Issue 342: DSF Executive Director Search
| in blog | Django News |
|---|---|
| published date | 2026-06-19 |
| original entry | Issue 342: DSF Executive Director Search |
## News
The Django Software Foundation is hiring its first Executive Director, and we have the Django community to thank for making it possible.
Six Django web development agencies have jointly pledged $47,500 to help fund the Executive Director's first year: Caktus Group, Lincoln Loop, Six Feet Up, Cuttlesoft, OddBird, and Two Rock. This is the financial foundation we needed to move from "we should hire an ED someday" to "we are hiring an ED now."
Hugo van Kemenade returns to the Sovereign Tech Fellowship after being one of six participants in the 2025 pilot, calling out how dedicated time helped ship Python 3.14 and 3.15 releases, mentor triagers, and improve release automation and accessibility. The post also tracks a wide set of community and governance work, and looks ahead to a larger 2026 cohort spanning maintainers, community managers, and technical writers.
Python Software Foundation
PSF Board elections for 2026 open for nominations on July 28 (2:00 pm UTC) and voting runs September 1 to September 15, with voter affirmation due August 25. The Packaging Council election will run in parallel under PEP 772, and PSF member voting eligibility is handled via psfmember.org.
Updates to Django
Last week we had 24! pull requests merged into Django by 11 different contributors.
This week's Django highlights 🦄:
Added --using option to sendtestemail management command. (#37141)
As a performance optimization, add an option to cull the DBCache only on every n queries. (#32785)
Reduced false positives in strings during collectstatic. (#36969, #35371)
Sponsored Link
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Articles
Carlton Gibson on why open source's contribution model is broken--burnout, extractive contributions, harassment, and now AI--and his plans to experiment with something less open-by-default on newer projects.
From Carson Gross, creator of HTMX and full-time college professor, a detailed and practical look at what AI means for universities in general and computer science programs in particular.
Jeff has been running a new remote dev setup that allows for seamless switching between home office, an iPad, or even a phone when out on the go.
How a bad idea from an LLM led to a good idea on a website.
Ronny Vedrilla argues that in the age of agentic coding, Django's opinionated structure, secure-by-default posture, and heavy representation in training data make it an ideal "harness" that keeps AI agents on the rails—not a competitive edge, but a hedge against shipping a quiet disaster.
Videos
A 5-minute conversation from PyCon US with Jeff Triplett on how Python web development is changing fast. (Yes, this video features Jeff and Will, the two authors of this newsletter, but we still think it warrants mention! 🤝)
Podcasts
A chat on why Django continues to matter, the reality behind vibe coding, local AI models, and more.
Django Forum
Google Summer of Code is around the corner and there is still a need for mentors on some projects.
An active discussion around this particular issue. Checking the forum is a great way to get a pulse on what's happening with core Django development.
Django Fellow Reports
In this four-day week (I headed out Friday for a college reunion), everything got a little bit better. First, check out @blighj’s estimate showing that collectstatic’s import statement detection reliability (needed to rewrite URLs) improves in Django 6.1 from 88% to 99%. Meanwhile @felixxm is stress-testing database defaults and landing fixes needed for using Django 6.1’s UUID4()/UUID7() functions. Finally, we made the test client more friendly for third-party permission packages like django-guardian and django-rules. @sage also spotted a breakage in DRF in the upcoming Django 6.1 beta, since Wagtail tests against Django’s main branch. I expect the fix to land before the beta is even out. Be like wagtail and test main!
This week had a bit of a reset feel to it 🧹. After the previous stretch of PyCon US, security prep, and the security release itself 🏁, I spent time going through pending and snoozed items ⏰, trying to close loops and get things back to a more manageable state.
We also reviewed and triaged a batch of security reports 🎁 that were shared by a major AI company, following conversations I had at PyCon US 🐍 🏖️ about the growing volume of LLM-generated security submissions and the challenges they create for OSS projects (Django in particular). The reports were generated using an advanced security-focused model 🤖 against the Django codebase. We evaluated each finding, confirming and addressing valid issues where appropriate and mapping others to existing tickets and prior reports. Overall, Django is in good shape 💪, as the results largely overlapped with known reports, validated our current triage approach, and reinforced confidence in our security stance 👏.
Events
This event is taking place during EuroPython at the sprints venue.
Djangonauts from in and around Denmark are meeting up for the second edition of Django Day Copenhagen 2026, October 2.
Are you attending DjangoCon US 2026 in Chicago, Illinois, but you are not from US and need some travel information? Here are some things to consider when planning your trip.
Django Events Foundation North America (DEFNA) is looking for another board member. We have eight board members currently and are looking for another person passionate about growing the DjangoCon US community to join.
Django Job Board
Senior Python/Django Developer at Gryps 🆕
Founding ML/Data Scientist (Remote, UK) at MyDataValue
Projects
A Happy and lightweight Python Package that Provides an API to search for articles on Google News and returns a JSON response.
An email newsletter application for the Django web application framework, including an extended admin interface, web (un)subscription, dynamic e-mail templates, an archive and HTML email support.