MOTUApplication

I, Fabrice Coutadeur, apply for MOTU.

Name

Fabrice Coutadeur

Launchpad Page

https://launchpad.net/~fabricesp

Wiki Page

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FabriceCoutadeur

Who I am

I am a 38 year old guy, father of 2 children and working for a software company in Madrid, Spain.

My Ubuntu story

My involvement

I began using others distro a long time ago (Suse was my favorite at that time), but always find them hard to use or to configure, until Hardy: this has been the first distro that automatically recognize all my hardware, and immediately adopted it. I was using it in dual boot with Windows, but switched totally to Ubuntu, with no dual booting, with Intrepid.

I've always been interested in video edition (from encoding to authoring) and began my Ubuntu packaging trip because of DVDStyler: the packaging was maintained by a Debian guy, that requested some help from an Ubuntu user. I volunteered and ended maintaining the upstream Ubuntu package in my ppa (https://launchpad.net/~fabricesp/+archive/dvdstyler). I decided to try to get it adopted in Ubuntu, and dicovered REVU.

Since I discover IRC (in July 08), I've been following the discussions and seen how the full release cycle works. I basically works on FTBFS, and when adopting a package (see the main wiki page to see which ones I adopted), I try to fix/close all the bugs report, reporting to upstream if no success with latest version.

Because of my primary interest in Video edition tools, I've been also adapting packages to the very 'volatile' ffmpeg libs, and basically, installing and testing all what is video related, using my ppa to backport newer versions of some tools o trying to package new sotfware.

I love learning new things and helping others to understand packaging, and the way Ubuntu release cycle works. That's why I review some packages in REVU, just to help people understand how to package things, and make the work easier to MOTU.

I became U-D-C in March 09, and also began recently to contribute directly to Debian, being the Debian maintainer of APTonCD (http://packages.qa.debian.org/a/aptoncd.html).

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

In term of packaging, the 'salvation' of APTonCD in Debian has been very interesting, as the package was only 'badly' maintained in Ubuntu, and Debian was willing to delete it (http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=484637). With the help of bddebian, I uploaded a NMU, and followed the process to become the maintainer of APTonCD. I'm now part of the APTonCD team, with update access to the bazaar repo.

Also, you can have a look at the list of bugs that I've fixed in my main wiki page: there are lib transitions, bug fixing and FTBFS.

Areas of work

As I was saying before, I basically works on FTBFS, trying to report as much as possible to Debian, to reduce the diff between Debian and Ubuntu. As an example, you can see the Vips case (http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/v/vips/vips_7.18.2-3/changelog).

Also, part of my work is not directly visible, as I sometimes works directly with upstream (or remind upstream, in this case): https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=1013862&aid=2788118&group_id=210468), or helping upstream with packaging, like Aqsis (https://launchpad.net/~aqsisteam).

Things I could do better

Work even more with Debian and upstream, reporting systematically the bugs.

Plans for the future

General

I'd like to continue helping people to contribute to Ubuntu, by reviewing packages in REVU, and sponsoring uploads as a MOTU.

Also, I'd like to continue working on the QA part (FTBFS, non installable packages, ...), and collaborate as much as possible with Debian, now that I begin to understand how Debian workflows work. As I am already backporting packages in my PPA, I'd also liked to help and contribute to backports, to help users finding the package they want.

Lastly, I think collaborative works go by using launchpad for upgrades, merges, bug fixing, ..., so even if it's not mandatory anymore, I'll follow up opening bug repotrs in launchpad.

What I like least in Ubuntu

There is 2 things that we could do better in Ubuntu: - Controlled sync from Debian to avoid syncing a package in the middle of a transition (see the maven packages in Karmic, that will be unusable, making impossible to compile doxia in Karmic). We should sync a package when the package that depends on it has been updated. - Guide the people that wants to contribute: I think having some upload rights for Junior MOTU (before becoming a full MOTU) would help people grow and increase motivation. Also, having a long sponsorship queue demotivate people, so we should keep the queue as short as possible.


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.

Alessio Treglia (quadrispro)

General feedback

Fabrice is a collaborative guy and a skilled developer, I've sponsored a number of packages for him, especially some related to FTBFS bugs and, aside of some little issues (but nothing of more serious than some lintian warnings) I couldn't find any kind of problem in reviewing his patches, they are always of an excellent quality.

Shortly: he's actually ready to join the MOTU team.

Specific Experiences of working together

Areas of Improvement

Nothing that will not come with time Smile :)

Andreas Wenning

General feedback

Fabrice picked up on the aRts removal sprint last cycle and was a great help in re-building and testing many of the packages that needed rebuilding. I haven't worked with Fabrice much yet; but in this case his work was flawless.

Specific Experiences of working together

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/arts/+bug/320915

Areas of Improvement

Haven't found any yet...

Stefan Lesicnik

General feedback

I sponsored 2 of Fabrice's fixes, both dealing with a FTBFS issue. There were no problems with either in any regard, and the relevant one was forwarded to Debian without being requested to do so.

From my dealings with him, I have no problem recommending Fabrice to MOTU.

Specific Experiences of working together

Areas of Improvement

None come to mind

Stefan Ebner

General feedback

I sponsored tons of syncs and IIRC there were not a problem with a single one. Furthermore I sponsored a FTBFS-fix upload from him (dealing with python2.6) and everything was fine there too.

From my dealings with him, I can't really recommend Fabrice for MOTU since I mainly sponsored sync requests and don't know about his other skills but I somehow have the feeling that he's a nice guy and will be a MOTU sooner or later.

Specific Experiences of working together

Areas of Improvement

Can't really say anything here.

Daniel Holbach (dholbach)

General feedback

I'm very impressed with Fabrice's work. He has not only taken on problematic cases, but he also did a fantastic job of getting in touch with upstream, etc. He'll be a great addition to the MOTU team.

Specific Experiences of working together

Areas of Improvement

Apply earlier. Smile :-)

Andrea Veri (andv)

General feedback

Unfortunately I had the possibility to sponsor just one merge and two syncs for Fabrice, so I can't say anything about his technical skills, but I noticed in him the willingness to improve and improve everytime he received a suggestion or a request from me. He never dropped the ball at the first problem but kept working as he usually does. Fabrice, that's the way to go, never give up at the first difficulty, and keep asking your questions on the channel if you are unsure about something. Keep it up!

Specific Experiences of working together

Areas of Improvement

well documented changelogs are the way to go, please improve this side.


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 ===


CategoryMOTUApplication

FabriceCoutadeur/MOTUApplication (last edited 2009-09-15 22:54:50 by host108-50-dynamic)