Classics

As always, classic programming and admin topics abounded. Once again, people jostled for the best seats at the front of the development rooms for popular programming languages. There were various admin-centric tracks (e.g., on continuous integration and containers) as well as the obligatory kernel track, where the developers of the free operating system kernel presented their pet projects.

On the distributions track, Eric Curtin talked about Fedora Asahi Remix [12]. The Fedora-based distribution for Apple hardware runs on ARM's M1 and M2 processors. Curtin cited a lack of good ARM devices supported by Linux as his motivation. Upstream, the Remix relies on Asahi Linux and offers two kernels of its own: a more stable one and an edge kernel with newer developments. Fedora will be looking to store as many of the software packages they used as possible in Fedora's normal repositories, Curtin emphasized.

Same Procedure …

All told, the familiar FOSDEM feeling quickly set in, with all its advantages and disadvantages. As usual, the speakers in some rooms struggled with the PA (poor sound quality), and long queues formed in front of the coffee stands and food trucks. But the conference scored points with its sheer mass of open source topics, Belgian beer in the cafeteria, and great discussions. In other words: I'll be back … next year!