Michele Cane

I have been involved with Debian and Free Software for many years. I previously contributed to Debian and became a Debian Maintainer in 2013. Around the same period, I was also part of the organizing team for DebConf13 in Vaumarcus, Switzerland. After stepping away from active Debian work for a number of years, I returned to contributing regularly in 2026, with a renewed focus on packaging and maintaining software for Debian.

The main focus of my recent work has been bringing Rayforge into Debian. As Rayforge depends on a number of components that were not yet available in the archive, this has required packaging and maintaining several of its dependencies, including clipper2, and working across Python, Rust and C++ ecosystems. Along the way I have worked with the relevant Debian teams and dealt with build, test, cross-build and architecture-specific issues as these dependencies move towards or enter the archive.

My interest in Rayforge also comes from being a user of the software. I build skis and use digital fabrication extensively in that process, including CNC and laser-based manufacturing, where Rayforge is part of my workflow. Packaging software that I personally use and contributing the resulting work back to Debian and the upstream communities is an important motivation for my renewed involvement in the project.

I am particularly interested in software related to digital fabrication, CNC and laser manufacturing, as well as the broader Python and Rust ecosystems. More generally, I have relied on Free Software for many years and want to contribute some of that value back through Debian.

I am applying for Debian Maintainer status because I would like to take greater responsibility for the packages I maintain, including being able to handle their regular uploads directly once granted the appropriate permissions. In the near term, my main goal is to complete the work required to bring Rayforge and its remaining dependencies into Debian and to maintain them properly afterwards. More broadly, I intend to continue contributing to Debian packaging and maintenance and to become increasingly involved in the project again.