OLinux: First of all, tell us about your background.

Ben Collins: I am generally speaking a programmer and systems administrator. In the past I have also worked as a Desktop Publisher and a web designer. I've worked for NASA LaRC, several ISP's and currently am working at Winstar (www.winstar.com).

OLinux: Explain shortly the Debian's History, Philosophy and Organization on handling free software development?

Ben Collins: Our philosophy goes back a long way. Mainly we believe that it _is_ possible to create a completely free operating system with all of the things you need to do your daily work. That's what started Debian, and prompted Ian Murdock to write the Debian Manifesto. From there began our project, and from it has come the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG), which defines the type of software licensing we consider to be Free in the sense of Freedom. Also came the Debian Social Contract, which defines what we will support for our users. Later, as we grew, came our Consitution, which defines our operating procedures, and breakdown of authority within the project.

We've basically given full control of each package to the maintainer of that package, so long as it falls within the guidelines of our well defined Policy. Our Policy is one of the strengths of the Debian distribution. Without it, we would not have a cohesive set of packages, and installs/upgrades would be a nightmare.

OLinux: How excited you are about being in front of the Debian Project? Do you have something in mind for the Debian Project? Are you going to make changes on the way the work is done?

Ben Collins: I'm extrememly excited. This is my third run at the DPL position, and it is a goal I have finally achieved thanks completely to those in the project that have faith in my ability to handle the job. I have plans to clean up some loose ends that have been plaguing our internal organisation for some time. After this, I plan to tackle some of the more difficult situations that still linger, or are threatening to be a problem in the near future.

OLinux: What are going to be the diferences between your lidership and the predecessor's?

Ben Collins: When I first came to Debian, Ian Jackson was finishing his term as DPL, and he was very innactive (to his defense, I do not know any details of his situation). Wichert then followed for two terms. I believe he did an excellent job keeping Debian going. However, my plans are to get Debian moving rather than continue to limp along with some of the problems we face.

OLinux: How are people organized and what are the tools used to control the results of the work being done in different projects and parts of the world?

Ben Collins: Within Debian, we have the maintainers (some 800 it seems now). Each of them is responsible for maintaining one or more packages (some do not maintain packages, but help with other projects internally, such as ftp archive, www site, etc.). They have complete control of their tasks within the guidelines and policy. Within this, some developers have grouped together to manage large specific tasks. Examples of this are the Debian Junior project, aswell as the ports (such as sparc, arm, alapha, powerpc, etc.) and language projects.

All work is coordinated via mailing lists. Some people also use IRC as a way of immediate interaction (via irc.openprojects.net). We also have the Debian Bug Tracking System to manage bug reports for all of our packages and systems. This system is available publically via our web pages. Anyone can file a bug, and track it's progress directly with the maintainer.

OLinux: How many people are working for Debian nowadays? Are you satisfied with the results?

Ben Collins: Last I checked, about 800. I am satisfied with the results. What I am not satisfied with is the influx of maintainers without a better scheme to manage them. Work is being done, but I want to see some other things in this area discussed and looked at.

OLinux: What do you think about people saying that the Debian 2.2 has too much bugs? What are you going to do in "Woody" to change this point of view?

Ben Collins: I was not aware that people said that. We have an excellent security team that fixes all known security related bugs. We also make regular point releases (2.2r3 is being worked on as I write this) to update the security patches into a new release. For woody we have a new "testing" mechanism which should help reduce the amount of time needed to release. Hopefully this will make more frequent releases possible.

OLinux: What are your expectations about the "Woody" launch?

Ben Collins: I look forward to a lot of the things that are going to be available in woody. Woody also promises to be the most architectures we have ever released at one time (by any distribution, that I am aware of).

OLinux: What are the active projects at Debian? How are they divided and coordinated in terms of content and staff for each project?

Ben Collins: Usually a project within Debian creates itself to fill a need. The project manages itself, and delegates within it's own ranks, who is responsible for what tasks. I'm not aware of all such projects, simply because most of them work in the background, silently making Debian better.