Besides being one of the oldest and most successful Linux distributions, Debian symbolizes freedom and democracy. For example, it is the only distro to have elections where the developers vote for the leader.
Let us briefly explain what this is about. The Debian Project Leader (DPL) elections are the process through which the Debian community elects a leader who represents the project and serves as the public face of Debian for a term of one year.
The DPL elections are held annually and conducted online through a democratic process where all Debian developers are eligible to vote. Voting took place between the 1st and 14th of April this year.
Candidates for DPL typically present their vision and plans for the project during the campaigning period, and the Debian community has the opportunity to ask them questions and discuss their ideas.
For the fourth year in a row, the winner is Jonathan Carter โ a South African based in Cape Town, who has served as the Debian Project Leader since April 2020. He maintains many Debian packages, a full list of which can be found here.
I believe that really good progress has been made on making Debian a much more stable project, and many people have worked really hard for us to achieve this, but the reason why I want stability is not just for its own sake. Stability brings with it safety and space to grow, and I believe that Debian is at a stage now where it’s ready to grow and flourish in to something more.
Jonathan Carter, Debian Project Leader
Of the 997 developers eligible to vote, 279 participated in the voting, the results of which used the Condorset method to determine the final winner.
However, it is interesting to note that apart from Jonathan Carter, there were no other candidates for the role, with voters having two options to choose from:
- Option 1 “Jonathan Carter”
- Option 2 “None of the above”
And now the results. Option 1 reached quorum with 259 votes, with only 15 Debian developers voting for Option 2. So, congratulations to Jonathan Carter! The new term for the project leader started on April 21, 2023.
You can learn more about this yearโs vote here or visit the official announcement.
