Ubuntu Wiki

Hello! I am Kate Stewart and am a member of the Ubuntu Release team. In the past, I worked for Canonical as the Ubuntu Release Manager.

Contact Details

• IRC: skaet (irc.freenode.net)

• Email: kate(at)ubuntu(dot)com

• Jabber: skaet

Also see my Launchpad Profile.

Where to find me

Ubuntu Mailing Lists:

• ubuntu-devel
• ubuntu-devel-announce
• ubuntu-devel-discuss
• ubuntu-announce
• ubuntu-release

Upstream Mailing Lists:

• spdx
• spdx-tech

IRC:

• Freenode

  • #ubuntu-release

  • #ubuntu-devel

  • #ubuntu-data-mining

  • #ubuntu-iso-tracker

  • #ubuntu-quality

  • #ubuntu-testing

  • #ubuntu-kernel

  • #ubuntu-desktop

  • #ubuntu-server

  • #spdx

  • #mklinux

  • #u-boot

Contributions

Currently I am participating as a member of the Ubuntu release team to manage the development and long term support releases.

As the Ubuntu Release Manager, I worked with the release team to manage the Ubuntu development and long term support releases. Some of the areas I was responsible for are:

• holding weekly release meetings to get status across teams and highlight issues for the approaching milestones
• coordinate pulling together the release notes for each of the milestones and final releases
• review key open bugs to determine impact to release and specific milestones
• work with release team to update and maintain release process pages
• work with release team to manage image building and publishing
• host sessions at UDS/rally's to deal with release issues ( post-release process analysis, licensing and copyrights, metric improvements, etc.)

Recent impacts:

• worked with launchpad team to get o-series and p-series opened up for targeting future releases bugs/features to enable better planning
• started bi-weekly SRU and LTS release meetings to get cross functional discussion as work out bi-weekly kernel SRU process intersecting with development release.
• reworked release notes framework, and technical overview notes for milestone releases.

On the community project side:

• co-chair of the SPDX working group, sponsored by FOSSbazaar and the Linux Foundation as part of their open compliance program. The purpose of this group is to come up with a standard way to exchange copyright and licensing information that can be shared among software supply chain providers. Some of this has been modeled after the DEP-5 approach, but extends beyond what is called for in DEP-5.

• participant in project Harmony effort to standardize contributor agreements.

Trade Shows/Ubuntu/Linux Events

• Linux Collaboration Summit (2011/04/6-7, SPDX overview, SPDX technical working session )
• Attended Texas Linux Fest 2011 (2011/04/02)
• Presentation 2011/01/24: LCA2011 Business track - SPDX: evolution from package facts proposal

• Help out Ubuntu AU Loco team at LCA2011 open day (2010/01/30) and had fun taking pictures

• Presentation (2010/11): Linux plumbers conference - Licensing BOF
• Program Committee (2010,2011): Linux Plumbers conference
• Invited Panelist (2010/09/21): ACI Software Licensing conference

• Presentation (2010/08): LinuxCon2010: SPDX

• Attend DebConf 2010 (2010/08)

• Presentation (2010/04): Linux Collaboration Summit: SPDX
• Organize 1/2 day workshop (2010/04): Linux Collaboration Summit: SPDX
• Presentation (2010/01): LCA2011 Business track - Package Facts Proposal
• Presentation (2011/01): LCA2012: Data Mining Packages to Assess Update Risks.
• Attend Linux Collab (2012/04): SPDX working sessions.
• Working session at first SPDX Summit(2012/04):

• Panelist (2012/08): LinuxCon, Business track panel on SPDX.

Testimonials

Kate is a fanastic contributor - she has already brought so much to Ubuntu, and she has a real eye for detail and a firm commitment to delivering a solid release. Her work has been high quality and timely. I would heartily advocate for her approval as a member. -- JonoBacon

Kate is awesome! In the relatively short time as Release Manager, she's already instituted significant process changes for the betterment of all Ubuntu. Her dedication to improving the quality of the release process and Ubuntu itself is unsurpassed. I wholeheartedly give my 1000% endorsement as an Ubuntu member, as she embodies the Ubuntu philosophy in every single way. --RobbieWilliamson

Kate has been the Ubuntu release manager since the beginning of the Natty cycle. She has been key to keeping the release on track, keeping focus on the key bugs and lagging features; a cat herder if ever there was one. On a personal level she has proven to be an intelligent and thoughtful person, happy to admit when she does not know something, and willing to listen to feedback and learn from it. Definatly a worthy addition to our community. -- AndyWhitcroft

I've been working with Kate to help her get started as the release manager. As we go along she's been making every effort to think about how processes could be improved beyond the status quo, and has been keeping our focus on quality by organising high-priority bugs even from an early stage in the release cycle and making sure the development teams stay on track. I'm happy to recommend her for Ubuntu membership on the basis of her contributions so far; I'm confident they will continue. --ColinWatson

Kate has been a great release manager, and has been great to work with as we've made some major changes to the release process for the Ubuntu kernels. She's always been available for discussion as we refine the processes, and has communicated well with everyone involved. She has a good grasp of the inter-team collaboration needed to make a release happen. - SteveConklin

Kate has done a terrific job as release manager for Natty Narwhal. Her continuous efforts to keep all those involved informed is great. The work she has done with the SRU and LTS issues has helped to highlight and resolve issues. She is continuously looking for ways to improve communications with the teams involved in each release, as well as the SRU process. I can easily recommend Kate's membership, as she would be an asset to the community. -- charlie-tca 2011-03-24 23:34:41

Kate is a strong contributor to Ubuntu. She has is strong on detail and ensuring we deliver a solid Ubuntu release. Her work has been high quality and timely. I would heartily advocate for her approval as a member. +1 -- JoeyStanford