MOTUApplication

I, Bilal Akhtar, apply for MOTU.

Name

Bilal Akhtar

Launchpad Page

bilalakhtar

Wiki Page

BilalAkhtar

Who I am

I am a high-school student greatly interested in Ubuntu and its development. I live in Saudi Arabia and I am 14 years old. I know C/C++, Python, PHP, Shell Script, VB, and some C# . I aim to become a ZCE (Zend Certified Engineer) for PHP one day.

My Ubuntu story

I have used Ubuntu since late 2007, with the first version I touched being Gutsy. Have used all versions since then, and have been testing maverick since alpha 2. I got involved with Ubuntu development around 8 months ago.

My involvement

I am involved mainly in merging/syncing, fixing bugs (mainly papercuts) and upgrading desktop packages.

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

I have done the following merges:

Syncs:

Bug fixes:

FTBFS Fixes:

New packages:

Package upgrades:

Apart from Ubuntu, I am the upstream developer of GNOME Media Player and qstream.

Areas of work

I have worked on Universe and desktop packages. I have also fixed 14 papercuts in the maverick release itself.

Plans for the future

General

I would work on SRUs, merge/sync more and more packages from Debian and help fix papercuts.

What I like least in Ubuntu

REVU seems to be an abandoned corner of Ubuntu development. Its very difficult to find people to review packages there. I would review many packages in REVU once I become MOTU.

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@.

Artur Rona

Bilal is promising contributor/developer. He rapidly learn to new things. His done work is amazing e.g. fixed papercuts. I think that this application has requested too quick. Bilal just improved his mistakes in packaging and there are no expierence. I would see his perfect work in next development cycle and then review application again. Also I suggest show work in SRU and security areas. ari-tczew

Endorsements

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

أحمد المحمودي (Ahmed El-Mahmoudy)

General feedback

I have sponsored 10 uploads for Bilal, mostly merges and a couple of papercut fixes. I see that the quality of his work is improving very well. When I had objections regarding his work, it was fixed in a timely manner.

Specific Experiences of working together

I've sponsored the following for Bilal:

Package

Version

LP

Release

flashplugin-nonfree

10.1.53.64ubuntu2

613259

maverick

python-virtualenv

1.4.9-1ubuntu1

614927

maverick

ddclient

3.8.0-11.1ubuntu1

619141

maverick

nepenthes

0.2.2-5ubuntu1

619094

maverick

vdr

1.6.0-18ubuntu1

622181

maverick

qemulator

0.5-3.2ubuntu1

625255

maverick

anymeal

0.30-9ubuntu1

626729

maverick

singular

3-0-4-3.dfsg-3.1ubuntu1

627333

maverick

libjackasyn

0.11-4

627994

maverick

libjackasyn

0.11-4ubuntu1

628033

maverick

Areas of Improvement

LP 627994 was the only broken upload I seen from Bilal, it was due to a misleading changelog entry from the Debian package. Although I wouldn't put the whole blame on Bilal (nor myself since I uploaded it), the FTBFS wasn't clear because the different way that pbuilder & Launchpad builders work. It was a lesson for both of us not to fully trust changelog entries, and we have to inspect the changes by ourselves.

KenVanDine

General feedback

I have sponsored some (~7 or 8) papercut fixes from Bilal, all have been of high quality. Never seeing any packaging related problems, and the patches solve the specified problem well. His participation on the papercuts project has been valuable and much appreciated.

Specific Experiences of working together

As mentioned above, Bilal has submitted a number of papercut fixes that I have sponsored. None of the changes were really significant or required much packaging changes, but his fix did solve the specified problem and was valuable. I haven't reviewed any new packages or any significant packaging changes he has made, but I would trust his ability.

Benjamin Drung

General feedback

I have sponsored (at least) one sync request, one new package, and one upgrade. He responded quickly to improvement requests. The sync requests was good. I had only minor improvements for the new package/upgrade. I assume that Bilal gained more experience since I sponsored the new package/upgrade.

Specific Experiences of working together

Areas of Improvement

He could be pay more regards to lintian. Especially new packages should be totally lintian clean.

Stefano Rivera

General feedback

Bilal is active and technically competant. He was an early adopter of UDD for merging from Debian, which persuaded me to write a review tool for these merges. I've sponsored quite a few uploads for him (and endorsed his contributing-developer application). I trust he'll make a good MOTU.

I am pleased with the number of syncs he's done. We did have one issue with the skim merge below, but I think I was the one who suggested a sync instead of a merge. I misread the merge request diff, suggested a sync and then misread diffs again when uploading. (Grumble) Bilal was happy to help fix it up.

Specific Experiences of working together

Package

Version

Bug

Action

Notes

grig

0.7.2-4

#616655

sync

gpsdrive

2.10~pre4-6.dfsg-3ubuntu5

#325288

bug forwarded

krename

4.0.4-2ubuntu1

#601865

merge

Needed some review

selinux-basics

0.3.6ubuntu1

#603595

merge

pysdm

0.4.1-0ubuntu3

#606212

papercut

gpsdrive

2.10~pre4-6.dfsg-5ubuntu1

#605350

merge

Was originally a sync, would have dropped a necessary change

tk-brief

5.9-1.1ubuntu1

#610030

merge

Changelog needed some work, and there were unecessary Ubuntu changes remaining.

amara

1.2a2-1.1

#619738

sync

sapwood

3.1.1.debian.10+0m5-2

#622131

sync

skim

1.4.5-4.1fakesync1

#609679

sync

Described above: Initially a merge, then synced (in error)

gui-ufw

10.04.5-0ubuntu1

#599799

papercut

Initially poor version number

skim

1.4.5-4.1ubuntu1

#609679

merge

A fix for 1.4.5-4.1fakesync1

mirage

0.9.3-5.1

#616676

sync

uswsusp

0.8-1.2ubuntu1

#604910

merge

Initially a sync which didn't build, eventually a merge which kept part of the Ubuntu delta

keurocalc

1.0.3-2ubuntu1

#619073

merge

There was some post-upload discussion about the changes, one can be dropped

sound-juicer

2.31.6-0ubuntu1

#621065

upgrade

bug-buddy

2.31.3-0ubuntu1

#623380

upgrade

gkdebconf

1.2.66

#630040

sync

Summary:

  • merge: 7

  • upgrade: 2

  • sync: 6

  • Total Sponsorships: 18

Areas of Improvement

There are more areas of MOTU work to explore. At the moment FTBFS squashing is needed, and SRUs are always needed.

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.''
=== Areas of Improvement ===

BilalAkhtar/MOTUApplication (last edited 2010-09-13 09:49:24 by 188)