CoreDevApplication

I, Jeremy Bicha, apply for Core Dev membership.

Name

Jeremy Bicha

Launchpad Page

https://launchpad.net/~jbicha

Wiki Page

JeremyBicha

Who I am

I'm a US Navy veteran and currently live in Florida.

My Ubuntu story

My first packaging change to land in Ubuntu was just before 9.10 Karmic was released to get Moodle to work for Edubuntu.

I got significantly involved in Ubuntu near the end of the 11.04 Natty cycle because I saw there was a big need for help with the Unity/GNOME3 transition. I helped package GNOME3 for the GNOME3 PPAs. The review process felt easier as it was just a PPA. I got more experience with submitting merge proposals (MPs) and working on a variety of packages. As 11.10 Oneiric opened for GNOME 3, I started submitting my work for merging directly into the main archive and officially joined the Desktop Team later that summer.

I got involved with ubuntu-docs about the same way near the end of the 11.04 Natty cycle. The ubuntu-docs package had been synced from a still-incomplete snapshot of the GNOME docs which described GNOME Shell, not Unity. I did most of the work to get that usable for release. I remained part of the Docs team for the next year or two.

I later started Ubuntu GNOME with a lot of help from darkxst. The first release was 12.10 and the first release as an official flavor was 13.04.

I've used my skills outside GNOME packaging and became a MOTU in 2012.

My involvement

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

https://launchpad.net/~jbicha/+uploaded-packages

  • Member of the Ubuntu Desktop and MOTUs teams.
  • Debian Maintainer, Debian pkg-gnome team member, GNOME Foundation member.
  • Co-maintainer of Ubuntu GNOME

Areas of work

Most of my focused work has been with GNOME but I have made many minor changes to the Unity stack. I have done a lot of merging and syncing with Debian.

Why I Want to Join Core Dev

Although I can upload to much of the Ubuntu archive through the unique combination of MOTU & ~ubuntu-desktop, some Ubuntu Desktop packages are not part of the ubuntu-desktop packageset.

I also help out with transitions. Some of these transitions require a Core Dev to complete.

I occasionally need to update seeds across the Ubuntu flavors. It takes quite a bit longer to ask the Flavors to accept my merge proposals or find a Core Dev to do it.

Sponsorship works but eventually, it becomes an extra hassle for the sponsoree and the sponsors.

Things I could do better

I have tried to work better at communicating and discussing my work with the Ubuntu Desktop team in particular.

Plans for the future

General

I am helping with Ubuntu's big GNOME transition this year.

I am applying to be a Debian Developer.

What I like least in Ubuntu

It would be nice if we had more people working on Ubuntu. I do not know how to fix this. (Other open source Desktop projects are having similar problems.)


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.


Dmitry Shachnev (mitya57)

General feedback

While I only sponsored a few packages for Jeremy, I know him for his hard work on GNOME-related packages in both Debian and Ubuntu. Keeping GNOME working with all Ubuntu modifications is not always an easy task, and Jeremy managed to handle it (the latest Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 was the first distro release to ship GNOME 3.24, which is a proof of how nice the work is).

Specific Experiences of working together

He started the GNOME Flashback session packaging in 2013, which I took over the same year. But he was helping me a lot since then.

Also some syncs from Debian:

Areas of Improvement

It is hard to find them Smile :)


Robert Ancell

General feedback

Jeremy is a great Ubuntu developer who I find does an enormous amount of good work.

Specific Experiences of working together

I have occasionally sponsored GNOME packages for Jeremy, though he has been able to do these himself recently. These have been good quality changes. We regularly have discussions on IRC about Ubuntu related issues and he is familiar with the subjects.

Areas of Improvement

None that I can think of.


Michael Terry (mterry)

General feedback

Jeremy has always been a pleasure to work with. He's done complicated merges, as well as some simpler cleanup work. I can't remember a time when I've had to correct an upload.

Specific experiences of working together

I've sponsored the occasional GNOME-adjacent package for him. And I've worked with him in my capacity as MIR team member and desktop team member. Always been a positive interaction, and he knows enough to identify areas where he needs to ask for advice, which is arguably the most important trait when uploading.

sponsored packages

Areas of Improvement

None that I can think of.


Sebastien Bacher (seb128)

Jeremy has been doing solid contributions to Ubuntu for years. He knows the project well and works with upstream and Debian when it makes sense. He has showed the technical skills and the understanding of the processes required to be trusted with upload rights.


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 ===


CategoryCoreDevApplication

JeremyBicha/CoreDevApplication (last edited 2017-05-18 20:56:40 by seb128)