Imminent release for the media images for Debian 10.12 and 11.3 20220327 0010

 OK - so it wasn't quite all done in one day - and since today is TZ change day in the UK, it might actually run into the TZ bump but I suspect that it will all be done very soon now. Very few glitches - everybody cheerful with what's been done.

I did spot someone in IRC who had been reading the release notes - which is always much appreciated. Lots of security fixes overall in the last couple of months but just a fairly normal time, I think.

Thanks to the team behind all of this: the ftpmasters, the press team and everyone else involved in making Debian more secure. This is the last blog for this one - there will be another point release along in about three months or so.

Still testing Debian media images 20220326 2026UTC- almost finished 11.3 - Buster starting soon

 And we're working through quite nicely.

It's been a long, long day so far and we're about 1/2 way through :)

Shout out to Isy, Sledge and RattusRattus in Cambridge and also smcv.

Two releases in a day is a whole bunch :)

Part way through testing Debian media images 20220326 1555UTC - Found a new useful utility

 For various obscure reasons, I have a mirror of Debian in one room and the main laptop and so on I use in another. The mirror is connected to a fast Internet line - and has a 1Gb Ethernet cable into the back directly from the router, the laptop and everything else - not so much, everything is wired, but depends on a WiFi link across the property. One end is fast - one end runs like a snail.

Steve suggested I use a different tool to make images directly on the mirror machine - jigit. Slightly less polished than jigdo but - if you're on the same machine - blazingly fast. I just used it to make the Blu-Ray sized .iso and was very pleasantly surprised. 

jigit-mkimage -j [jigdo file] -t [template file] -m Debian=[path to mirror of Debian] -o [output filename]

Another nice surprise for me - I have a horrible old Lenovo Ideapad. It's one of the Bay Trail Intel machines with a 32 bit UEFI and a 64 bit processor. I rescued it from the junk heap. Reinstalling it with an image today fixed an issue I had with slow boot and has turned it into an adequate machine for web browsing.

All in all, I've done relatively few tests so far - but it's been a good day, as ever.

More later.

Debian media team - testing and releasing Debian 11.3 - 20220326 1243UTC

And back to relative normality : the usual suspects are in Cambridge. It's a glorious day across the UK and we're spending it indoors with laptops :)

We'll also be releasing a point release of Buster as a wrap up of recent changes.

Debian 10 should move from full support to LTS on July August 14th - one year after the release of Debian 11 - and there will be a final point release of Buster somewhere around that point.

All seems to be behaving itself well.

Thanks to all for the hard work that goes into preparing each release and especially the security fixes of which there seem to be loads lately.

Debian media team - testing and releasing Debian 11.2 20211218 2030

 We've more or less finished the release of the Debian CD/DVD/Blu-Ray and other media for Bullseye 11.2 release. This is one of the (roughly) quarterly point releases and roll-up releases.

Thanks firstly to the developers, users, helpers, bug filers who help to keep Debian moving and working and to the release team and press team who more or less finish their job before the media team start theirs.

Thanks to Sledge and RattusRattus and Isy in Cambridge and to Schweer who single-handedly clears all the Debian-edu testing. This release run seemed to be a bit more slick, a bit faster, a few fewer problems and it's always a joy to work with colleagues who are like family.

The last couple of years have been more than a bit difficult: this (should) be more or less the last major action from the release team and others for 2021.

I'm going to take the opportunity this gives me to wish all concerned with Debian (and every other Linux) the very best wishes for the year to come. Surely, it can only get better - eventually.

Oh, my goodness, where's the fantastic barbeque [OMGWTFBBQ 2021]

 I'm guessing the last glasses will be through the dishwasher (again) and Pepper the dog can settle down without having to cope with so many people.

For those who don't know - Steve and his wife Jo (Sledge and Randombird) hold a barbeque in their garden every August Bank Holiday weekend [UK Bank Holiday on the last Monday in August]. The barbeque is not small - it's the dominating feature in the suburban garden, brick built, with a dedication stone, lights, electricity. The garden is small, generally made smaller by forty or so Debian friends and allies standing and sitting around. People are talking, arguing, hugging people they've not seen for (literal) years and putting the world to rights. 

This is Debian central point - with large quantities of meat and salads, an amount of beer/alcohol and "Cambridge gin" and general goodwill. This year was more than usually atmospheric because for some of us it was the first time with a large group of people in a while. Side conversations abound: for me it was learning something about the high energy particle physics community, how to precision build helicopters, fly quadcopters and precision 3D print anything, the maths of Isy counting crochet stitches to sew together randomly sized squares ... and, of course, obligatory things like how random is random and what's good enough entropy. And a few sessions of the game of our leader.

This is also a place for stuff to get done: I was unashamedly using this to upgrade the storage in my laptop while there were sensible engineers around. A corner of the table, a RattusRattus and it was quickly sorted - then a discussion around the internals of Thinkpads as he took his apart. Then getting a full install - Gb Ethernet to the Debian mirror in the cupboard six feet away is faster bandwidth than a jumbo jet full of tapes. Then getting mail to work again - it's handy when the mailserver owner is next to you, having come in from the garden to help, and finally IRC. And not just me: "You need a GPG key signed - there's three DPLs here, there's a release manager - but you've just missed one of the DAMs." plus an in-depth GPG how-to session on the other side of the table.

I was the luckiest one with the most comfortable bed in the house overnight but I couldn't stay for last night. Thanks once again to all involved but especially Steve and Jo who do this for the love of it, and the fun, and the community and the family. Oh, and thanks to Lenovo - not just for being a platinum sponsor of Debconf but also for providing the official laptop of this and most Debian occasions 😀

"If you do it twice, it's tradition" - says nattie

 Thanks to all who've made Debconf 21 such a good place to be.

 

A song for Debconf21 ["What shall we do with the drunken sailor"]

What shall we do with the online Debconf?

What shall we do with the online Debconf?

What shall we do with the online Debconf?

Earl-y in the morning

 

Close it up as we agreed it

Save each script in case we need it

Work out how we best live-feed it

Next year’s Debconf’s dawning

 

Next year’s Kosovo and Pristina

This virtual Debconf needs no cleaner

Hope when COVID’s gone we’re keener

To meet up every morning

Thanks to the Debconf orga team

Thanks to those who Loopy meme

Things are not always as they seeem

In virtual Debconf’s morning

 

Bullseye’s out – its share is rising

Debconf’s fun and quite surprising

Linux – 30 :)

Yours and my thing - Debian’s 28

 

Thanks to all who video’d sessions

Debconf T-shirts - prized possessions

Debcamp bug-fixed some regressions

Now onto next year!

A closing song for Debconf 21 [Frere Jacques/Brueder Martin]

 

DebConf21

Virtual DebConf’s

Now all through

Closed for you

Kosovo is next year

See you in Pristina!!

DebConf 22

Twenty twenty-two