I, أحمد المحمودي (Ahmed El-Mahmoudy), apply for universe-contributor.

Who I am

I am a digital design engineer.

My Ubuntu story

My involvement

I've been using Linux since 1999, started with Redhat 5.1. Then I tried Debian (I think it was 2.1) in 2000, I was really fascinated with Debian, but then it was too hard for me to use (I recall the setup took me hours). Then I moved on to Mandriva (it was called Mandrake before). My first experience with Ubuntu was in 2006 using Breezy. I really like the fact that it's based on Debian with its very rich repository, and yet it is easy to use. I was fascinated that my wifi just worked ! This encouraged me to participate in Ubuntu (& Debian) to make them even better !

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

• I think my first contribution to Ubuntu was adding a nonkde variant of kchmviewer

• Syncing swt-gtk from Debian.

• Added DKMS support to sl-modem.

• Migrating patch system for sl-modem to quilt, the hard part was splitting the different patches, which made me track the history of sl-modem.

Areas of work

I generally focus my contributions on package maintenance, as well as the introduction of new packages. I attempt to fix bugs that affect me, as well as bugs of the packages I maintain. A list of packages I have introduced and/or am maintaining in Debian and Ubuntu can be found in Launchpad and Debian QA.

I also work on Sabily which is a derivative distribution from Ubuntu.

Recently I joined the Debian Science team, where I helped with the first release of ng-spice-rework, and host the packaging work for tkgate & herb (not released yet) packages.

Things I could do better

Plans for the future

General

• Short term:

  • Getting some new packages into Debian (& hence Ubuntu): noor, thwab, hijra, dico

  • Pushing some updated packages into Debian (& hence Ubuntu): libitl, itools, fribidi

• Long term:
  • Better support for Hijri calendar system (see below)

  • Better support for Uthmani script (script used in writing Qur'an), actually I've added a blueprint about this.

  • Better arabic support for the console.

What I like least in Ubuntu

Non solar-based calendar support. There is no support for lunar-based calendars (Hijri) for example. I think that this has to be done down in glibc. I have started a blueprint regarding this matter.

Comments

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Endorsements

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== <SPONSORS NAME> ==
=== General feedback ===
## Please fill us in on your shared experience. (How many packages did you sponsor? How would you judge the quality? How would you describe the improvements? Do you trust the applicant?)

=== Specific Experiences of working together ===
''Please add good examples of your work together, but also cases that could have handled better.''
=== Areas of Improvement ===

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