I, Balint Reczey, apply for core-dev.

Who I am

I'm a Debian Developer and a Core Developer at Wireshark. I contribute to other Free Software projects as well, mostly through GitHub.

My Ubuntu story

I tried Ubuntu around the Hoary Hedgehog release and used Ubuntu for a few years because I found the packages fresh and stable at the same time. I also wanted to contribute but I figured that if I contribute to Debian my fixes gets back to Ubuntu and also get more testing thus I switched to Debian and contributed there at Ubuntu's upstream directly. I still recommend Ubuntu to friends and I'm happy to see them enjoying using it.

My involvement

I uploaded packages to Debian directly most of the time and now I'm at ~500 uploads according to UDD and I also sponsored packages for others:

udd=> select count(*) from upload_history where changed_by_name = 'Balint Reczey';
 count 
-------
   503
(1 row)

 udd=> select source, count(*) as cnt from upload_history where changed_by_name = 'Balint Reczey'
      group by source order by cnt desc;
                source                | cnt 
--------------------------------------+-----
 wireshark                            | 125
 kodi                                 |  42
 meld                                 |  42
 xbmc                                 |  29
 libcec                               |  20
 forked-daapd                         |  16
 libcec-platform                      |   8
 kerneloops                           |   6
 kodi-pvr-nextpvr                     |   6
 libevent                             |   6
 xbmc-pvr-addons                      |   6
 kodi-pvr-mediaportal-tvserver        |   6
 kodi-pvr-argustv                     |   6
 kodiplatform                         |   6
 kodi-pvr-mythtv                      |   6
 erlang-cowlib                        |   5
 libtrio                              |   5
 node-iscroll                         |   5
 shadow                               |   5
 kodi-pvr-njoy                        |   4
 snacc                                |   4
 kodi-pvr-vuplus                      |   4
 kodi-pvr-wmc                         |   4
 erlang-ranch                         |   4
 kodi-pvr-dvbviewer                   |   4
 erlang-cowboy                        |   4
 kodi-pvr-iptvsimple                  |   4
 libnfs                               |   4
 unattended-upgrades                  |   4
 libsigc++-2.0                        |   4
 p8-platform                          |   3
 pam-ssh-agent-auth                   |   3
 kodi-pvr-hdhomerun                   |   3
 erlsvc                               |   3
 kodi-visualization-spectrum          |   3
 ruby-gsl                             |   3
 libopenraw                           |   3
 libopenhmd                           |   3
 ruby-rubyvis                         |   2
 runc                                 |   2
 libgksu                              |   2
 r-cran-ncdf4                         |   2
 soundmanager2                        |   2
 crystalhd                            |   2
 crossguid                            |   2
 cpluff                               |   2
 ecb                                  |   2
 magyarispell                         |   2
 esnacc                               |   2
 orbit2                               |   2
 julia-factcheck                      |   2
 erlang-jiffy                         |   2
 libshairport                         |   2
 ruby-extendmatrix                    |   2
 emacs24                              |   2
 libwmf                               |   1
 baloo                                |   1
 bglibs                               |   1
 ctn                                  |   1
 dasher                               |   1
 dimbl                                |   1
 docker-runc                          |   1
 erlang-uuid                          |   1
 gnunet                               |   1
 golang-github-linuxkit-virtsock      |   1
 golang-github-opencontainers-selinux |   1
 golang-github-opencontainers-specs   |   1
 gpac                                 |   1
 gst-plugins-bad0.10                  |   1
 gst-plugins-good0.10                 |   1
 gtk2-engines                         |   1
 gtkhtml3.14                          |   1
 irstlm                               |   1
 kexec-tools                          |   1
 libappindicator                      |   1
 libblocksruntime                     |   1
 libbonobo                            |   1
 libcaca                              |   1
 libcli-framework-perl                |   1
 libdispatch                          |   1
 libdvdnav                            |   1
 libkaz                               |   1
 libquicktime                         |   1
 libv8-3.14                           |   1
 apt-dpkg-ref                         |   1
 mailagent                            |   1
 modemmanager                         |   1
 nfacct                               |   1
 pidgin-encryption                    |   1
 portaudio19                          |   1
 printer-driver-oki                   |   1
 publib                               |   1
 pywavelets                           |   1
 r-bioc-genomeinfodb                  |   1
 r-cran-bradleyterry2                 |   1
 r-cran-brglm                         |   1
 r-cran-caret                         |   1
 r-cran-gnm                           |   1
 r-cran-profilemodel                  |   1
 r-cran-qvcalc                        |   1
 ruby-bert                            |   1
 ruby-dirty-memoize                   |   1
 taoframework                         |   1
 unicon                               |   1
 vdr-plugin-vnsiserver                |   1
 watchcatd                            |   1
(106 rows)


select source, count(*) as cnt from upload_history
 where signed_by_name = 'Balint Reczey' and changed_by_name != 'Balint Reczey'
 group by source order by cnt desc;
        source        | cnt 
----------------------+-----
 ffmpeg               |  23
 bootstrap-vz         |   3
 sctk                 |   3
 irstlm               |   2
 apt-transport-s3     |   2
 libkqueue            |   2
 libpthread-workqueue |   2
 libpqxx              |   2
 gst-plugins-good0.10 |   1
 chkrootkit           |   1
 pam-ssh-agent-auth   |   1
 libblocksruntime     |   1
 cryptmount           |   1
(13 rows)

select count(*) from ubuntu_upload_history where changed_by_name = 'Balint Reczey';
 count 
-------
    62
(1 row)

select source, count(*) as cnt from ubuntu_upload_history where changed_by_name = 'Balint Reczey'
      group by source order by cnt desc;
                source                | cnt 
--------------------------------------+-----
 gce-compute-image-packages           |  21
 wireshark                            |   6
 unattended-upgrades                  |   4
 sudo                                 |   4
 kodi                                 |   3
 hhvm                                 |   2
 libgd2                               |   2
 crash                                |   2
 livecd-rootfs                        |   1
 location-service                     |   1
 meld                                 |   1
 nagios-nrpe                          |   1
 nama                                 |   1
 nfs-utils                            |   1
 pywavelets                           |   1
 tbb                                  |   1
 watchcatd                            |   1
 akonadi                              |   1
 xdiagnose                            |   1
 dietlibc                             |   1
 golang-github-linuxkit-virtsock      |   1
 golang-github-opencontainers-selinux |   1
 ldns                                 |   1
 libdebian-installer                  |   1
 libwmf                               |   1
 live-build                           |   1
(26 rows)

I also maintain the Ubuntu PPAs for Wireshark upstream where we ship latest stable Wireshark for every supported Ubuntu release: https://launchpad.net/~wireshark-dev/+archive/ubuntu/stable

For Ubuntu I prepared security updates such as LP: #1694249 and LP: #1397091 and SRU-s, like LP: #1686803. I'm also familiar with the MIR process LP: #1700995.

I also prepared the upload ordering for the PIE transition for arm64 and Steve Langasek kindly performed the no-change rebuilds.

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

• Keeping Wireshark and Kodi packages in good shape

• Enabling PIE for most packages in Debian's archive link

• Convincing the Multimedia Team to switch back to FFmpeg in Debian

Areas of work

I'm active in many teams in Debian and also part of some others which I don't list here:

• Authentication tools packaging project

• Debian GNOME Team

• Debian Multimedia Maintainers

• Debian Ruby team

• Shadow Tool Suite

In Ubuntu I'm in the Canonical Foundations team among others.

Things I could do better

Following the state of my packages in Ubuntu, too, keeping the number of open bugs low. I will definitely to that.

Plans for the future

General

I would like decrease the carried delta from Debian because often those additional patches could be useful for Debian users, too, and the smaller delta would make maintaining Ubuntu easier at the same time.

I would also like to help others to get their contribution's to Ubuntu more easily and by becoming a core developer I will be able to sponsor any package upload. Seeing bugs stuck at the very last stage where they just need someone with permission to upload the fix is really sad and can be quite frustrating for the one who prepared the patch.

What I like least in Ubuntu

I think Ubuntu as the set images and packages is great. There are roadblocks in contributing and the biggest obstacle for me is Bazaar being the standard version control interface which will be resolved when Launchpad fully switches to git. I may live on the git-remote-bzr fork in the meantime.

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

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

SteveLangasek

General feedback

Balint is a long-time Debian developer with deep knowledge of the packaging system, and a skilled generalist. While I have not directly sponsored any packages directly for him into Ubuntu, I have worked with him on landing several changes to lp:livecd-rootfs, the livecd-rootfs package that sits at the core of all our image builds. His work is of high quality, and my reviews of his code have mostly been a conversation whereby he shows me how he was right to begin with.

I have confidence in his technical skills with regards to distribution work, and trust him to ask questions when faced with Ubuntu-specific matters that he is not previously familiar with.

Areas of Improvement

I cannot speak for Balint's knowledge of Ubuntu-specific processes such as freeze guidelines, milestones, merges, and the SRU process and assume the DMB would want to correspond with him directly on these topics.

Łukasz 'sil2100' Zemczak

General feedback

I have worked with Balint on some of the updates for gce-compute-image-packages. With his uploads he demonstrated excellent knowledge of packaging, development skills and attention to detail. I am also familiar with his general work on +1 maintenance, having seen his fixes on multiple occasions. Even though sometimes in spirit he's closer to Debian than Ubuntu, we're all part of one big family so I highly recommend Balint for Ubuntu Core Developer membership.

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:
## http://ubuntu-dev.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi?
=== Areas of Improvement ===

CategoryCoreDevApplication