&ll=46.489972,9.841604&spn=0.02021,0.045447&z=15

With a supermarket (and other shops) 1.3km away 
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Youth+Hostel+St.+Moritz+Bad,+Via+Surpunt+60,+7500+St.+Moritz,+Switzerland&daddr=Via+dal+Bagn+20,+St.+Moritz,+Switzerland&hl=en&geocode=FYhexQIdmz2WACEYoBTkfCpekinRe7YjxX2DRzEYoBTkfCpekg%3BFbJlxQId0BKWAClncT1P6H2DRzG13Ra-9z_juw&aq=1&oq=Via+Surpunt+60,+7500+St.+Moritz,&sll=46.48846,9.84036&sspn=0.009366,0.022724&vpsrc=0&dirflg=w&mra=ltm&ie=UTF8&t=m&z=16

The place is a very popular destination for winter sports but it is less popular in summer 
and therefore cheaper. With the group discount, we would get similar prices to le camp.
Saint Moritz is easily reachable by train from Zurich (one change of train) and I'm told
some parts of the trip are quite impressive. There is also an airport with regular flights
to some cities for those who can afford going directly to the place.

Other stuff that is very nice to have and we woudn't have in le camp:

- They offer a laundry room
- you can rent a bike directly in the hostel. 
- Day trip could be done hiking around
- people with kids have a special "play area" in the hostel
- people who want to leave later or arrive early, can just reserve rooms separately and do it


You can read some reviews of the place at 
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Youthhostel-St-Moritz/St-Moritz/11139/reviews
From people all over the world (this is people with very different expectatives)

More photos and reviews at http://www.booking.com/hotel/ch/jugendherberge-st-moritz.en.html?aid=311088

Another similar place I didn't took the time to research but looking similar is:
http://www.youthhostel.ch/en/hostels/davos


Ana 


[1] Full list at http://youthhostel.ch/en

"Anonymous donation" to Debconf 13

Ian Jackson — 2012-11-30T18:44:50

I have heard some disturbing rumours regarding Debconf13, site choice
and funding.  It seems to be difficult to find clear facts and of
course I don't want to be spreading unverified rumours.

What I have found out from public sources, for example this message
  http://lists.debconf.org/lurker/message/20121031.082232.2c9c4f00.en.html
is that apparently some "anonymous donors" proposed to give or loan
Debconf 13 CHF40K (~Eur33K).

I'm uncomfortable about the idea of such a sum of anonymous money
flowing towards Debconf.  One natural worry would be that it would
come with strings attached.

Can the Debconf global team, and/or the DC13 local team, please answer
the following questions ?

1. Is it true that there was a proposal that anyone should make an
   anonymous donation or loan to Debconf 13 ?

If so:

2. Exactly what was proposed, and when was it proposed ?

3. Were any conditions attached ?  If so what were the conditions ?

4. How far did the discussions progress (so far) ?
   Has the proposal now been abandoned and if so, when ?

5. Were the proposed donors individuals (if so how many?),
   a company, a government, or an NGO ?

6. Were the proposed donors in positions of authority or governance in
   relation to Debconf ?  Examples of people in positions of authority
   or governance in relation to Debconf include the DPL, the DPL
   helpers tasked with Debconf-related tasks, people involved with
   Debconf accounting on behalf of SPI or FFIS, and of course members
   of the Debconf global or local teams.

7. Who initiated the proposal ?  Was it
     (a) the prospective donor; or
     (b) a member of the DC global team; or
     (c) a member of the DC13 local team; or
     (d) some third party ?
   If (b) or (c), which individual member(s) of the team ?

8. Was the existence of this proposal made formally known to the full
   DC team (eg on the internal private mailing list) ?

I think these are the most critical questions the answers to which
might shed some light on the situation.  I'm hoping the answers will
be prompt, full, and frank - and of course, reassuring.

Thanks,
Ian.

Translation DebConf12 srt File

Zaki Akhmad — 2012-11-28T05:58:56

Hello all,

today I released the ID (Indonesian) translation subtitle from
DebConf12 Video, the Bits from DPL, by Stefano Zacchirolli.
https://github.com/za/debconf12

I'd like to say thank you for the debconf video team, especially the
one who made the EN srt so that I could easily translate it.

I wrote a blog post to spread the word (it's in Indonesian)
http://blogs.itb.ac.id/zakiakhmad/2012/11/28/rilis-subtitle-indonesia-bit-dari-dpl-dalam-debconf12/

Regards,

Are the dates for Debconf 2013 decided?

Andrei POPESCU — 2012-10-30T19:29:16

Hello everybody,

2013 is only two months away. I was looking for the final dates for 
Debconf 2013 and stumbled upon
http://debconf13.debconf.org/dates.xhtml

Are these dates final?

Kind regards,
Andrei

DC12 International poetry night pictures andvideos!

jathan — 2012-09-10T03:56:11

Hi everybody, How are you? I hope fine. Finally I share you the photos
and videos that I was able to take in the international poetry night in
the Panal bar in Managua, an apology for taking so long. Thank you very
much to Victor for his help with the server space. Into an opportunity I
will upload some other photos and videos that I have of this great
DebConf in Nicaragua. Take care and enjoy.

http://jathan.ociologia.org/International_poetry_night_DC12/

Volcano eruption in Nicaragua

Luis Alejandro Martínez Faneyth — 2012-09-08T17:55:17

Hi all,

I was wondering if the recent eruption of the San Cristobal volcano in 
Nicaragua has affected some of our friends from DebConf12. If so, my 
best wishes to all of you and please take care.

Greetings,

Volcano eruption in Nicaragua

Luis Alejandro Martínez Faneyth — 2012-09-08T17:29:06

Hi all,

I was wondering if the recent eruption of the San Cristóbal volcano in 
Nicaragua has affected some of our friends from DebConf12. If so, my 
best wishes to all of you and please take care.

Greetings,

Moar pictures

David Prévot — 2012-08-12T18:48:47

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Hash: SHA256

Hi,

Cathy selected some pictures from DebConf and the few days we spent in
Nicaragua after it.

http://photos.tilapin.org/Nicaragua%202012/

Let us know if you want to remove/cut a picture of you.

Regards

David

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