Title of Devroom: Distributions

Elaborate description of proposed devroom(Including possible Topics):

Distributions are more than just hosted collections of software from various upstreams. Each distribution is responsible for problem-solving in building, testing, and releasing software as well as managing the lifecycle of each application in the collection. Additionally, distributions do very important work in ensuring that various versions of upstream software work well together and can co-exist. Distributions are also, often responsible, for “de-vendoring” upstream software so that security fixes can be applied more quickly.

For this distributions devroom, we want to focus on the ways distributions can work together on the Build/Test/Release cycles through shared ideas and resources and highlight the ways different projects are innovating on the lifecycle problem. Hot topics related to the lifecycle problem are sandboxing, containerization, vendoring, or bundling.

Why does it fit FOSDEM?:

Distribution developers and maintainers are widely represented at FOSDEM. Many attendees are involved (in one form or another) in the distribution space, and would benefit both as a speaker or in the audience of the devroom. Additionally, as the OpenSource community grows, many FOSDEM attendees don’t realize how much of what they rely on is provided by distributions. This is not a platform for debate about the merits of distribution A vs B as much as a statement about why picking a distribution remains a critical success factor for many applications.

The talks are only part of the story, since many folks are interested in the distributions space it’s not uncommon to start a piece of software or feature request only to find that the principal authors (or commentors) are all in the room. Building in a dedicated space for this augments the fantastic hallway track at FOSDEM.

Details

  • Preferred slot: Full Day

  • Primary Contact: Brian Exelbierd [email protected], Fedora Community Action and Impact Lead

  • Secondary Contact: Brian Stinson [email protected], CentOS Infrastructure Team

Additional Information: