I, Leônidas S. Barbosa, apply for core-dev.

Who I am

My name is Leônidas S. Barbosa and I'm Brazilian. I'm familiar with many programming language, mostly with Python and C. I'm an Ubuntu user since 2008 and I'm also member of Ubuntu Security Team since 2017.

My Involvement

I am an Ubuntu user since 2008 and I'm a Software Engineer since 2008. I learnt about Debian and Ubuntu packaging when I joined Ubuntu Security Team in 2017. Since then I have been producing security updates for the archive, Ubuntu pro, main and universe.

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

My work so far has been doing security updates for many packages in main. Mostly of them for ESM releases. As one of the last updates I did ask for sponsor is this one https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fwupd-signed/1.27.1ubuntu1 that required rights to be done.

Areas of work

My areas of work involves security updates and bug fixes. For an overview about what I've been work so far/uploaded https://launchpad.net/~leosilvab/+ppa-packages or Ubuntu sponsor miner it counts for 1275 (as this last edit update) packages uploads through security mostly and some for dev releases.

Things I could do better

• Bug fixing
• Merges
• Syncs

Plans for the future

General

• Become better dev for both Ubuntu and Debian
• Become a kernel dev

What I like least in Ubuntu

• The collaboration between Ubuntu and Debian: We have to collaborate closely with Debian as Debian is our upstream; for example we should always forward non-specific Ubuntu changes to Debian. Doing so we will improve Debian and minimize the Ubuntu delta. We should encourage Ubuntu contributing developers to collaborate with Debian too but at the same time encourage the Ubuntu contributing Developers to contribute to Ubuntu.

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@.

I have worked with Leonidas before Canonical and at Canonical. He has always been conscientious and hard working. He loves taking on new challenges and expanding his knowledge base both in breadth and in depth. I saw this when he worked on a kernel crypto driver a while back in old job and now as we work together in expanding the security team's OVAL. His genuine curiosity and ability to quickly consume information results in his always honing his skills. And on top of that he is fun to work with! -- j-latten

I've also worked with Leonidas before Canonical and at Canonical. Leonidas is always eager to help and share his knowledge with others. He's also curious and always trying to learn something new. Since I met him, he has worked with kernel crypto driver, SELinux and a lot of security work for Main packages and is currently the focal point on patching ESM packages. Becoming a coredev would suit him well! -- @Eduardo Barretto@

I've worked with Leo for seven years (congratulations Leo!) and have always been impressed with his dedication to our users. When a regression is reported on one of his updates he takes it seriously and works it until it's fixed. (And, he's done so many updates that regressions, even in the face of careful work and testing, are inevitable.) Leo has significantly more experience with minimally-invasive security updates along the trailing edge of the distribution than large-scale changes at the leading edge of the distribution, which seems to be a usual criteria for a core-dev applicant, but Leo is very open to asking for advice and guidance when he's approaching something he isn't sure of. I believe that Leo would be a careful and thoughtful contributor as a core-dev and I know that having these privileges would help him do his job more effectively. -- seth-arnold 2024-06-06 20:53:59

I am fortunate to have been able to learn from and work with Leo as part of the Ubuntu Security Engineering team for the last two and a half years. Since I've joined, and steadily through to today, Leo has been a core (no pun intended) part of what makes the volume and quality of security updates that the team outputs possible. Leo unofficially is the ESM patching 'goto' individual on our team - unfortunately for him, this often means getting pinged regarding difficult/tricky/weird issues for code bases that sometimes are up to 10 years old. The quality that makes Leo a good candidate for being a Core Dev is not that he knows everything perfectly, but instead the attitude, attention, and the intentionality he exhibits everyday when he is approached with unique and difficult problems. -- iconstantin

Leo has for many years been a cornerstone for our ESM support for packages in main beyond their initial 5 year support. This work has required him to touch a huge number of packages across main, and these updates have been done quickly and accurately, and this has provided an extremely valuable service for the Ubuntu Community. I strongly support this application. aburrage

Endorsements

Marc Deslauriers

General feedback

In the past 7 years that Leo has worked for Canonical, I have sponsored over a hundred packages for him into the development release. That is in addition to the hundreds of packages he has done as security updates for the stable releases. He knows how Debian packaging works, and he knows the testing steps required to make sure that each change is justified and meets the quality standards that Ubuntu is known for. He is detail-oriented and isn't afraid of asking question when he's unsure of something, even after all these years. I believe Leo has the knowledge necessary to be an excellent Core Dev, and in areas where he has less experience, he will definitely ask questions instead of making mistakes.

Specific Experiences of working together

I have sponsored over a hundred packages for him into the dev release over the years. While these required adjustments when he first started, he quickly grasped the concept of appropriate packaging changes and the packages I've sponsored in the past few years were always of high quality. Sometimes, security updates can result in regression because of bad upstream fixes, and when assisting with regressions, I've often seen him gracefully handle them by commenting in bugs and quickly preparing regression fixes to make sure the impact is reduced to a minimum. He has been involved in training new members to the security team for a few years now and is teaching his knowledge to others.

Areas of Improvement

Being on the security team, there are a few details of being Core Dev where he may have less knowledge and experience, but I am confident he will ask the right questions to the right people when needed.

CategoryCoreDevApplication