Incoming Debian developers who'd been waiting months for the official nod to join the project have finally been approved.

The delay of up to four months provoked a storm of protest from frustrated Debian participants and even prompted questions over the Linux-based operating system's future.

Incoming Debian Project Leader Steve McIntyre told us the delay was not due to any problems unique to Debian - nor, even, to open source. Just a matter of "practicality".

"Its one of those generic issues you get with voluntary organizations. People have limited time and want to spend it doing the job rather than talking about it or dealing with administration. The work is getting done - but there is a delay in getting the information out," McIntyre said.

McIntyre went on to tell us that improved communications are his first priority during his tenure as DPL. "I want to encourage people to show off what we are doing on the Debian project. We have a great reputation for stability and we are proud of the fact that we have the best reputation for system upgrades," McIntyre said.

Despite the positive outcome for the latest batch of Debian developers there are still longterm concerns about Debian's approval system.

McIntyre acknowledged that this was a tough problem to solve and he would do his best to speed things up. "Stability comes at a price and we do tend to take our time over things. This can be a disappointment for new programmers who want to work on new cool things," McIntyre said.®

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