Short reminder: Members of the south-western German KDE community will be meeting for a weekend of hacking and community-building in Stuttgart next weekend (3.-5. September).

If you're still looking for something fun and productive to do, why not join us? Our activities include lightning talks, lots of hacking as well as a barbecue. No need to worry about accommodation as there are still some reserved beds unassigned right now (around 20€/night, just contact me for details). More information can be found on our page in the KDE Community wiki: http://bit.ly/b8j6QQ.

(If you already told me you'd attend, please don't forget to add your name to the list on that page. ).

I just realized I haven't even blogged about our last BugDay's outcome. I guess I'll have to leave that for the next time - and there's still some stuff to be finished, so stay tuned for an update.

At the same time I'm happy to announce our next BugDay this Sunday, 22nd August. This upcoming BugDay will be special. Not only will we be triaging Krita bugs - an application I've rarely used so far and look forward to experimenting with - no, we'll also try to reproduce a special set of bugs: Bugs which are hard to reproduce and which might require some peculiarities regarding the system Krita is being used on. We'll also be testing a subsystem which has currently undergone a rewrite during GSoC. Boudewijn Rempt of Krita fame will be on-site most of the time to help.

So, if you have some time this weekend, would like to toy with an exiting application and help the Krita developers, you're invited to join us:

• Time: Sunday, 22nd August, starting around 10:00 AM CEST
  
• Place: #kde-bugs on FreeNode
• Prerequisites: Krita compiled from trunk (unfortunately no released version this time)
• A browser to access our wiki page used for tracking the Bugday
  

Don't hesitate to take part. Programming skills are not necessary at all and it's a lot easier than it might seem at first - there will be plenty of people to help get you started, including getting Krita to compile. Apart from that we could really use your help!

I'm happy to finally announce the first ever KDE Baden-Wuerttemberg Sprint this September 3rd to 5th in Stuttgart, Germany.

Why?

The idea was born at this year's Akademy (thanks mzanetti ). Up to this point I was quite unaware how numerous KDE contributors in south-west Germany actually were - actually not that astonishing given I don't peek out of my natural habitat all that often. What actually astonished me though was that there were a whole lot of long-term contributors from the area who didn't really know each other either. Time to change that, isn't it?

What?

Talking to other contributors is not just a matter of socializing though. During the times I've spent with other people of KDE, conversations have not only been warm and pleasant but also a great source for inspiration and motivation. To make full use of that we'll also have short lightning talks, introducing our projects, and hack together.

Who, where, ...?

Every contributor to KDE either living in the area or willing to make the journey to Stuttgart is invited to take part. I've put most of the information on a page in our community wiki: http://bit.ly/b8j6QQ. To take part, just register by putting your name on that page.

If you're interested in taking part or have further questions, feel free to contact me any way you can find (fastest are identi.ca or lemma on IRC).

As blogged about by Lydia, we'll be having a release party in Stuttgart to celebrate KDE SC 4.5. Here I am with some details about the event.

• Date and time: Saturay 7th of August, 18:00.
• Location: Letzte Instanz, Stuttgart-Untertürkheim (next to the train station)
• Activities: Conversation, having food, drinking, party (!), party more (!!)
  

If you live anywhere in the Baden-Württemberg region, be sure to not miss out on this one, no matter if you're a contributor, a happy user or a spouse (who is a happy user).

Now, just three important things I need to add:

• If you take part, please add your name on the KDE Community Wiki page (in time!) so I can make sure there's enough room for every participant.
• As there are quite some people attending, there might be a good chance rides can be shared. If possible, please add your information to the ride sharing section as well.
• This is not the sprint I've been secretly bugging people about (more information on that to be released in one of my next blogs).
  

At this year's Akademy, in the back of the bus on the way to the day trip, several BugSquad members attended a spontaneous BoF meeting to discuss where we currently are and where we are going.

During the last year we have had many active members who worked hard to bring order to our bugtracker. Often after a period of time, BugSquad members become involved in other parts of KDE - often coding in one of the various parts that need help. Gaining new contributors for KDE is good, but unfortunately BugSquad needs a constant influx of fresh blood to replenish our supply of members.

This is why starting this weekend we'll be reviving our old habit of holding Bug Days. The purpose of a Bug Day is to help developers dig through large piles of bug reports, making it easier for important bugs to be found and get fixed. There are two flavors of Bug Day: one consists of investigating current bug reports to see if they can still be reproduced (so called triage) and the other tries to find new bugs in an application (krush). The scope of investigation is limited to one single KDE application per Bug Day, sometimes even only a specific part of an application.

We're happy to announce that the target for our first Bug Day this year will be Dolphin. Starting this Sunday 1st of August around 10:00 AM everyone is invited to gather in our IRC channel #kde-bugs on FreeNode. The only thing needed to take part is an internet connection and a recent version of the KDE Software Compilation (the newer the better, if you need help equipping your system, be sure to stop by early). Senior members of BugSquad will be around to help newcomers get started.

For information and coordination we will be using a page on the KDE Techbase wiki: http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute/Bugsquad/BugDays/DolphinDay1.