DebCamp - bootstrap for Debconf24

DebConf24 https://debconf24.debconf.org/ took place from 2024-07-28 to 2024-08–04 in Busan, Korea.

Four employees (three Debian developers) from NetApp had the opportunity to participate in the annual event, which is the most important conference in the Debian world: Christoph Senkel, Andrew Lee, Michael Meskes and Noël Köthe.

DebCamp

What is DebCamp? DebCamp usually takes place a week before DebConf begins. For participants, DebCamp is a hacking session that takes place just before DebConf. It’s a week dedicated to Debian contributors focusing on their Debian-related projects, tasks, or problems without interruptions.

DebCamps are largely self-organized since it’s a time for people to work. Some prefer to work individually, while others participate in or organize sprints. Both approaches are encouraged, although it’s recommended to plan your DebCamp week in advance.

During this DebCamp, there are the following public sprints:
Python Team Sprint: QA work on the Python Team’s packages
l10n-pt-br Team Sprint: pt-br translation
Security Tools Packaging Team Sprint: QA work on the pkg-security Team’s packages
Ruby Team Sprint: Work on the transition to Ruby 3.3
Go Team Sprint: Get newer versions of docker.io, containerd, and podman into unstable/testing
Ftpmaster Team Sprint: discuss potential changes in ftpmaster team, workflow and communication
DebConf24 Boot Camp: guide people new to debian with a focus on debian packaging
LXQt Team Sprint: Workshop for new commers and work on the latest upstream release based on Qt6 and wayland support.

Scheduled workshops include:

GPG Workshop for Newcomers:
Asymmetric cryptography is a daily tool in Debian operations, used to establish trust and secure communications through email encryption, package signing, and more. This workshop participants will learn to create a PGP key and perform essential tasks such as file encryption/decryption, content signing, and sending encrypted emails. Post-creation, the key will be uploaded to public keyservers, enabling attendees to participate in our Continuous Keysigning Party.

Creating Web Galleries with Geo-Tagged Photos:
Learn how to create a web gallery with integrated maps from a geo-tagged photo collection. The session will cover the use of fgallery, openlayers, and a custom Python script, all orchestrated by a Makefile. This method, used for a South Korea gallery in 2018, will be taught hands-on, empowering others to showcase their photo collections similarly.

Introduction to Creating .deb Files (Debian Packaging):
This session will delve into the basics of Debian packaging and the Debian release cycle, including stable, unstable, and testing branches. Attendees will set up a Debian unstable system, build existing packages from source, and learn to create a Debian package from scratch. Discussions will extend online at #debconf24-bootcamp on irc.oftc.net.

In addition to the organizational part, our colleague Andrew is part of the orga team this year. He suported to arrange Cheese and Wine party and proposed an idea to organize a “Coffee Lab” where people can bring their coffee equipments and beans from their country and share each other during the conference. Andrew successfully set up the Coffee Lab in the social space with support from the “Local Team” and contributors Kitt, Clement, and Steven. They provided a diverse selection of beans and teas from countries such as Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, and Guatemala. Additionally, they shared various coffee-making tools, including the “Mr. Clever Dripper,” AeroPress, and AerSpeed grinder.

It also allows the DebConf committee to work together with the local team to prepare additional details for the conference. During DebCamp, the organization team typically handles the following tasks:

Setting up the Frontdesk: This involves providing conference badges (with maps and additional information) and distributing SWAG such as food vouchers, conference t-shirts, conference cups, usb-powered fan, and sponsor gifts.
Setting up the network: This includes configuring the network in conference rooms, hack labs, and video team equipment for live streaming during the event.
Accommodation arrangements: Assigning rooms for participants to check in to on-site accommodations.
Food arrangements: Catering to various dietary requirements, including regular, vegetarian, vegan, and accommodating special religious and allergy-related needs.
Setting up a spcial space: Providing a relaxed environment for participants to socialize and get to know each other.
Writing daily announcements: Keeping participants informed about ongoing activities.
Arranging childcare service.
Organizing day trip options.
Arranging parties.

In addition to the organizational part, our colleague Andrew also attended and arranged private sprints during DebCamp and contiune through DebConf via his LXQt team BoF and LXQt team newcommer private workshop. Where the team received contribution from new commers. The youngest one is only 13 years old who created his first GPG key during the GPG key workshop and attended LXQt team workshop where he managed to fix a few bugs in Debian during the workshop session.

Young kids in DebCamp

At DebCamp, two young attendees, aged 13 and 10, participated in a GPG workshop for newcomers and created their own GPG keys. The older child hastily signed another new attendee’s key without proper verification, not fully grasping that Debian’s security relies on the trustworthiness of GPG keys. This prompted a lesson from his Debian Developer father, who explained the importance of trust by comparing it to entrusting someone with the keys to one’s home. Realizing his mistake, the child considered how to rectify the situation since he had already signed and uploaded the key. He concluded that he could revoke the old key and create a new one after DebConf, which he did, securing his new GPG and SSH keys with a Yubikey.