[debiandev]

> Is the interest on Debian dwindling?

On the contrary, the project is growing in terms of contributors, packages and internal projects.

https://reproducible-builds.org/ mostly came out from Debian (see https://wiki.debian.org/ReproducibleBuilds )

Despite the name "leader", the role of DPL is close to an ambassador with no power to tell other people what to. The DPL appoints a handful of roles, then hand-on work is delegated and done by other people.

The drama on blogs and mailing lists is in no way representative of how most DDs feel about the project.