Last November, the DebConf25 Team asked the community to help design the logo for the 25th Debian Developers' Conference and the results are in! The logo contest received 23 submissions and we thank all the 295 people who took the time to participate in the survey. There were several amazing proposals, so choosing was not easy.

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the logo survey is 'Tower with red Debian Swirl originating from blue water' (option L), by Juliana Camargo and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Juliana also shared with us a bit of her motivation, creative process and inspiration when designing her logo:

The idea for this logo came from the city's landscape, the place where the medieval tower looks over the river that meets the sea, almost like guarding it. The Debian red swirl comes out of the blue water splash as a continuous stroke, and they are also the French flag colours. I tried to combine elements from the city when I was sketching in the notebook, which is an important step for me as I feel that ideas flow much more easily, but the swirl + water with the tower was the most refreshing combination, so I jumped to the computer to design it properly. The water bit was the most difficult element, and I used the Debian swirl as a base for it, so both would look consistent. The city name font is a modern calligraphy style and the overall composition is not symmetric but balanced with the different elements. I am glad that the Debian community felt represented with this logo idea!

Congratulations, Juliana, and thank you very much for your contribution to Debian!

The DebConf25 Team would like to take this opportunity to remind you that DebConf, the annual international Debian Developers Conference, needs your help. If you want to help with the DebConf 25 organization, don't hesitate to reach out to us via the #debconf-team channel on OFTC.

Furthermore, we are always looking for sponsors. DebConf is run on a non-profit basis, and all financial contributions allow us to bring together a large number of contributors from all over the globe to work collectively on Debian. Detailed information about the sponsorship opportunities is available on the DebConf 25 website.

See you in Brest!

We are pleased to announce that Proxmox has committed to sponsor DebConf25 as a Platinum Sponsor.

Proxmox develops powerful, yet easy-to-use Open Source server software. The product portfolio from Proxmox, including server virtualization, backup, and email security, helps companies of any size, sector, or industry to simplify their IT infrastructures. The Proxmox solutions are based on the great Debian platform, and we are happy that we can give back to the community by sponsoring DebConf25.

With this commitment as Platinum Sponsor, Proxmox is contributing to the Debian annual Developers' conference, directly supporting the progress of Debian and Free Software. Proxmox contributes to strengthen the community that collaborates on Debian projects from all around the world throughout all of the year.

Thank you very much, Proxmox, for your support of DebConf25!

Become a sponsor too!

DebConf25 will take place from 14 to 20 July 2025 in Brest, France, and will be preceded by DebCamp, from 7 to 13 July 2025.

DebConf25 is accepting sponsors! Interested companies and organizations may contact the DebConf team through sponsors@debconf.org, and visit the DebConf25 website at https://debconf25.debconf.org/sponsors /become-a-sponsor/.

Dear Debian community,

this is bits from DPL for January.

Sovereign Tech Agency

I was recently pointed to Technologies and Projects supported by the Sovereign Tech Agency which is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. It is a subsidiary of the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation, SPRIND GmbH.

It is worth sending applications there for distinct projects as that is their preferred method of funding. Distinguished developers can also apply for a fellowship position that pays up to 40hrs / week (32hrs when freelancing) for a year. This is esp. open to maintainers of larger numbers of packages in Debian (or any other Linux distribution).

There might be a chance that some of the Debian-related projects submitted to the Google Summer of Code that did not get funded could be retried with those foundations. As per the FAQ of the project: "The Sovereign Tech Agency focuses on securing and strengthening open and foundational digital technologies. These communities working on these are distributed all around the world, so we work with people, companies, and FOSS communities everywhere."

Similar funding organizations include the Open Technology Fund and FLOSS/fund. If you have a Debian-related project that fits these funding programs, they might be interesting options. This list is by no means exhaustive—just some hints I’ve received and wanted to share. More suggestions for such opportunities are welcome.

Year of code reviews

On the debian-devel mailing list, there was a long thread titled "Let's make 2025 a year when code reviews became common in Debian". It initially suggested something along the lines of: "Let's review MRs in Salsa." The discussion quickly expanded to include patches that have been sitting in the BTS for years, which deserve at least the same attention. One idea I'd like to emphasize is that associating BTS bugs with MRs could be very convenient. It’s not only helpful for documentation but also the easiest way to apply patches.

I’d like to emphasize that no matter what workflow we use—BTS, MRs, or a mix—it is crucial to uphold Debian’s reputation for high quality. However, this reputation is at risk as more and more old issues accumulate. While Debian is known for its technical excellence, long-standing bugs and orphaned packages remain a challenge. If we don’t address these, we risk weakening the high standards that Debian is valued for. Revisiting old issues and ensuring that unmaintained packages receive attention is especially important as we prepare for the Trixie release.

Debian Publicity Team will no longer post on X/Twitter

The Press Team has my full support in its decision to stop posting on X. As per the Publicity delegation:

• The team is in charge of deciding the most suitable publication venue or venues for announcements and when they are published.

the team once decided to join Twitter, but circumstances have since changed. The current Press delegates have the institutional authority to leave X, just as their predecessors had the authority to join. I appreciate that the team carefully considered the matter, reinforced by the arguments developed on the debian-publicity list, and communicated its reasoning openly.

Kind regards,

Andreas.

The following contributors got their Debian Developer accounts in the last two months:

• Ananthu C V (weepingclown)
• Andrea Pappacoda (tachi)
• Athos Coimbra Ribeiro (athos)
• Gioele Barabucci (gioele)
• Jongmin Kim (jmkim)
• Shengqi Chen (harry)
• Frans Spiesschaert (frans)

The following contributors were added as Debian Maintainers in the last two months:

• Tianyu Chen
• Emmanuel FARHI
• наб
• Nicolas Schodet

Congratulations!

We are pleased to announce that Infomaniak has committed to sponsor DebConf25 as a Platinum Sponsor.

Infomaniak is Switzerland’s leading developer of Web technologies. With operations all over Europe and based exclusively in Switzerland, the company designs and manages its own data centers powered by 100% renewable energy, and develops all its solutions locally, without outsourcing. With millions of users and the trust of public and private organizations across Europe - such as RTBF, the United Nations, central banks, over 3,000 radio and TV stations, as well as numerous cities and security bodies - Infomaniak stands for sovereign, sustainable and independent digital technology. The company offers a complete suite of collaborative tools, cloud hosting, streaming, marketing and events solutions, while being owned by its employees and self-financed exclusively by its customers.

With this commitment as Platinum Sponsor, Infomaniak is contributing to the Debian annual Developers' conference, directly supporting the progress of Debian and Free Software. Infomaniak contributes to strengthen the community that collaborates on Debian projects from all around the world throughout all of the year.

Thank you very much, Infomaniak, for your support of DebConf25!

Become a sponsor too!

DebConf25 will take place from 14th to July 20th 2025 in Brest, France, and will be preceded by DebCamp, from 7th to 13th July 2025.

DebConf25 is accepting sponsors! Interested companies and organizations should contact the DebConf team through sponsors@debconf.org, or visit the DebConf25 website at https://debconf25.debconf.org/sponsors/become-a-sponsor/.