CoreDevApplication

I, Gunnar Hjalmarsson, apply for core-dev.

Due to my humble personality this document was initially a MOTU application. But since my endorsers encourage me to go for core-dev, I changed it.

Secondarily, i.e. if DMB would not consider me ready to become a core-dev, I apply for

  1. MOTU

  2. membership in Ubuntu Input Methods Uploaders team.

Name

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

Launchpad Page

https://launchpad.net/~gunnarhj

Wiki Page

GunnarHj

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.

Who I am

I was born in 1958, and live in Gothenburg, Sweden. I worked as an authorized auditor and financial reporting advisor for about 20 years, but quit prematurely due to health issues. As regards IT and computing I'm self-educated. During the first decade of this century I did some web programming.

My Ubuntu story

My involvement

I have contributed since 2010 to Ubuntu and later Debian with bug fixes and package maintenance. I'm an Ubuntu member and a member of ubuntu-bugcontrol, and have previously been granted upload rights via my personal packageset and as a member of the ubuntu-desktop team.

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

Most of my recent contributions have been on packages which I can upload. The list of uploaded packages gives a hint on what I have been doing.

Some examples of sponsored uploads which I would have been able to do on my own as a core-dev:

And some more sponsored uploads where MOTU would have been sufficient:

As regards "proud of"... Well, one thing: Two packages — ibus and im-config — previously had quite a few Ubuntu specific patches. By cooperating with Debian's input method team those packages are now in sync with Debian.

I'm also proud of having packaged ibus-avro, an IBus plugin for inputting Bangla. It's a language with more native speakers than e.g. Russian and Japanese, and I think that making the popular Avro Phonetic input method easily available to Ubuntu users has made a difference for quite a few users.

Areas of work

Most of my work has been i18n related matters, but I have also helped to fix other kinds of desktop bugs. On the Debian side I'm a member of Debian's Input Method and GNOME teams. I packaged ibus-avro and ibus-typing-booster.

With "i18n" I'm thinking of things like:

  • The UI for dealing with language and locale settings, which includes e.g. language-selector and certain patches in accountsservice and gnome-control-center.
  • Typing matters, both XKB layouts and advanced input methods. Have maintained im-config on the Ubuntu side for several years, for instance.
  • Non-latin fonts
  • Translation coordination

I also try to keep the Ubuntu Desktop Guide reasonably up-to-date.

I spend some time with providing support, mostly at Ask Ubuntu. Several times I have concluded that an asked question was actually due to a bug, picked it up, and fixed it. I find it satisfying to contribute that way, in a close dialogue with the users.

Things I could do better

My technical skill is limited, so there is a lot of room for improvement. One thing is that I would like to learn how to set up autopkgtest properly.

Plans for the future

General

I have no plans to change the profile of my contributions drastically. Probably I will contribute a bit more to the input method packages. Hopefully I will become a Debian Developer soon, and as a core-dev I would be able to more efficiently serve as a 'bridge' between Debian and Ubuntu with respect to IM packages.

What I like least in Ubuntu

Sometimes I see people who tries to contribute with well written bug reports and/or patches and then are ignored. That makes me sad. As a core-dev I would probably help more often to get some stuff within my skill level done through mentorship and/or sponsoring.

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.

Sebastien Bacher

I've been working with Gunnar and sponsoring updates and fixes from him since 2012. He has experience with deb packaging, has been an active community member in desktop, documentation and translations and he knows how to work upstream and with Debian (on his way to become a DD). He know the project and its processes well. He's already trusted with desktop upload and I recommended strongly for coredev

Those are examples showing he knows the processes * https://launchpad.net/bugs/1914808 (a MIR report) * https://launchpad.net/bugs/1896397 (a UIFe request) * https://launchpad.net/bugs/1898541 (a FFe request)

Example of sponsoring I did for him * https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fontconfig/2.13.1-2ubuntu3.1 , a fontconfig configuration fix * https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xkeyboard-config/2.26-2ubuntu2 , backport of an upstream fix for a keyboard layout issue * https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pkgbinarymangler/132 , a fix in dh_translations

I don't have any specific improvement recommendations for Gunnar, he's doing solid work and knows to ask others when he's unsure of what he's doing.

Łukasz 'sil2100' Zemczak

General feedback

Gunnar has been an excellent Ubuntu contributor since I can remember. I only sponsored a few of his huge upload history, but I've seen his splendid work whenever reviewing SRU uploads, FFe's, or when working together on all sorts of language-pack updates. He has really good judgement, not afraid to ask whenever in doubt, always coordinating his work when necessary. With such long Ubuntu history, with so much contribution to multiple bits and pieces of the ecosystem, I feel that Gunnar is not only a great candidate for MOTU, but for an Ubuntu Core Developer as well.

Specific Experiences of working together

https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi?render=html&sponsor=*Zemczak&sponsor_search=name&sponsoree=Gunnar+Hjalmarsson&sponsoree_search=name

As mentioned, I did not directly sponsor a lot of packages for Gunnar, but we've been working together on multiple occassions. As an example I still remember one GTK SRU Gunnar was working on. The fix, in the end, didn't quite do what it was supposed to do and Gunnar moved to a different approach, but what I liked in the whole story is that he was constantly involved in it. He did the testing, the shepherding, the follow up - all the time making sure that the right people are kept in the loop.

Areas of Improvement

None, I can't think of anything.

Iain Lane

I've sponsored a few things for Gunnar over the past many years. We've worked together on lots of other things that I didn't end up formally sponsoring too. Gunnar is my go to person for anything relating to documentation, screenshots, languages and input methods. He's ready to be able to push the trigger himself as a core-dev. I'm quite confident that advice will still be sought when required - one feature of Gunnar's personality is that he is quite willing to state when he doesn't understand something, when it's outside of his area of expertise, and seek the help of other people on the team(s).

https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi?render=html&sponsor=*Lane&sponsor_search=name&sponsoree=Gunnar+Hjalmarsson&sponsoree_search=name

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 ===

CategoryMOTUApplication

GunnarHj/CoreDevApplication (last edited 2021-04-04 09:30:23 by laney)