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I, James Westby, wish to apply for core-dev.
Name |
James Westby |
Launchpad Page |
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Wiki Page |
Who I am
I am a MOTU and Canonical employee living in the UK. My job is to work on improving Ubuntu Development, primarily through switching to a DVCS to manage packages. In addition to that I work on general Ubuntu development for some of the time.
My Ubuntu story
I was a Debian and Bazaar contributor, and due to that I was invited to UDS Hardy. After that I started getting involved in Ubuntu, mainly in reducing the delta to Debian, but gradually got involved in Ubuntu more directly as I found bugs from the things I was doing. Obviously being hired by Canonical helped in moving me over to Ubuntu, but I was able to find my place in this community much better, and find things that were useful to do. However, I now contribute more to Debian that I ever did when I was focused purely on Debian.
After a few months of contribution I became a MOTU and have worked hard since to improve Ubuntu and help integrate the work of others so that they can also become MOTU.
The immediate reason I am applying for core-dev is that I am now a member of ~ubuntu-archive, and have been training in some of those tasks, and I would like to resolve the discrepancy in access levels that gives me. I don't think that being able to remove a package from main, but not be allowed to upload it is a particularly good situation to be in. Being acknowledged by the community as trusted to alter any package would fix that in my opinion, and I would then be able to help out with archive administration.
That's not the only reason though. I have always wanted to become a core-dev, the above just led to me applying now. I would like to become a core-dev not particularly to maintain any packages (though I imagine a couple that I "maintain" will move to main before long), but to help out with the work where I can, as a generalist.
My involvement
Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of
- I have made over 500 uploads (Changed-By or sponsored) to Ubuntu in the year or so that I have been involved.
- A large number of those sponsored uploads came as I became a MOTU at the end of the Intrepid cycle, when the universe sponsoring queue was a out of control at over 100 outstanding items. By the time of the release this was around 30 (it helps where there is less to upload).
- Only a tiny proportion of those uploads didn't have the changes forwarded to at least one of our upstreams. I have also forwarded a large number of other people's patches, so I would say I was definitely in credit there.
Areas of work
- Sponsoring is a large part of my contribution. I enjoy the combination of code review and enabling others to get things done. I feel I am able to review changes to a large fraction of the archive with confidence, and know when find someone better to review.
- I have spent time helping with transition type work, including NBS and FTBFS work. I'm quite good at the type of problem solving this requires, and having large lists of things to tackle suits me sometimes.
- I also have a few packages that I "maintain". I deal with the bugs and upload new upstream releases. There are also a few packages that I just keep an eye on and act when something serious comes up.
- I'm particularly interested in improving development processes and tools. I have been trying to do this a little while being a MOTU (and before). My work obviously fits in to this, and is a large part of it, but I like to think wider than that.
Things I could do better
- I can often forget simple things when uploading. I always review the debdiff before uploading, but I seem to have a blind spot for the maintainer field change. I recently changed to use an "@ubuntu.com" DEBEMAIL, which means I can't forget any more, a rather odd wart in our toolchain in my opinion.
- I can get behind in dealing with bug reports on packages if I don't deal with then quickly, so I think I need to develop a better routine for dealing with them.
- If I become a core-dev I will need to find a good balance between the various activities I will have. I don't want to neglect existing things, but there is a reason that I wish to become core-dev.
- While I don't think it is something I need to improve, a concern I have heard on a past application was the relatively low number of uploads to main. I haven't uploaded much to main this cycle for a few reasons. Firstly, most of the uploads I did were for things like FTBFS when we had auto-synced a package, which doesn't really apply to main packages. Secondly, I didn't feel the need to fix that many bugs in main packages, and where I did I was happy to send the fix through upstream, as it was something like GNOME where you know we will get the fix by release. Lastly, I uploaded to universe as I could do that directly, not having to deal with the hassle of getting sponsorship. In my opinion we need to make it more smooth to request sponsorship, I find it puts me off seeking an upload for some changes.
Plans for the future
General
- I would like to become a core-dev to help out with things like sponsoring, and also take up full archive-admin duties. I would also start to keep a closer eye on a few packages in main.
- I would also start to upload my own fixes to packages in main, making it more efficient for myself and for the sponsors. I can't remember the last time a patch that I posted for sponsorship prompted any question from the sponsor. I plan to keep up that level of care with any uploads that I do.
What I like least in Ubuntu
- One thing that I dislike is that our development process is so disconnected from upstream development in some ways. There are good reasons for this in places, but if we would smooth the path from upstream fix to distro fix then we could be a lot more efficient, and also have a larger number of people who can prepare the necessary fix.
Please describe what you like least in Ubuntu and what thoughts do you have about fixing it.
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@.
Stefan Lesicnik (stefanlsd)
General feedback
James was assigned to me as a senior mentor for the MOTU process. He was always really willing to help and share his knowledge and time. James is thorough in his sponsorship work and with his guidance I've reworked something many times to fix it the right way. For as much as it counts - I think James will make an awesome addition to the core team.
Endorsements
As a sponsor, just copy the template below, fill it out and add it to this section.
Daniel Holbach (dholbach)
General feedback
Working with James Westby is great. He's not only doing a fantastic job, he also became a good friend. James quickly found out what needs doing and because he rarely sleeps quickly steps up to do it.
I sponsored a bunch of his fixes and was since the beginning impressed by the quality and how quickly he picked up what needs to be done.
I'd very much trust him to be core-dev.
Specific Experiences of working together
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/likewise-open/+bug/215648
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-debian/+bug/259353
Collaboration in UbuntuDeveloperWeek, MOTU/Videos, etc.
Areas of Improvement
He absolutely needs to improve DistributedDevelopment. 
Martin Pitt
General feedback
By now I sponsored several dozen of James' merges and fixes into Ubuntu, and became a big fan of his work with revision-controlled packaging, such as bzr-builddeb. He thoroughly understands Open Source, Ubuntu policies, collaboration with upstreams, and packaging, and I'll welcome him to become a core dev.
He also recently became an archive administrator.
Specific Experiences of working together
https://launchpad.net/bugs/269651 -- kudos for his great and detailled analysis of the bug (which was a really tough one!)
Areas of Improvement
Sebastien Bacher
General feedback
I've sponsored quite some updates from James since he's working on Ubuntu and I've always been impressed by the detailled descriptions of the issue he works on and of the fixes he suggests. His work is usually good quality, he's responsive to comments and nice to work with. He's doing an excellent work interacting with upstream and other community members too. I would recommend him for ubuntu-core-dev without any doubt
Specific Experiences of working together
Areas of Improvement
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 ===