DPL..

Since I find the DPL position increasingly uninteresting except as a position of technical leadership, I will probably use the following simple metric (which I think of as the "degrees from Bruce Perens" metric) to rank my choices for Debian Project Leader in this year's elections:

1. Order the candidates based on the perceived solidity of actual technical changes they propose to make to Debian.
2. Rank "further discussion" above the first candidate whom I could not bear to see as DPL.

I won't bother listing the result, it's pretty predictable. But I will here excerpt all the at least vaguely technical content from the candidate's platforms:

• Jeroen

  "Debian needs to focus on technical excellence with free software"

  "I will encourage more use of the official wiki"

• Ari / Zeke

  "I propose that all software in Debian be relicensed"

  "Also, we should remove all pictures taken by cameras with non-free firmware from the Debian Project."

  "I'd like to introduce a new Debian GNU/Plan 9 port"

• Steve

  (Steve wrote mikmod. Amazed I never connected those two dots before.)

  "more documentation on best-practice packaging and testing methods"

  "considering the impact of changes on the release schedule"

• Aj

  "The most important thing that I think would benefit Debian is increasing its tempo."

  "And sometimes doing it fast helps you to do it right"

  "getting updates accepted into the archive more frequently than once a day"

  "having frequent beta releases of etch/testing that we can legitimately call a release (benefiting from the ongoing work of the installer and testing-security teams)"

  "having reliably quick resolution of RC bugs in unstable"

  "automated testing efforts"

• Andreas

  "having more frequent and regular releases."

  "We have a good, realistic timetable for the release of Etch, and this should be made a priority,"

  "Becoming More Purpose-Driven"

• Johnathan

  "When projects like Ubuntu and Progeny come along and pay people to do the boring parts of the work, we should be ecstatic."

  "a life-size statue on the grounds of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute"

• Bill

  "Be strict in what you send, liberal in what you accept."

  "One of the problem of Debian is that too few developers consider the distribution globally rather than a collection of packages."