I, Heinrich Schuchardt, apply for MOTU.

I am applying because:

• As as sponsor I will be able to contribute to the review process of updated packages.
• I am contributing to Ubuntu packages on a regular basis as an employee of Canonical. As a member of MOTU I will find it easier to get my package updates included and alleviate the burden on other sponsors.

Who I am

I am software engineer living in Leverkusen, Germany. I have been passionate about software development since my days at university. I cherish the the open software scene allowing to contribute to each others work.

In the U-Boot project I am maintainer of the UEFI implementation.

Since July 2021 I am working as RISC-V lead engineer in Canonical's foundation team since July 2021.

My Ubuntu story

I have been

• using Ubuntu since 2010 on workstations, SoCs, and in Docker

• contributed to Debian packages like flash-kernel, mini-dinstall via patches to Debian since 2016
• contributed to Ubuntu packaging since I was employed by Canonical last year

My involvement

For me contributing starts as high as possible in the flow from upstream, to Debian, to Ubuntu.

Upstream projects I have contributed to the following this year include

• U-Boot
• GRUB
• Linux kernel

• HSS payload generator needed to package U-Boot for the PolarFire Icicle board

• systemd

• systemd-bootchard

• Storage Performance Development Kit (SPDK)

• Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK)

• Pktgen - Traffic Generator powered by DPDK

• Subiquity

Debian packages I have been contributing to this year to include

• flash-kernel

• dnswist

• Vim

• meta-gnome3

Inside Ubuntu my focus has been on

• Making Ubuntu run on more RISC-V hardware
• Allowing more software to run on RISC-V
• Fixing bugs in Ubuntu packages

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

This year I had a focus on SPDK and DPDK. RISC-V enabled versions currently live in ppa:ubuntu-risc-v-team/release as we are waiting for the next DPDK LTS release before upgrading DPDK in the main repository. See my discourse article Accelerate network and storage applications on RISC-V with DPDK and SPDK.

Together with colleagues of the foundation team I have made more RISC-V hardware run on Ubuntu. See the RISC-V Download Page. And more boards to come with the Kinetic release.

A list of my sponsored uploads is available via the Ubuntu Sponsorship Miner.

These gave me a good overview over processes from new packages over release upgrades and bug fixes to SRU.

Most of the bug fixing stuff and release upgrade stuff is more on the trivial side. The most complex thing was getting a new version of DPDK packaged.

Areas of work

Due to my job description RISC-V enablement will remain a focus. But starting from an architecture results in a big scope of relevant packages: from basics over server to desktop. But also the snap world if of interest.

Things I could do better

• I sometimes opted to fix the easiest bugs first. I should pick some more intricate stuff and thereby expand my experience.

* debian/copyright was never my favorite but needs to be done with precision for legal reasons.

Plans for the future

General

I should spend some time on triage of incoming bugs and select a few packages where I try to fix whatever is incoming.

What I like least in Ubuntu

For many packages we carry a very large patch set. We should do a better job in upstreaming what we deem relevant.

Timely response to bug reports is often missing. Keeping 10 year old bugs does not make sense.

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.

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 ===