There Are Still Many Debian Developers (Alternative to IBM)
Typo there (2025 happened twice), but highlighted is the number of valid votes:
In the poll set up by Daniel Pocock Sruthi Chandran got more votes and won by an even wider margin.
Yesterday we wrote about Debian elections. Since then we've seen more in LWN and Debian's official site. Nobody left a comment in LWN; the typo got noticed.
Quite a few people did vote, it wasn't an all-time low, and this was not the first time someone ran unopposed. That just comes to show that the role is seen as undesirable, not coveted at all.
This moreover shows that the total number of registered (active on the system, not necessarily in practice) Debian Developers is at its third highest level. Despite all the problems inside and around Debian, many people are still involved.
Some Debian Developers are on Microsoft's payroll. That is a problem. Many are on the payroll of Microsoft Canonical, too.
OpenSUSE has had similar problems (nobody wanting to run or barely anyone expressing a desire), so this isn't exactly unique. In Fedora (IBM), almost all the leading roles are occupied by IBM staff. █