UbuntuServerDeveloperApplication

This application was approved at the DMB meeting on 2021-12-13

I, Athos Ribeiro, apply for Ubuntu Server Developer.

Name

Athos Ribeiro

Launchpad Page

~athos-ribeiro

Wiki Page

AthosRibeiro

I am applying because:

  • I'd like to eliminate delays in getting my work sponsored.
  • I'd like to reduce the burden on my sponsors.
  • Being able to upload packages for the Server team will provide me with a more solid base for a future Core Developer application.

Who I am

I am a software engineer working on the Ubuntu Server team. In the Server team, I currently focus in maintaining the Ubuntu based OCI images shipped in DockerHub and in Amazon's Elastic Container Registry.

I have a Master's degree in CS from the University of São Paulo, in Brazil, where I am originally from and currently based in. That master's degree was focused on extending the work I performed as a guest researcher in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in Maryland, regarding source code static analysis and static analysis tools evaluation.

From 2018 to early 2021, I lived in the Czech Republic, while working for Red Hat, where I worked on the development and maintenance of a container image build system, which is also used by Fedora to build the images available in their registry. I come from a Python background and also have previous experience with RPM packaging both from my previous job and from contributions to the Fedora project.

My Ubuntu story

Ubuntu was the first distribution I have used. This was at school, during my bachelor degree, many years ago. After I started getting comfortable as a Ubuntu user, I started trying different distributions. In that process, I got involved with the Fedora community and did stick with it for the past few years.

Right before joining the Server team, I migrated most of my systems to Ubuntu, where I usually run the development version both on work, and personal use machines.

My involvement

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

Package Merges and Syncs

Bug Fixes and SRUs

Autopkgtest & DEP8

Milestones and Exceptions

+1 maintenance

Bug reports

Reviews

Snaps and OCIs

Misc

Work in progress

Areas of work

  • The Ubuntu Server package set
  • Ubuntu OCI images
  • Ubuntu OCI images QA
  • Snaps used to build Ubuntu OCI images

Things I could do better

  • Perform more reviews to help with the Server team workloads
  • Improve my criteria when picking bugs to work on
  • Improve the way I interact with launchpad (e.g., better use LP fields such as tags, assignee, series, etc)
  • Increase participation in Ubuntu mailing lists

Plans for the future

General

  • Improve the state of the art of Ubuntu OCI images
  • Specialize in a subset of the Server team packages
  • Keep working on package merges from Debian, specially for the Server team packages
  • Triage and work on Server team related bugs, submitting SRUs when necessary.

What I like least in Ubuntu

Finding resources around may be difficult at times. For instance, if one does not keep track of their work and/or does not properly set fields in launchpad, compiling a list of work performed around Ubuntu, such as this one, may become a hard task. Working on both documentation and automation tools could help the community and decrease the efforts when one applies for membership.

Comments

If you'd like to comment, but are not the applicant or a sponsor, do it here. Don't forget to sign with @SIG@.

Endorsements

Sergio Durigan Junior

General feedback

I am a strong +1 for this application. I have been "mentoring" Athos since he joined the Ubuntu Server team, and I know that he is a person with a strong technical background, who is motivated to work with Ubuntu packages and always willing to learn more and improve his packaging skills. He has a lot of experience with packaging on Fedora, which certainly contributed to him being able to "hit the ground running" with Ubuntu.

On top of that, Athos always acts in a kind, professional way, and his attention to detail is good. It is my opinion that he is ready to have PPU rights for the Ubuntu Server packages.

Specific Experiences of working together

I've sponsored many packages to Athos, as can be seen in his own application. He is always conscious of what needs to be done, asks when unsure, and is knowledgeable about the packaging workflow.

We also work together in the Ubuntu Server's OCI images, which is somewhat unrelated to Ubuntu packaging work but can overlap sometimes. His technical expertise with containers and images is certainly something that makes a difference in the team.

Areas of Improvement

I think Athos raised good points in the "Things I could do better" section above. I would like to see him do more reviews for the team, because I think he has very good technical insights and expertise to offer. We are also planning for him to work on a few transitions during next cycle, which will help him acquire more experience and eventually apply to become a Core Developer.

-- sergiodj 2021-10-18 17:33:14

Bryce Harrington

General feedback

I've been working with Athos since he joined the Ubuntu Server team, and have trust and confidence in his packaging judgement.

Specific Experiences of working together

I've reviewed half a dozen package updates from Athos, about half of which were SRUs, and the rest to the devel release. All were packaged properly to the Ubuntu Server team's standards, and so were straightforward to review and sponsor. Like Sergio, I've worked together with him on OCI packaging.

I've particularly appreciated *his* review on my own merge proposals of python and bash scripting. He identified good improvements to my coding style, in a very helpful and friendly manner. I love getting his reviews because they're insightful and always result in better quality code.

Areas of Improvement

I definitely encourage continuing work towards Core Dev, and as part of that in particular seek out packaging opportunities beyond the scope of server packages, and seek out reviewers and sponsors outside the server team, to increase breadth of experience. Inside the server product I'd encourage looking for complex merges and transitions, to deepen his experience.

-- bryce 2021-10-19 02:35:29

Paride Legovini

General feedback

I've been working with Athos for about six months now and I had the opportunity to view and review part of his work. I believe he can be trusted with upload rights for the Ubuntu Server packageset.

Specific Experiences of working together

I didn't sponsor any package for Athos, but I have been exposed to his packaging work due to our team's review process. His work fully meets the skills and quality expectations required to be able to get upload rights for the team's packages. I also had the occasion to work with him when setting up the OCI automated testing scripts/jobs. He demonstrated great technical skills, attentions to the detail and awareness of the full picture.

Athos is helpful, professional, and friendly, qualities that will make him an excellent Ubuntu member.

Areas of Improvement

Growing towards Core Dev I think Athos should start picking up more complex cases and widen the set of packages he has experience with.

-- paride 2021-10-11 15:17:00

Rafael David Tinoco

General feedback

I have worked with Athos in Canonical Server Team. He has always been a very good technical resource of that team, being pro-active to deal with anything that would be requested of him, and executing with little or no mistakes. I have sponsored 2 packages for him, just to get a feeling about his latest contributions (together with reviewing the ones present in this application).

Specific Experiences of working together

I have recently uploaded 2 of his fixes:

- A SRU at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/liboping/+bug/1780746 - And a fix to Jammy at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-testtools/+bug/1951877

The work is very well executed technically speaking. Athos seems to have a very good technical logic about the work to be done to Ubuntu.

Areas of Improvement

There are minor things that come with experience of making fixes and new uploads. I would recommend Athos to improve in updating the bugs he is working on with things such as: assigning LP bugs to himself, changing bugs status to reflect the correct status to whoever access them, etc. Another minor comment of improvement would be to always check patches if they apply clean (no hunks) before suggesting them.

-- rafaeldtinoco 2021-11-29 04:33:00

As a sponsor, just copy the template below, fill it out and add it to this section.

TEMPLATE

== <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.''
## Full list of sponsored packages can be generated here:
##  https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi
=== Areas of Improvement ===

CategoryPerPackageUploaderApplication

AthosRibeiro/UbuntuServerDeveloperApplication (last edited 2021-12-14 11:44:22 by athos-ribeiro)