I, Jeremy Bicha, apply for ~ubuntu-desktop membership.

Who I am

I'm a US Navy veteran who is switching to an IT career field. I taught myself Ubuntu and am pleased that I've found ways to make Ubuntu better for millions of users. I spend too much time with Ubuntu and need to get some other hobbies.

I don't consider myself a strong programmer, but I believe I do pretty well with packaging. I can hack Python and manage to cargo cult C++ good enough to have fixed several bugs.

My Ubuntu story

I got involved with Desktop development near the end of the Natty cycle with the GNOME 3 PPA. It was a great opportunity as there was a bunch of work that needed to be done. 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 Oneiric opened for GNOME 3, I started submitting my work for merging directly into the main archive.

Before the GNOME 3 PPA, I had done a few MPs but I had had difficulty finding stuff to package that was within my abilities. My first MP was just before Karmic was released to get Moodle to work for Edubuntu.

My involvement

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

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

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-games/+changelog

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vinagre/+changelog

I contribute patches to GNOME and I now have GNOME git commit access. Here's one example:

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=621037

While outside the Desktop set, I did convert gufw to PyGObject this cycle.

Areas of work

Late in the Natty release cycle, I filled a critical need by assisting with updating the GNOME User Guide for Ubuntu. I was accepted into ~ubuntu-core-doc and have continued to contribute significantly there.

Things I could do better

Attention to detail is critically important with direct upload rights to many of the core packages.

Plans for the future

General

What I like least in Ubuntu

Ubuntu's relationship with GNOME could be better. With my quite limited perspective, I've seen this more with fanboys than with developers. Things I've done to help with this:

• I run GNOME Shell a decent amount of the time (as we're in Oneiric bugfix mode, I've also been using Unity more since that needs more attention).
• I packaged the last two GNOME Shell updates for Ubuntu. It's important that GNOME Shell works well in Ubuntu or else we'll get a lot of negative attention.
• I contribute back to GNOME (as mentioned above).

It is difficult for a new contributor to get started contributing. I think this has improved quite a bit with harvest, the Ubuntu Packaging Guide, and Patch Pilots. I don't know how to keep improving this but I try to be friendly, thank contributors, and help contributions along.

I also am watching Ubuntu Friendly as we badly need a better way to track hardware regressions and hopefully users in the near feature will be able to check for these regressions before upgrading.

Comments

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Endorsements

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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 ===

CategoryPerPackageUploaderApplication