I, Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre, apply for upload rights for the usb-modeswitch and usb-modeswitch-data packages.

As a task in the Oneiric cycle, I've rewritten the usb_modeswitch_dispatcher utility in C, and already look after usb-modeswitch and its data package (usb-modeswitch-data) to some degree to support new device additions, mostly through keeping in sync with Debian.

Who I am

I'm a developer in the Ubuntu Desktop team for Canonical. My job is to maintain NetworkManager (and related components) and help with the general maintenance of the desktop package. I contribute directly to a number of different projects such as NetworkManager, concordance/congruity, through bug reports, patches, or maintaining packages in Debian and Ubuntu.

My Ubuntu story

I've been using Ubuntu since about the Hoary release, and was suggested that I contribute to Ubuntu by some of my former coworkers because of my ideas and some of the bugs that I noticed in some systems (like NetworkManager), and patches that I had proposed. I've been contributing to Ubuntu since Jaunty.

My involvement

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

• LP #91964 - network-manager-vpnc - No Option To Save Group Password

• LP #490326 - Please merge fontconfig 2.8.0-2 from Debian testing (main)

• LP #392195 - telepathy-butterfly - add support for the http method (MSN over HTTP) -- this one is still in progress.

• I'm also the current Debian maintainer for a couple of packages in Debian:

  • Concordance - Harmony remote configuration tool (CLI)
  • Congruity - graphical utility to configure Logitech Harmony remotes
  • Acct - GNU System and Process accounting utilities
  • Ethos - GTK+ Plug-in infrastructure

  • Emerillon - Gnome OpenStreetMaps map viewer.

Areas of work

• NetworkManager/ModemManager package maintenance for Ubuntu and Debian

• Maintenance of the Evolution packages.
• Maintenance of other GNOME packages with the Ubuntu Desktop team.

Things I could do better

Automation in debugging radio-related bugs is sorely missing. I don't have a lot of hardware yet so things tend to be hard to track down; but that's slowly getting better.

Plans for the future

General

I'm now aiming to get to Core Dev. To do this I've slowly been working more on NBS and FTBFS and other potential side-effects of intricate packages like evolution, that are widely integrated into the desktop (and make other things break every once in a while).

What I like least in Ubuntu

Things move very fast and we have relatively little time to turn around in terms of including new features in a release. This has especially been the case in Oneiric for IPv6 support which initially looked pretty good at UDS for the desktop, but we needed to add a bunch of fixes or feature improvements to NetworkManager to make it really rock... except those take a fair amount of time to get just right, to test, etc.

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

Steve Langasek

General feedback

Having sponsored all of Mathieu's uploads to usb-modeswitch so far, I can say without hesitation that he understands this code better than anyone else, is in the best position to maintain it for Ubuntu, and can be trusted to do so without requiring sponsor reviews prior to upload. I am certain he will seek feedback from more experienced developers when he feels he needs it, and when he doesn't we should have no reason to be concerned, as the package is in good hands.

Areas of Improvement

In the most recent sponsorship request on this package, Mathieu proposed a fix for a possible path issue that I believe was incorrect under Policy (i.e., hard-coding a path to a binary on the filesystem). This would have been a low-risk change since tar is not likely to move from its current location any time soon, but Policy guidance on this question is fairly clear, so the proposed solution suggests to me that Mathieu has not yet fully internalized Ubuntu Policy in his approach to package maintenance. This is hardly a condemnation, as I think the same can be said for *most* Ubuntu Developers, but it is an area where I would like to see him improve.

As a sponsor, just copy the template below, fill it out and add it to this section.

Martin Pitt

I reviewed Mathieu's usb-modeswitch C port, and followed his testing work there. I confirm that he fully understands the purpose and implementation of this package, and would welcome him to be able to upload this package by himself. He has also done a fair amount of desktop related work and has been an official member of https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-desktop for several months, so he knows the day-to-day packaging skills.

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