Debian Developer update 8/11/2020

November 8, 2020

Freeze is near, prepare for it ==============================

On 12 January 2021 we're hitting the first milestone of the bullseye release: the Transition and (build-)essentials Freeze. If you made plans for the bullseye release, now is the time to evaluate if it's realistic to go ahead or if time is running too short. Remember you always have experimental to stage changes. If there is a unfixed bug that is nagging you, remember to fix it (e.g. via an NMU) now rather than later.

When the Transition and (build-)essentials Freeze starts, we'll be expecting maintainers to not start new transitions, and to avoid large and/or disruptive changes in their uploads. Maintainers of packages that are part of (build-)essentials are expected to stop uploading these packages, or in case something is really needed to align with us before uploading.

Please consult the bullseye freeze policy and timeline [BULLSEYE-FREEZE] for detailed information about the different types of freezes and what they mean for you.

[BULLSEYE-FREEZE] https://release.debian.org/bullseye/freeze_policy.html

Help fixing bugs ================

We know that many people would like short freezes (we do as well). We can achieve this if we all pull up our sleeves and fix RC bugs in testing before the transition freeze starts (or help remove packages with RC bugs from testing). You can do that now, by looking at the list of RC bugs BUGS or joining the #debian-bugs irc channel on irc.oftc.net.

Bug Squashing Parties =====================

Normally we would now encourage you to join one of the planned Bug Squashing Parties BSP. However, due to Covid-19, that page doesn't list any yet. So, we are seeking volunteers to (help) organize those, as in most places the traditional strategy won't work HOSTINGBSP. At first sight, having some jisti rooms available at blocked times based on topic or language might be pretty much all that's needed. To lower the bar to step up, we'll be organizing a brainstorm meeting JITSIMEETING on Saturday 14 November 19:30 UTC.

Debian 13 =========

The release team has decided that the release after bullseye and bookworm will be called “trixie”.