DebConf11 Banja Luka

Plan and Program

version 1.1

September 2010 Adnan Hodi Velimir Ivelji Vedran Omeragi Enis Sahinovi

Contents
1. Open Source and Debian Project 1.1 Open source, Free Software and user community 1.2 Importance of Open Source & Free Software initiative 1.2.1 Reliability 1.2.2 Stability 1.2.3 Audiability 1.2.4 Price and cost 1.2.5 Flexibility and freedom 1.2.6 Responsibility and support 1.3 Debian Project and Debian operating system 1.3.1 Everything is free? 1.4 Debian community 1.5 Contributions of the Debian community 2. DebConf11 in Banja Luka, BiH 2.1 The importance of DebConf 11 conference in Banja Luka 2.2 Participants of DebConf 11 conference 2.3 Opportunities and features offered by DebConf 11 for academics, ICT professionals and alike 2.4 Tourism potential 2.5 Long-term effects of DebConf11 conference 3. Organization of DebConf 11 conference 3.1 Initial planning phase and time of hosting 3.2 Local Team, Organization process & Responsibilities 3.3 Logistics needs of conference 3.3.1 Internet coverage 3.3.2 Location and facilities for hosting the conferences 3.3.3 Accommodation 3.3.4 Food 3.3.5 Visas 3.3.6 Path to BL / Arrival of participants 3.4 The choice of conference facilities

3.5 The choice of accommodations for conference participants 3.6 Support of institutions and sponsors 3.7 Volunteers 3.8 Security

4. Statistics 4.1 Available resources and costs 4.2 Statistics of previous conference 4.3 Number of participants 4.4 Types of participants 4.4.1 Classification by role 4.4.2 Classification by cost 4.4.3 Classification by food choice 4.5 Distribution of available budget 4.5 Conclusion 5. Program and activities 5.1 DebCamp 5.2 DebConf 5.3 Debian Day 5.4 DayTrip 5.5 Banja Luka during the DebConf 11 conference 5.6 Formal dinner and concert 5.7 End of the conference, departures and clean-up

1. Open Source and Debian Project

1.1 Open source, Free Software and user community
Free and open source software (F/OSS, FOSS) or free/libre/open source software (FLOSS) is software that is liberally licensed to grant the right of users to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code. This approach has gained both momentum and acceptance as the potential benefits have been increasingly recognized by both individuals and corporate players. In the context of free and open source software, free refers to the freedom to copy and re-use the software, rather than to the price of the software. The Free Software Foundation, an organization that advocates the free software model, suggests that, to understand the concept, one should "think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer". Free and open source software is an inclusive term which covers both free software and open source software which, despite describing similar development models, have differing cultures and philosophies. Free software focuses on the philosophical freedoms it gives to users while open source focuses on the perceived strengths of its peer-to-peer development model Free software licenses and open source licenses are used by many software packages. While the licenses themselves are in most cases the same, the two terms grew out of different philosophies and are often used to signify different distribution methodologies.

1.2 Importance of Open Source & Free Software initiative

Open Source and Free Software in modern world present the praxis of choosing and (re)distributing of found or developed software. Many examples include schools, universities, arts, etc. Such culture and its laws allow users to use a piece of software, whilst under license, and freely modify and redistribute into community or organization.

1.2.1 Reliability
Reliability is a loose term. Broadly, we can take it to mean the absence of defects which cause incorrect operation, data loss or sudden failures, perhaps what many people would mean when they use the term 'bug'. Such defects tend to be fixed within hours of their being detected, a process which is undoubtedly assisted by the availability of the source code. Able developers who discover a bug will commonly also fix it and then report it to the maintainers as well as issuing an updated version of the software on their own authority. Users of the software can choose whether to use the unofficial fix or wait for an 'official' version. By 'official' we mean a release by the project team itself or a trusted authority such as one of the main distributors of Open Source packages.

1.2.2 Stability
In the real world, business is very dynamic and software changes to meet new requirements. A choice to use Open Source software can provide a counter to the pressures to upgrade for the vendor's commercial purposes. Having access to the source code can allow a business to choose to support itself on an old version where necessary, which in general gives more options and choices to the users. Nonetheless, some upgrading and maintenance effort will always be needed.

1.2.3 Auditability
Closed-source software forces its users to trust the vendor when claims are made for qualities such as security, freedom from back-doors, adherence to standards and flexibility in the face of future changes. If the source code is not available those claims remain simply claims. By publishing the source code, authors make it possible for users of the software to have confidence that there is a basis for those claims. Whether this takes the form of an cursory and informal inspection or more rigorous auditing, what's clear is that without access to the source, third party inspection is impossible.

1.2.4 Price and cost

Most current Open Source projects are also available free of fees, leading to the confusion around the commonly used term 'free software', as in free-of-charge and free as in unconstrained (libre vs. gratis). Proponents of free software licenses tend to emphasize liberty over cost although in practice the main open source projects are free in both senses of the word.

1.2.5 Flexibility and freedom

In a business context, software flexibility is about being able to choose solutions suitable for the needs of the users. Business users are most likely to obtain long-term flexibility through the careful choice of standards for interworking and data exchange, followed by vigilance to ensure that freedom from proprietary lock-in is maintained in critical areas.

1.2.6 Responsibility and support

One of the most common counter-arguments to the use of Open Source software is characterised as the who do I sue? question; in other words, who is liable if the software doesn't work? Open-source licenses typically disclaim all liabilities and warranties, including such basic warranties as merchantability and fitness for purpose. Those in the know, who have adopted Open Source Software already, will shrug their shoulders and choose the practical benefits of increased reliability and security over illusory options to sue or pursue other remedies from a negligent vendor.

When user support comes in question, though available most of the time, it varies from developer to developer. Large projects, such as Debian Project, have large communities, which provide support for users, free of charge. Such support is provided trough forums, documentation, mailing lists, etc... Also, there is a corporate support for software. Great deal of companies which use Open Source technologies and Linux in general, provide a payed support for their users. As an example, we can use RedHat, a company with a yearly revenue of a billion dollars, which has several support centers on Balkan.

1.3 Debian Project and Debian operating system

1.3.1 WHAT is Debian? The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. This operating system that we have created is called Debian GNU/Linux, or simply Debian for short. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. At the core of an operating system is the kernel. The kernel is the most fundamental program on the computer and does all the basic housekeeping and lets you start other programs. Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. However, work is in progress to provide Debian for other kernels, primarily for the Hurd. The Hurd is a collection of servers that run on top of a microkernel (such as Mach) to implement different features. The Hurd is free software produced by the GNU project. A large part of the basic tools that fill out the operating system come from the GNU project; hence the names: GNU/Linux and GNU/Hurd. These tools are also free. Of course, the thing that people want is application software: programs to help them get what they want to do done, from editing documents to running a business to playing games to writing more software. Debian comes with over 28000 packages (pre-compiled software that is bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine) all of it free. It's a bit like a tower. At the base is the kernel. On top of that are all the basic tools. Next is all the software that you run on the computer. At the top of the tower is Debian carefully organizing and fitting everything so it all works together.

1.3.2 Everything is free?

You may be wondering: why would people spend hours of their own time to write software, carefully package it, and then give it all away? The answers are as varied as the people who

contribute. Some people like to help others. Many write programs to learn more about computers. More and more people are looking for ways to avoid the inflated price of software. A growing crowd contribute as a thank you for all the great free software they've received from others. Many in academia create free software to help get the results of their research into wider use. Businesses help maintain free software so they can have a say in how it develops -- there's no quicker way to get a new feature than to implement it yourself! Of course, a lot of us just find it great fun. Of course, all users enjoy the features and advantages of FLOSS software as a completely transparent software, because availability of source code is a huge advantage for a software used for serious purposes and ends. Complete access and insight in code's performance is absolutely necessary when used for higher interest, i.e. when human life is directly affected by the software like navigational systems, or when proving that it has no hidden background operations, i.e. voting machines. Transparency, which is not provided by closed source, comes with FLOSS free of charge. Governments, government institutions, academic communities, health sector and many others are just few of those who donate and support FLOSS, for many reasons, but mostly because it is very easy to adapt and modify the software, without and restrictions. It also requires no notification or adherence to developer in order to modify software for personal use. Finally, FLOSS software redistributable without any unnecessary payments and restrictions and as such its numbers grow in large, enabling future generations fairly ease use and further development, avoiding any obstacles which are common for closed source software. Such actions of modifying and redistributing is for closed source software legally not allowed or extremely expensive. All this is huge advantage for FLOSS software in domain of public administration, education, law enforcement, military and health sector. Therefore, these domains are very motivated to be a part of the development and use of FLOSS software, again for free. Debian is so committed to free software that we thought it would be useful if that commitment was formalized in a written document. Thus, our Social Contract was born. Although Debian believes in free software, there are cases where people want or need to put non-free software on their machine. Whenever possible Debian will support this. There are even a growing number of packages whose sole job is to install non-free software into a Debian system.

1.4 Debian community

The Debian Project is a volunteer organization with three foundational documents: The Debian Social Contract defines a set of basic principles by which the project and its developers conduct affairs. The Debian Free Software Guidelines define the criteria for "free software" and thus what software is permissible in the distribution, as referenced in the Social Contract.

These guidelines have also been adopted as the basis of the Open Source Definition. Although it can be considered a separate document for all practical purposes, it formally is part of the Social Contract. The Debian Constitution describes the organizational structure for formal decisionmaking within the Project, and enumerates the powers and responsibilities of the Debian Project Leader, the Debian Project Secretary, and the Debian Developers generally.

Currently, the project includes more than a thousand developers. Each of them sustains some niche in the project, be it package maintenance, software documentation, maintaining the project infrastructure, quality assurance, or release coordination. Package maintainers have jurisdiction over their own packages, although packages are increasingly co-maintained. Other tasks are usually handled by the domain of smaller, more collaborative groups of developers. The Leader sometimes delegates authority to other developers in order for them to perform specialized tasks. Generally this means that a leader delegates someone to start a new group for a new task, and gradually a team gets formed that carries on doing the work and regularly expands or reduces their ranks as they think is best and as the circumstances allow.

Chart 1.1 Organizational structure of Debian Project

1.5 Contributions of the Debian community

Debian Project has great influence over all fields of IT. Debian is known for relatively strict adherence to the Unix and free software philosophies as well as using collaborative software development and testing processes. As such, Debian is a widely known operating system used

by many, weather in private or business purposes. It is second most used Linux distribution, right after Ubuntu, which is a derivative of Debian itself. Debian OS can be used as a desktop and as well as a server. It is important to mention, that Debian is conceived as a universal operating system and in addition to desktops and servers, it can also be seen on various other devices, such as phones. It focuses on stability and security and is used as a base for many other distributions including Ubuntu, MEPIS, Dreamlinux, Damn Small Linux, Xandros, Knoppix, BackTrack, Linspire, sidux, Kanotix, Parsix and LinEx, among others. According to unofficial sources there could be more then 200 Debian-derived distributions. Debian is known for an abundance of options. The current stable release includes over twenty five thousand software packages for twelve computer architectures. These architectures range from the Intel/AMD 32-bit/64-bit architectures commonly found in personal computers to the ARM architecture commonly found in embedded systems. Prominent features of Debian are the APT package management system, repositories with large numbers of packages, strict policies regarding packages, and the high quality of releases. These practices allow easy upgrades between releases as well as automated installation and removal of packages. The Debian Project, being free software, handles security policy through public disclosure rather than through security through obscurity. Many advisories are coordinated with other free software vendors and are published the same day a vulnerability is made public. Debian has a security audit team that reviews the archive looking for new or unfixed security bugs. Debian also participates in security standardization efforts. As of June 1996. until February 2009., Debian Project has release 10 stable releases, with eleventh installment on its way. Every two years is available for public use, but in the meantime, various updates are available.

Chart 1.2 Distribution release timetable

Other then software development, Debian community is also responsible for DebConf. DebConf is the Debian Project's developer conference held every year. In addition to a full schedule of technical, social and policy talks, DebConf provides an opportunity for developers, contributors and other interested people to meet in person and work together more closely. It has taken place annually since 2000 in locations as varied as Canada, Finland, Mexico and USA. Previous Debian Conferences have featured speakers from around the world. They have also been extremely beneficial for developing key Debian software components, including the new Debian Installer, and for improving Debian's internationalization.

2. DebConf11 in Banja Luka, BiH

2.1 The importance of DebConf 11 conference in Banja Luka
As mention before, DebConf is one of the largest Open Source IT conferences in the world. It was held for the last whole decade, each year in different countries, like Argentine, Brazil, Mexico, USA, Canada, Norway, Finland, Scotland, Spain and French. Our commitment over the past two years has achieved what rarely other before us have. We announced our candidacy on DebConf 9 in Spain, with Quito, Ecuador and Munich, Germany as as our opponents. After nine months of hard work, we won the bid for only a quarter of point ahead of Munich, which we can freely address as the capital of computer engineering of Europe. The magnitude of contest for winning the candidature for DebConf 11, can stress the importance and significance for hosting the Conference in the implementation of continuity in the mission of the Debian Project. This year's DebConf (DC10) was held at the prestigious Columbia University in New York City. Perhaps worth mentioning is that one of the participants in this prestigious university was the current President of the United States, Barack Obama. The conference was a success for the further development within Debian, but the biggest benefit from all this had the city of New York and Columbia University; operating system used on the said university is based on Debian Linux. Government institutions also presented some of their projects and opportunities to develop and manage the entire infrastructure and administration of city using the Debian Linux (or some of its derivatives) and Open Source technologies. This is very important to note, because as you know NYC is the city that never sleeps, and the systems that run it are never off; a major contribution to security and stability of all of this thanks to the mentioned technologies. The size of this conference is also of great importance, because some of the largest conferences sponsored by some of the biggest IT companies in the world, have the same number of participants as we should have it for DebConf 11 in Banja Luka. At a conference in Banja Luka, we expect about 350 participants, and it is important to note that such number is large even on the worldwide level, and as far as the type of this conference, such number has never before show up in the whole region, and - no exaggeration - and this whole part of

Europe. Of course let's not forget that this number includes a large number of experts in various fields. Debconf is closely associated with universities and academic community, primarily because a large part of this organization is the academic community itself. It is this community that has been the biggest advocate of Linux / Open Source technologies, on one hand, and on the other hand, it has been using essentially the same technology to develop a majority of their own information systems and projects. The opportunities that are opening for Banja Luka after one such event are truly, without exaggeration limitless.

2.2 Participants of DebConf 11 conference

Every year during the DebConf the largest number of conference participants are Free and Open Source and GNU / Linux Debian developers, contributors and enthusiasts. All of them are already employed in large companies such as IBM, HP, Google, Nokia, etc. and have worked with Free and Open Source and GNU / Linux technologies for many years. These are great professionals in various fields of IT industry (system administrators in the above mentioned companies, programming languages designers, developers of system software, application software developers, leaders of major projects, etc.), which itself speaks about the seriousness of the whole event. It should be noted that many participants and visitors of the conference have PhDs in various fields of computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, economics, law, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and others. All of course use Free and Open Source technology and GNU / Linux Debian, because it is the only platform that allows unlimited flexibility when working with a variety of scientific research. A large number of participants are also students, which is logical because during the study, the majority of IT professionals begin to use Free and Open Source technology and GNU / Linux Debian. It is simply a period in which the majority begins to think "outside the box" and realize the huge potential and advantages of Free and Open Source technologies. This is primarily due to the fact that the majority, over 98%, of free software tools available on the Internet. All software is also open for further development for those who want to do it. This is a great potential for all students to engage in the development and in any way help a vast number of users of Free and Open Source technologies, and thus not only assist the overall project, but experience first hand during the study, work on a large scale project, and also learn a lot that is not taught at the universities. Some of the organizers of DebConf are also students who can, from the personal experience, tell that being active in any Free and Open Source project, a huge opportunity to learn many things, which already during the studies bring about many business opportunities and contacts with people from all over the world!

Most of the participants of DebConf are from the following countries: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, Great Britain, Latvia, Mexico, New Zealand, Taiwan, United States, Denmark, Argentina, Japan, Poland, Sweden, Holland, Italy, Finland, Ireland, Canada and Venezuela.

2.3 Opportunities and features offered by DebConf 11 for academics, ICT professionals and alike
DebConf, a world renowned conference, provides a great opportunity to acquire new knowledge from many fields, such as this years DebConf10 in NYC were: - "Debian: The ultimate platform for neuroimaging" Very informative lecture for those who are interested in the topic. The lecture consisted of two parts, namely: 1. Research in neuroimaging 2. Development of software for neuroimaging - "GPLv3: Better Copyleft for developers and users" All those who develop the software under the GPL, in this lecture were able to gain insight into the latest version of this license directly from the Director of Technology Law Center for Free Software, Bradley M. Kuhn. - "Mathematical software in Debian" Very informative discussion about how to make Debian GNU / Linux could be one of the best platform for mathematicians and mathematical research. - "Educational Freedom" Quite an interesting lecture on how Debian and Free Software affect the improvement of education in the broadest sense. - "Using Debian for Enterprise infrastructure" Discussion about Debian in terms of server platform for enterprise infrastructure, using the Stanford University as example. - "What if .... we could test our automatic text instructions? " Branavan et al. (2009) describes how automatic translation of human textual instructions in executable instructions. - "Status of Debian-based "live" distributions in 2010" Instructive speech on the progress of Debian-based "live" distributions in 2010. year. Of course, lists of topics and areas was much larger then a few examples from above.

Considering the above stated topics, the conference participants were therefore able to meet the experts in various fields, who give lectures during the conference, and thus make very important decisions in directions of Informatics and other sciences, in hope of further cooperation in various projects. In addition, it is possible to make a large number of contacts with other participants of the conference, and thus make a joint cooperation with them on a future project. One of the examples of the impact of Debian is a computer expert Bdale Garbee, who works for HP. His contribution to Debian in the field of IT is of great importance. He represented the Debian Open Source initiative from the start and had a significant effect on the development of HP and selection of software, which the company used. Bdale Garbee is now chief engineer for Linux company Hewlett Packard and the president of the company "Software in the Public Interest", a company that promotes and distributes free software. Once again we emphasize tremendous opportunities of DebConf 11 Conference, such as acquiring new knowledge from various fields of science related to Free Software and Debian, making contact with other participants of the conference with in a hope of future cooperation on specific projects, and even the possibility of obtaining scholarships from numerous companies for students. In addition to everything already mentioned, it is important to mention another important feature, namely, that each participant DebConf can register and get the opportunity to speak on a topic during the conference. So to all students, professors and experts who have an idea, are given the chance to speak in front of over 300 people, who are also interested in the same subject or project.

2.4 Tourism potential

A large number of participants DebConf are also passionate adventurers. They enjoy traveling the world and visiting as many different cultures and nations. During DebConf 10 in New York, our representatives are thoroughly 'interrogated' about all that might be see and visited in BiH. This in itself shows, that in addition to the conference, maybe a short tour of Bosnia and Herzegovina and local region can be made. We believe that this is a great opportunity to show that our country has a beautiful tourist attractions, and this is one of the first steps to 'push' BiH as a target for other adventurers. With this event we have a unique opportunity, for visitors from around the world, to show what our country offers. Starting from the nature and its values, we can provide our visitors to rafting or hiking try out, or a visit to Kozara or Ledeniko lake. For lovers of history a visit can be made to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Church of the Holy Trinity, Ferhadija, and numerous other facilities that are local or even the wider region. In addition to these visits and excursions, Banja Luka provides fans of night life, a number of nightclubs with live music. Also, several festivals take place in Banja Luka during this time, such as music DemoFest or film festival Kratkofil. All this gives a visitors a chance to learn a lot about our culture and to enjoy it.

Given the number of visitors DebConf, we must point out a significant financial effect. Average number of expected visitors of the conference was between 350 and 400. For large metropolis this might not be a large number, but for our region, this provides an excellent opportunity for local businesses and significant improve of traffic for local merchants. Organization of excursions, visits to museums, visits to clubs and restaurants, shopping for everyday food and drinks, are just some of many examples of tourism revenues. Apart from promoting Banja Luka to DebConf attendees, we also wish to promote Banja Luka and the local region, to Europe and the rest of the world. There are numerous touristic opportunities that our country has to offer, values and opportunities which are not sufficiently exploited. With such promotion we have the opportunity to boast numerous facilities in order to exploit this potential. Debconf is an excellent opportunity for such promotion. What we want is to provide unforgivable and indescribable time for our guests with goal of promoting Banja Luka and Bosnia ad Herzegovina, not only as a region for the development of IT, but also as a tourist destination. It is in our interest, that our guest return to Bosnia as tourists.

2.5 Long-term effects of DebConf11 conference

After DebConf11 is held next year, Banja Luka will become one of the few cities in the world where one of the world's largest IT conference was held. When this fact expands into the media, we believe that other smaller companies will be more interested in our region. This fact is not only based on our beliefs, but also statistical data, established after the previous DebConf Conferences in other cities. Also, it is not be excluded that the options of other IT conferences, which is not unique to Open Source and GNU / Linux, will be interested to be held in Banja Luka or even the wider region, such as numerous Microsoft Conferences (MS Training, MS Worldwide Partner Conference) or the IBM Conferences (European Technical Conference, European WebSphere Technical Conference) and various symposiums (Systems Technical Symposium, Advanced Technical Days, System Storage Technical Symposium). Of course, there are also smaller conferences which are interested in promotion of IT materials for the local community. In addition to the above, we strongly believe that after DebConf 11 big companies will begin to appear in our region like Google, RedHat, IBM, HP, Siemens, etc. with more open policies of employment than before. With this act Banja Luka may prove to be a city with institutions that are able to organize a large business conferences. It proves that the team has the will and resources needed to host and maintain the events on a global scale. This, of course, is not limited to material resources, but also includes the local team which is able to cope with obstacles that are set by competition, that is - a much more advanced countries of Europe, and the rest of the world. Such effort and interest show the ability and willingness of not only organizers, but the participants and volunteers as well.

In addition to the ability of organization and possession of resources, the Government of the RS sets itself as an institution that recognizes the importance of science and technology, and as such sets an example not only in Bosnia but also in the wider region. Here we must emphasize the generally known fact that our competition at the bid for the conference were Germany and Ecuador, and that after a long argument we managed to gather more support. This victory was significantly affected by the support from the Government, the support Germany and Ecuador did not have. Such influence is very important for future conferences, because it proves that the RS government is willing to help. All this speaks of Banja Luka and RS as a region where modern initiatives have the potential for exploitation and development. A large number of such initiatives organize projects that are financially supported by a number of European funds. Such projects would have impact on development, not only on the IT field, but would positively influence the economic situation in the region. Effect of DebConf is not restricted only to the local region. It is important to stress that the academic community will be better accepted in the international scientific projects. This would mean a large step forward in promotion of our academic experts at European and world scientific domain. As we have previously stated, after hosting DebConf 11 a potential to organize similar conferences in the future will grow. Given the favorable location between Zagreb, Belgrade and Sarajevo, Banja Luka could be used as a regional center for the promotion of various conferences and similar events. What would be of a great importance, is the construction of conference centers and related infrastructure for future needs.

3. Organization of DebConf 11 conference

3.1 Initial planning phase and time of hosting
As we have already stated, the planning phase was initiated long time ago, summer of 2009 to be more precise. We are almost finished with planning and moving to the very organization aspect of this conference, thus another reason why we are presenting you with this document. Please be aware that only the last parts concerning fun and free time could still undergo big changes, rest of it is mostly set in stone. Planning should be completed as soon as possible, preferably by beginning of 2011, while at same stages we're moving to the implementation of the project, in stages, since organization of this whole conference has a layered construction. A month earlier before the conference, if necessary, members of the Local Team should be located in Banja Luka to be available and ready for the intervention of any kind. All conference facilities, venue, hotel, should be ready and free as of 17th of July, when DebCamp starts, where members of Debian will assist in preparing the final nuances and touches for DebConf. It is important that, by this time, all should be ready because DebCamp is

an important part of DebConf; it is more intimate, consisting of a smaller group of core of the Debian Project, and of course the place where the organization during the Conference will be held. After the DebCamp, DebCamp will be converted to DebConf which officially begins on 24th July, when all registered guests will come. Other than just registered guests, some others interested parties will attend because one of these days during the conference will be Debian Day, where guests will be able to attend lectures and workshops in order to better understand Debian and its systems. Debian usually takes place on the first day of the conference. DebConf 11 officially ends on 30th July, while the 31st, the 'departure day', is a day when attendees say goodbye and depart for their homes. Please be aware that we're planning to set fixed dates for arrival and departures, since some attendees want to come earlier or leave later then the others. As of November 2010, these are the official dates for the conference: DebCamp 17. to 24. July 2011. DebConf 24. to 30. July 2011. These dates were chosen primarily because of the number of events that will take place during the conference days in Banja Luka. The best solution would probably be for a tourist agency to provide us with some local event guide during these dates, in order for us to provide the best possible stay in Bosnia for our attendees.

3.2 Local Team, Organization process & Responsibilities

While the Conference itself is organized by both Local and Global Team, we should point out the importance of Local Team and its cooperation with Global Team, as well as with other government and non-government agencies and organizations. Key difference between Global and Local Team is mostly in location; Global Team consists of attendees from all over the world, most of which are very experienced with organizing such event. With their help and under their guidance, Local Team takes the responsibility of organizing the Conference, coordinating their efforts as wall as keeping in touch with government officials, non government organizations, local sponsors and various others representatives. Duties and responsibilities of Local Team are enormous. In order to achieve the best results possible, Local Team relies on volunteers and interested participants. We are happy to say that not only do we have dozens of volunteers, but several organizations as well, willing and ready. One such organizations was NGO "DIVA", with whom the Local Team worked closely. On the other hand, we have the Governent of Republika Srpska to thank for all the financial help, as well as the effort they put in helping us make all this possible. Other then just being difficult, duties and responsibilities are truly numerous. In order to coordinate efforts, Local Team is divided into smaller teams with specific duties, each of them with at least one leader. Such teams include Sponsorship Team (sponsorship, advertising, brochures, visas ...), Travel Team (coordinating arrivals/departures, finding best routes,

mapping...), Budget Team (record estimated expenses and income into a budget), Scheduling Team (produce the initial schedule in advance of the conference, handle last-minute schedule changes while at the conference), Video Team (recording the conference), Visa Team (publish visa information for attendees, answer questions regarding visas & produce invitation letters), and many more. As time goes by and conference nears its date, these teams get much larger and is harder to keep a track of all of them. Therefore we, as a team, have chosen to create 'Core Local Team' consisting of head organizers, who have been with DebConf11 organization since before the actual bid and have so far done most of the work. Other than just being there, members of this team are now a middle man, standing between Global Team, volunteers and the Government, coordinating rest of the teams and making major decisions which will affect the Conference in every aspect. They are also primary contacts and are available at all times. All inquiries, suggestions, arrangements and complaints of local nature are to be directed at them. At the moment, this team counts: Team Leader: Adnan Hodi Members: Velimir Ivelji Vedran Omeragi Enis Sahinovi

3.3 Logistics needs of conference 3.3.1 Internet coverage

One of the most important thing is the Internet coverage of all sites DebConf sites. Therefore all the locations of the conference, such as: conference facilities (conference rooms, hacklabs, reception, etc), then the room where lunch will be held, residence rooms, etc. During the early planning of the Conference, that is, during the Conference facilities and sites selection phase for hosting DebConf11, local team came into contact with SARNET (SARNET Academic and Research Network of the Republic of Serbian), who have promised to share their services during the Conference, and serve as the main ISP for DebConf11 in Banja Luka. They claim to be able to cover all the locations that we require (Banski Dvor *, University of Banja Luka, etc.), and with enough speed of 1 Gbit/s. For coverage of Internet in the rooms of residence, we still haven't worked out a detailed strategy, but we have plenty of ideas and we will have a solution for this in a near future. * Banski Dvor was chosen as the location at which DebConf 11 will be held.

3.3.2 Location and facilities for hosting the conferences

For DebConf it is necessary to provide at least 3 to 4 conference halls, which will be designed to hold lectures during the conference. This means that it has to offer all the technical equipment necessary for holding lectures, which includes: microphones, projectors, projector screen, furniture, stage, etc. It is also necessary to enable Internet access in all conference rooms *. Given that during initial discussions, the Government of the RS for the purpose of the conference promised Banski Dvor to be fully available for us. We are still counting on that promise, and therefore all our organization plans were so far directed towards it. Banski Dvor has the capacity to provide all the above requirements of the conference, and this is one of the main reasons why we chose this location. * For details, see "The coverage of the Internet" above.

3.3.3 Accommodation
The original plan for the accommodation of conference participants was that all participants of DebConf11 be accommodated in hotels which are located near Banski Dvor. The reason why we should use the hotels, is that in Banja Luka, there is no another solution for accommodating approximately 400 people in one place (referring to one geographical location, therefore it can be 2-3 buildings, but they should not be located more than 30-meters from each other). For the implementation of this plan, it is necessary book these locations as soon as possible, so that we would not have a situation before the start of the conference, situation, of course, being the problem of accommodations. Currently we are planning to book hotels Bosna and Vidovic.

3.3.4 Food
Food during the conference should be diverse. Conference attendees are coming from all parts of the world, and therefore we must be able to provide adequate meals. This primarily refers to diets for certain groups of people such as vegetarians, some religious diets, etc.

3.3.5 Visas
As visitors of the Conference come from all over the world, some of them may need a visa to enter the country. To our knowledge, these are mostly visitors from the countries of South America. This problem we are planing to solve trough communication between the NGO "DIVA" and the Government, by providing a legal documents for attendees or by issuing individual visas. According to our statistics, this is a very small number of people (<= 15)

3.3.6 Path to BL / Arrival of participants

Those who are coming by a plane, a meeting place will be Zagreb, primarily because the Pleso, an airport with a considerable number of flights every day, offers numerous 'budget' flights from all over the world. At the moment we are working on organizing a transportation (a car most likely) from Zagreb to Banja Luka for some attendees who may have difficulties using regular transportation (attendees with disabilities). For those who are coming with personal transport, this route seems like the best, primarily because of the highway from Zagreb. Also if it is completed, one of the best solutions will be the highway from the Gradiska to Croatia and the whole trip should last a few hours. For those arriving by car, we are currently working on mapping, explaining how to get from most major cities in Europe to Banja Luka, because Google Maps unfortunately do not offer this option. Same thing goes for those who will come by train, we will need all the routes that we can offer to all our visitors to quickly and easily as they can reach the final destination: Banja Luka. To achieve this as painlessly as possible, we will need to establish the best possible cooperation / communication with all travel agencies, as well as railway stations.

3.4 The choice of conference facilities

As a perfect conference space, we chose "Banski Dvor" (hereinafter "Venue"). This area was chosen for several reasons, primarily due to the conference rooms it offers, but also due to a 'strategic' location. As far as the conference hall and all speak / room / hacklabs are concerned, Banski Dvor offers all of these areas, but despite all this, SARNET committed to provide us with free 1 Gbps Internet link; it has in the past covered the same areas, so as far as the Internet coverage, this area has been secured. The building could very simply be secured, in order to provide 24/7 availability of hack labs to all attendees of DebConf 11. The only possible problem that could appear is the accessibility for persons with disabilities. As for the "strategic" reasons for selecting Bansko Dvor as a venue, the building is actually located in the center of Banja Luka, Bosna Hotel, where most of DebConf11 attendees will be accommodated, is immediately across the street and other important facilities are located in the vicinity of this Government building. When we mention Government buildings, in one of the days of the Conference we plan to organize and official visits of RS Government building, where some of the representatives of RS Government will hold a short speech and in thus provide more significant media coverage.

3.5 The choice of accommodations for conference participants

As the main accommodation facilities for conference participants, we selected Hotel Bosna, primarily because of its capacity and distance from venue (Bosanski Dvor). By all criteria, hotel meets what is needed, the only question is the Internet availability, but we believe that it is easily solvable problem. In the event that the Hotel Bosna, fails to meet the maximum capacity, we also plan to rent a rooms in other hotels such as Hotel Vidovic or Hotel Talija. These hotels are also in the vicinity of the Venue's.

3.6 Support of institutions and sponsors

Our main financial sponsor is of course the Government of RG, whose commitment above all won us the bid. In addition to the Government support, there is also SARNET (Academic and Research Network of the Republic of Serbian) which offers free Internet access (web link) of 1Gbps, which would certainly be enough to cover all our requirements as far as the Internet is concerned. Of course there are the standard Debian sponsors, whose contacts were give to us by Debian in order to contact these leading companies, such as Google, HP, Intel and others, and other from whom we are seeking financial support. We should not exclude any local sponsors and companies who are willing to support. We plan to contact both domestic and foreign sponsors when the time comes, we intend to do roughly in the period of New Year.

3.7 Volunteers
One of the backbone of the whole Debian Project is the work of volunteers and Project is greatly if not the entirely based on volunteerism. This whole concept is very famous in the whole Open Source movement, but as far as finances go, projects and companies, which use these products / services, are achieving millions in revenue. Number of volunteers who applied for organization of DebConf 11 Conference is great, and moreover we have a few associations that volunteered (LUGRS). And, of course, there is always Debian Global Team.

3.8 Security
Throughout the two weeks of hosting this event, the security is one of the essential things. As a first example would be the venue, which should be provided with higher security, primarily because the the hack labs need to be available 24/7 while being full of expensive equipment.

So far no such incidents occurred before, so we would like it to be the same case in Banja Luka. As a city Banja Luka is peaceful, but nevertheless would still like the law enforcement be informed.

4. Statistics
4.1 Available resources and costs
In next few points of this chapter, we will try to represent basic statistical data, from which depends amount and share of available funds. We want to point out that these are not final calculations! We've left writing of this chapter last, because we think it's the hardest to write, for several reasons. There are lot of changes which we can predict, and adapt to them, as well as many of them which we cannot expect to happen. The best example for this is DebConf which was held in Argentina in 2008. Because of sudden growth of oil prices, travel costs got significantly higher, so the many of the attendees of the conference (~30%) had to cancel registration. This way lots of funds were saved. Opposite example from this one is last year's conference, where we had lots of participants, and because of that minor financial problems occurred. We've mentioned examples above so we can point out that it's almost impossible to predict all the circumstances which will affect the conference and our decisions regarding the distribution of available funds. Lots of things may change during the next year, but the responsible people of our team will be constantly monitoring these changes and adapt to newly formed conditions. Regarding statistics, all listed data in the next chapters are formed after review and analysis of statistical data from last five conferences, as well as our evaluation. Besides of pure numbers, we will give you our opinions on possible changes in upcoming months.

4.2 Statistics of previous conference

In the table below five DebConf Conferences are listed, and the budget which they disposed*. Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Location Oaxtepec, Mexico Edinburgh, Scotland Mar del Plata, Argentina Caceres, Spain New York, USA Visitors 310 400 225 250 450 Budget $150.000,00 $180.000,00 $160.000,00 * 110.000,00 ** $300.000,00

* Because of sudden growth of oil prices, travel costs got significantly higher, lots of participants canceled, so a part of the budget was saved. **Because of the World Economic Crisis, half of the participants are canceling, final cost figure is split and is now ~56.000

4.3 Number of participants

According to initial evaluation, number of guests who will be attending the conference is varying between 300 and 350 (Diagram 4.1). Reasons why we expect such a big number: Location. It is important to mark, that biggest number of visitors, nearly 60 up to 70 % each year, is coming from Europe. Given the excellent location in Europe, we expect at least 120-170 citizens of Europe. Low travel costs. Travel costs get lower as the locations is closer, so from above statement we expect large amount of visitors from Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Switzerland, Finland, ... Global stabilization. Regarding easy stabilization of economic world, we believe that we will avoid world crisis problems which affected Argentina and Spain. Low costs of stay. Visitors who are coming won't spend entire days in conference halls. Big number of them are interested in tourist tours, and getting to know our culture and tradition.

Chart 4.1 Estimated percentage of guests from different locations

4.4 Types of participants

4.4.1 Classification by role All participants in DebConf are taking a role, either in organisation, volunteering, or participating at lectures, speeches, workshops, etc. To make organisation of local team easier, each participant is assigned with role. Diagram below shows average distribution of participants compared to previous conferences.

Chart 4.2 Classification by role

4.4.2 Classification by cost The biggest question is still: "Who takes care of costs in participating". The answer to this question is not only about "All sponsored" or "Personal funding". Division is in fact much bigger. Guests are offered to chose how they prefer to be sponsored during registration. Of course, we want to offer all the best to our guests, but that is impossible, because DebConf depends on sponsors and amount of money and other resources we get. Next statistics are gathered by analysis of previous DebConfs and represent ruff estimate on expenses sharing. With this we emphasise that this is only theoretical number which will be final only at the time when conference itself takes place. Although it doesn't have to be correct, it will not vary significantly from given values and will help us in estimating costs during organization itself.

Type Regular Regular Professional Corporate

Sponsorship costs? own cost, no sponsorship with sponsorship (complete or partly ) their own sponsor/ company their own sponsor / company

Percentage 60 % 23 % 14 % 3%

Chart 4.3 Classification by costs

Regular visitors with sponsorship are also divided into several types:
Type Regular + food Regular + accommodation Regular + food and accommodation Payment Percentage DebConf is paying for food 8% DebConf is paying for accommodation 6% DebConf is paying for food and accommodations 86 %

Chart 4.4 Regular participants with sponsorship

4.4.3 Classification by food

choice

Our goal is to host our guests in a best way and provide them variety in food assortment, so they can please they needs and wishes. Type Regular Outside of DebConf Vegetarians Vegans Others Percentage 75% 9% 10% 4% 2%

Chart 4.5 Classification by food choice

4.5 Distribution of available budget

Maybe the hardest part in planning a conference is budget distribution. Although travel and accommodation costs rarely vary, outside some 'normal' limits, still we've decided to make the share by percentage. Exact amount of money which we need cannot be determined before beginning the conference itself. But, as mentioned above, certain number of people will be engaged for constant analyses of costs and available funds. Main costs Food and accommodation Travel costs Hardware - equipment (servers, network) Insurance Day trips Budget / possible variations 45 % / (40-50%)* 25 % / (20-30%)* 4% / (3-5%)* 5% 3%

Minor costs Video-team (video-equipment renting and buying additional) Gifts and souvenirs (t-shirts, bags, souvenirs) Printing (magazines, brochures, logos...) Wine and Cheese party Open Bar Tolls

5% 5% 3% 1% / (1-2%)* 1% / (1-2%)* ??

* These variations are marking possible deviations of final amount from primary plan. It's a phenomenon which occurs often on all conferences and we can't do much to stop it because it directly depends of visitors number.

Chart 4.6 Budget distribution by our evaluation

Directly sponsored: Venue Banski Dvor and conference halls for hosting the Conference, workshops, hack labs; provided by the Government, without any fee. Internet Internet is provided by Academic network "SARNET".

4.5 Conclusion
It is important to point out that all the evaluations made so far, are based on data in final reports from past conferences. All data can be used as a ground for planing a distribution of resorts, so we can provide a better quality conference. In no case whatsoever, is this data representing a 100% sure amount, but more of a projection of some past DebConfs. It has to be pointed out, as well, that our goal is, that this be a high-level DebConf, and a motive

that this should be the best DebConf ever, is with us from very beginning. From the very start participants will be transferred from point of arrival, all way to their accommodation in a hotel, which will be a top-class hotel. Of course, there are lots of other activities such as "Day Trip", rafting on river Vrbas, visiting an ethno village, as well as the formal dinner for all the participants and a farewell concert.

5. The program and the activities

Though we are not able to make a very precise plan and program in such an early stage, we shall try to introduce it from this perspective, and emphasize some of it's key points.

5.1 The DebCamp

As the DebCamp starts, the works on the whole conference will still be ongoing, and many of the visitors are going to be the very members of the Global Team, that will point out at mistakes we have done. Positioning of the video-equipment by the video-team should be in progress, and securing the main venue should be completed by that moment. Everything should be going on according to the plan and program. The visitors should be able to visit Aquapark, Aquapark's Rogue Bar, and Staklenac Bar, and should be able to freely explore Banjaluka, and visit some of the many cultural significances of the city. No special nightly or daily activities are planed during the DebCamp, except for the regular work schedule.

5.2 The DebConf

DebCamp turns into DebConf, and the number of the visitors is rapidly increasing, reaching the projections of the figure we have been expecting. Essentially, everything stays the same, and it just continues on a larger scale. During the day, the visitors will join daily activities or simply explore Banja Luka. Some of the activities of a special meaning are stated below. Every day, a schedule of the talks, workshops and other events shall be published for that day. The hack-labs are going to be available for free hacking of work on Debian operating system (bugs correcting, development, etc.) All of this should be ongoing within the venue.

5.3 The Debian Day

The Debian Day is a day when unregistered visitors and other guest that have interest are meet with Debian's developers and the Debian system, with the offerings of that universal operating system, and possibilities for applications of the system. The idea is to have a selected part of the members present in the building of the Government of RS, where a press-conference would be held, and where the Government of RS would present itself as a main sponsor of this event, explaining how it supports products based on Debian, and it's plans for possible migration to operating systems based on Debian, within it's institutions. This year, The Debian Day gathered over hundred more visitors aside the already registered participants.

5.4 The DayTrip

This is a day when all of the participants are joining an excursion and explore the culture of the places they visit. We have thought about two options here: Banja Luka was the host of the world rafting championship, so, for this year, we wanted to take the visitors for a rafting on Vrbas river. Since DebConf is visited by many participants who are not physically capable of such an event (such is rafting on Vrbas), too, we would organise a visit of an etno-village for them. For those who do not wish to select any of these options, we suggest a visit to cinema Palas, for a projection of some of the Kusturica's movies, who is well known within Debian community.

5.5 Banjaluka during the DebConf

The best solution would be to arrange an offer of a list of happenings in Banja Luka, during the conference, by some of the tourist agencies, chosen for the biggest number of events in the city.

5.6 The formal dinner and the concert

The formal dinner takes place every year, and all of the participants of the DebConf conference are present. Some preliminaries about the dinner is to have it in the main hall of "Banski dvor", that would otherwise be used as a main room for talks and lectures. All of the tables would be placed so the complete site resembles Debian's logo, and during the dinner a local artist would play piano, or violin. Since it is known that the formal dinner is a peak of the DebConf conference, and that after it the majority of the participants begins packing for further destinations or back home, we thought of a concert of artist Edo Maajka that would be organised as open, and thus available to both participants of the conference and the local population.

5.7 Farewell and cleaning

After everything above-mentioned is finished, on the last day of the conference, follows a farewell of participants amongst themselves and from Banja Luka and the event. After the farewell (that usually lasts for the whole evening of the last day of the conference) follows a phase of cleaning of the venue and the rest of the infrastructure build for the requirements of the conference. The cleaning usually takes place a day after, or, eventually, before the very farewell. On Monday, 8th of August, as it is a general rule for any hotel, the rooms would be empty by 12 o'clock in the afternoon. A great solution would be to distribute amongst the participants of the DebConf some books/material of further destinations where one can go during the stay on Balkans, before the participants arrive to Banja Luka. That is because, amongst other things, the members of this conference are very interested in our area and the whole Balkans. If nothing else, than those books/materials could be distributed at the farewell - in co-operation with some of the local tourist agencies.

Tuzla, September 2010 Head of the organization Adnan Hodzic