Proposed Debate Topics
RMS All Free Dist
In the past
RMS has
requested from Debian a distribution that does not include any non-free
software or references to non-free software. Many ideas have been suggested to
satisfy this request. What should Debian do, if anything?
NM Closing
During your term the
new-maintainer processes was closed by the new-maintainer team. Many
people considered their actions to be inappropriate. How should inappropriate
unilateral actions by delegates/teams be treated by the project?
Growing unwieldy, AWOL maintainers and delegation issue
Debian's recent
growth
has been tremendous. The project has nearly doubled its size in all
areas. Is this growth maintainable? Should anything be done to make Debian
more scalable or to reduce the growth?
Debian BSD and Hurd
Two sub-projects within Debian are aimed at developing ports of Debian to
the
Hurd and
BSD
platforms. Some of the suggested plans would make these ports
considerably different from the Linux platform. How much leeway should
these ports have to deviate from the other platforms? Should Debian focus on
its core Linux distribution or try to spread to many OSs?
Leadership style, contrast between iwj/bruce
Over the years Debian has had many different kinds of leadership styles,
from forceful to hands off. What is the best style for the project and how
much involvement should the leader have?
Multiple Hats
The position of DPL requires that the Leader wear many hats. How should
the DPL deal with the dichotomy of being a Developer, Leader, Press Contact,
SPI advisor, etc?
MIA Maintainers
Past experience has shown that many key areas of the project can suddenly
become
understaffed and backlogged. How should this be dealt with and what should
be done to help prevent it from happening in the future?
tech'ctte and role, membership
While policy was being formed on the
/usr/share/doc issue many people felt
the policy and technical committee processes were very slow and inefficient.
Should the Project Leader have taken a more active role in seeing this to
conclusion or is there
something wrong with the policy and technical committee processes?
Role of the Cabal
Do some people or group of people have
influence or even power that is outside the
constitution? If so, is
it good? bad? What should be done about it, if anything? If these people don't
exist, what do we do to debunk the
myth of the cabal?
Position on the continuing saga of KDE
Over the course of several years issues around KDE have lept up. What are the
issues preventing us from shipping KDE and how do Corel, Mandrake, Red Hat,
etc avoid them? What should be done to resolve this problem?
or:
There has been a great deal of confusion in the user community about the
continuing lack of KDE in Debian. A clear statement by the DPL is required
-- what are your views on this, and how would you arrive at similar
pronouncements about policy on other issues in the future? Whom shall you
consult in creating your platform statement on issues like this?
** Just link to <../../../News/1998/19981008> from somewhere in
whichever paragraph is chosen (I prefer the first, FWIW -- joeyh) **
Money, and Ideals
The recent
run of IPOs and startups has
made a lot of capital available to the free software world. How should this
relate to Debian and its ideals of being a
free and
technically
excellent distribution? How much influence should commercial entities
(particularly those doing
development on our
base) have in the project?
The Future
The Project has enjoyed a
successful past but Linux is now
nearly mainstream. How will Debian react to this, and where is it headed
in the future, 1, 5 and 10 years from now?
