CoreDevApplication

I, Ricardo Salveti, apply for Core Developer status.

Name

Ricardo Salveti

Launchpad Page

https://launchpad.net/~rsalveti

Wiki Page

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RicardoSalveti

Who I am

  • Linux user since 2002
  • Ubuntu and Debian user since 2007 (x86, amd64, armel)
  • Canonical ARM developer from 2010-11 (working together with the Ubuntu ARM team)
  • Linaro Developer Platform Tech Lead (since 2011)
  • Contributions to many OSS over the past few years (OE, Mamona, Maemo, Linux, Gentoo, Ubuntu, etc)
  • Member of the Ubuntu Bug Control and Ubuntu Universe Contributors groups

Working with OSS development since 2003, and doing general distro development since 2006. While Gentoo user I contributed with package and kernel fixes. From 2008-10 worked helping created an OpenEmbedded based distro called Mamona. Since 2010 I've being working at Canonical, first at the Ubuntu on ARM team (2010-11), and later as the technical leader of the Linaro Developer Platform team, working always with Ubuntu, improving the status and support for the ARM platforms we support.

Large experience with SW development, mainly using Python and C. Being a generalist, worked from Kernel to X11, also doing a lot of distro development.

My Ubuntu story

After some long years using Gentoo (also Debian, but mostly at the University), I decided to move to a package oriented distro, and by 2007 Ubuntu seemed the best option around (it was getting quite famous, and most friends were using it already). After using it at most of my X86 servers, I started using it with my EeePC for desktop purposes, helping debugging and fixing the RT2860 wireless driver.

During 2010 I joined Canonical to work as an ARM developer, being part of the old Ubuntu on ARM team. Since mid-2011 I was then assigned to Linaro to lead the Developer Platform team, which was responsible for delivering Ubuntu based builds for all the ARM boards supported by Linaro (also continuing to push improvements to the official ARM port at Ubuntu).

As a generalist, I helped pushing packages and modifications to Ubuntu since the bootloader to the graphical stack used by Ubuntu (e.g. Nux/Compiz/Unity for OpenGL ES2.0).

My involvement

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

Contributions to existing packages:

Maverick

Package

Type

Link

Sponsor

Comment

rootstock

package update

several

ogra

new upstream release

qemu-kvm

bugfix

610742

dustin

backport from upstream, avoid warning for pselect

pybootchartgui

bugfix

619026

ogra

make pybootchartgui run in devices like beagleboard

x-loader

bugfix

628243

ogra

make it properly work with Beagle xM

x-loader-omap4

package update

several

ogra

new upstream release

jasper-initramfs

bugfix

629269

ogra

fixing cmdline arguments for Panda ES2

jasper-initramfs

bugfix

627201

ogra

fixing swap file creation

devmem2

new package

607752

ogra

new package, initial release

powervr-omap3

new package

652347

ogra

new package, initial release (with FFe)

x-loader-omap4

bugfix

several

ogra

for proper pandaboard support

Kernel fixes:

  • 2.6.35-20.29 and 2.6.35-903.9: Fixing kernel config for beagle and panda LED support
  • 2.6.35-23.36: Remove CONFIG_FIXED_PHY and move CONFIG_SMSC911X from m to y for omap (LP: #645689)

  • 2.6.35-903.13: OMAP: Enable needed Errata for OMAP4 to work with DMA based device drivers
  • 2.6.35-903.20: Display fixes for Panda (LP: #653002)

  • Linaro 2.6.35-1007.13: Fixing IGEPv2 video output (LP: #607250)

  • 2.6.35-23.39 and Linaro 2.6.35-1008.15: SRU: Fix DVI for Beagle xM rev A3 (LP: #663642)

Natty

Package

Type

Link

Sponsor

Comment

x-loader

package update

several

ogra

new upstream release

x-loader

pbugfix

702046

ogra

enabling x-loader for overo

netbook-launcher-efl

bugfix

jani

making une-efl to work again on natty

x-loader

package update

several

ncommander

new upstream release

evas

package update

ncommander

changing GL backend to GLES2 for ARM

mesa-demos

package update

ncommander

updating package to contain the OpenGL ES2.0 based demos

mesa-demos

package update

ncommander

fixing support for the es2gears application

clutter

package update

jani

changing GL backend to GLES2 for ARM

qt4-x11

bugfix

707794

Felix Geyer

changing OpenGL backend from GL to GLES 2 for ARM

evas

bugfix

727591

jani

enabling runtime shader compiler for GLES

webkit

bugfix

728211

jani

fixing JIT ARM crashes

x-loader

package update

several

jani

new upstream release

jasper-initramfs

bugfix

746137

ogra

workaround to avoid page allocation errors

powervr-omap3

package update

several

jani

new upstream release

opengles-sgx-omap3

package update

several

jani

new upstream release

pyside

bugfix

707794

martin pitt

Kernel fixes:

  • 2.6.35-1101.4: enabling CONFIG_TASK_ options for iotop to work (LP: #694461)

  • 2.6.38-1.28: fix display for Beagle
  • 2.6.38-2.29: don't warn the user with a trace in case of PM34XX_ERRATUM
  • 2.6.38-1206.7: Making it work with SGX

Oneiric

Package

Type

Link

Sponsor

Comment

x-loader

bugfix

infinity

fixing tftp support at u-boot

u-boot-linaro

bugfix

808612

jcrigby

fixing PXE support at u-boot

x-loader

package update

several

infinity

new upstream release

klatexformula

sync

812110

qutecom

sync

812381

powertop

sync

816291

u-boot-linaro

bugfix

839615

jcrigby

FFe: enabling build and package for OMAP4 SDP4430

aufs-tools

sync

bf

bugfix

765951

dave walker

FTBFS

xorg-server

bugfix

828494

Timo Aaltonen

Adding autoload support for the PVR driver on OMAP 4

Kernel fixes:

  • 3.0.0-1203.7: Disable built-in SGX and enable CONFIG_DRM=m
  • 3.0.0-1204.9: Enabling DRM_OMAP as built-in

Precise

Package

Type

Link

Sponsor

Comment

xorg-server

bugfix

959928

raof

Fixing driver autoload for ARM

cogl

bugfix

961798

infinity

clutter

bugfix

several

infinity

Fixing support for OpenGL ES2.0

pvr-omap4

new package

959924

ogra

FFe: Adding PowerVR SGX driver for OMAP4

nvidia-common

bugfix

977245

Alberto Milone

jockey

support for pvr

978563

ogra

Adding support for the PowerVR SGX driver at Jockey (omap4)

nux

package update

979438

infinity

Enabling build with OpenGL ES2.0 support for ARM

unity

package update

980544

Didier Roche

Enabling build with OpenGL ES2.0 support for ARM

gnome-shell

bugfix

several

Jeremy Bicha

Enabling support for OpenGL ES2.0 on ARM

compiz-plugins-extra

bugfix

983555

infinity

Disabling plugins that are not compatible with OpenGL ES2.0 when building for ARM

squeak-vm

bugfix

634240

FTBFS fixed at Debian

gdb

bugfix

9989153

doko

enabling gdbserver package for armhf

Quantal

Package

Type

Link

Sponsor

Comment

plymouth

bugfix

1018907

infinity

Fixing Plymouth at Pandaboard

rt-tests

package update

1039352

Daniel Holbach

New upstream release

glmark2

package update

1039736

Daniel Holbach

New upstream release

xorg-server

bugfix

1040405

Timo Aaltonen

Fixing driver support for OMAP

xf86-video-omap

bugfix

1015292

Timo Aaltonen

Adding support for platformProbe, for proper autoload support on OMAP

libdri2

new package

1040611

ogra

New package, needed by PVR SGX OMAP4

pvr-omap4

package update

ogra

new upstream snapshot, working with xorg ABI 13

xserver-xorg-video-modesetting

bugfix

1041727

Timo Aaltonen

Backport from upstream, to support platformProbe

xorg-server

bugfix

1041686

Timo Aaltonen

Correctly add the ARM specific drivers before modesetting

glmark2

bugfix

1040895

infinity

FTBFS with new Mesa (that was uploaded at the same time the new glmark2 release was also uploaded)

Kernel fixes:

  • 3.5.0-12.12: installing omapdrm specific headers for external drivers
  • 3.5.0-208.14: installing omapdrm specific headers for external drivers

Areas of work

  • Ubuntu Kernel fixes
  • X-Loader/U-Boot maintenance
  • GLES support at the archive (including OpenGL ES2.0 based drivers for supported vendor)
  • Usual image testing and bugfixing
  • FTBFS for armhf
  • Image customization at Linaro (Linaro Evaluation Builds)

Worked with normal bugfixing, Feature Freeze Exception, MIR and also with the SRU process.

As a result of my work I've being mostly working with the Ubuntu on ARM team, with the following core developers:

  • Oliver Grawert
  • Michael Casadevall
  • Jani Monoses
  • Adam Conrad

Also worked with the Kernel Team improving the ARM support when possible.

Besides work directly happening at Ubuntu, I also try to help improving the communication between Linaro and Ubuntu, supporting discussions at UDS/Connect and also participating at the weekly release meetings.

Things I could do better

Spending more time helping and fixing the FTBFS for ARM (usually the arch with most FTBFS).

Plans for the future

General

Continue working on improving the ARM experience on Ubuntu, by helping fixing the images and developing new features. Also plan to help maintaining the Pandaboard support, by providing kernel fixes and new releases of the PVR driver (besides making sure the UI stack also works properly with it).

What I like least in Ubuntu

Usually the time it takes for a SRU to hit the final user. It's also normal for kernel SRUs to take a few weeks to hit the archive.

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@.

Alexandros Frantzis (afrantzis)

Ricardo is a very prolific and capable packager and engineer in general (as the list above clearly shows). Although I haven't been involved in sponsoring any of Ricardo's packages, I have been relying on a number of them for my linaro work (mesa-utils-extra, clutter, pvr-omap4) and his work has always been superb. Beyond his technical skills, he is also a great person to work with: when I found some some issues in the pvr-omap4 packaging that were blocking my work, Ricardo was very responsive and open to ideas and discussion and produced an excellent solution to the problem. I believe he is a valuable addition to the Ubuntu community.

Kate Stewart

Ricardo has an excellent understanding of how all the pieces fit together to get features and fixes into the stable and development releases. He's very detail oriented and responsive, and he's one of the folk I rely on to know the right bits to pull together when things aren't working in the ARM space. I have a very high respect for the quality of his work, his willingness to proactively communicate, and his ability to keep things in perspective.

Endorsements

Jani Monoses

General feedback

I trust Ricardo to create great package uploads. I have sponsored some of his recent work related to ARM boot loaders, miscellaneous FTBFS fixes concerning ARM GLES, and OMAP graphics driver packages. He always does extensive testing before requesting sponsoring so I never had to ask for any change nor did any of the uploads need further fixing after in the archive. He works well with upstreams, picking relevant fixes and attributing them correctly in the changelogs. He understands well the packages he works on.

Specific Experiences of working together

He'd ping me on IRC or via email (or ask for any sponsor on IRC and I'd offer) with a short description of why an upload is needed, and links to debdiff/bzr branch and link to tested src (and sometimes deb) packages to try out. They were all short experiences, as there was not much to discuss. He only needs sponsoring, not mentoring.

Areas of Improvement

UDD, the keeping in sync of packages and bzr branches is not the easiest thing. The only occasion I remember needing to do a bit more work when sponsoring Ricardo is fixing up UNRELEASED/natty in the changelog and setting a proper bzr release tag. But I suspect my lack of experience (and discomfort) with UDD also played a significant role in this taking more time than it should have.

Oliver Grawert

Working with Ricardo is a pleasure, i sponsored plenty of uploads for him which were in a good enough quality that nobody had to touch them. Technically his packaging work is outstanding and at a level where he definitely should get the ability to upload his changes himself.

Even though Ricardo works on ARM stuff on a day to day basis, he additionally puts spare time and after hour work into helping the community and giving support in areas that don't necessarily touch his work area.

Ricardo is a big addition to our ARM community and a person that will give you reliable help in the #ubuntu-arm channel if you have any issue.

Since working in the ARM world usually means that you have to touch packages all across the archive so his granted upload rights should cover this.

When Ricardo joined the ARM team he immediately took over rootstock which is a tool to enable the wider community to roll rootfses for unsupported hardware. He improved the existing code massively and is very responsive on bugs, if a community person has problems building images you can rely on him providing or merging a fix in nearly no time. The same goes for his other areas of work (bootloaders, graphics drivers on ARM, the GLES stack) as well.

Adam Conrad

Ricardo is on my short list of people I really enjoy sponsoring uploads/patches for. He has both sets of skills that I think are quite valuable to a core-dev:

  1. A broad knowledge of Ubuntu/Debian, and how all the pieces fit together, and how not to break A by fixing B.
  2. An understanding of what he doesn't understand, leading to asking questions, or just plain not touching things he doesn't think he's qualified to break.

I have no hesitation whatsoever with endorsing Ricardo's application and have, in fact, been bugging him to do this for months. I've often joked that I don't want him to apply because then the quality of submissions I get to sponsor will go down (due to no longer having his in my queue), which I suspect is a pretty good reason to give him upload privs. Wink ;)


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 ===


RicardoSalveti/CoreDevApplication (last edited 2012-09-10 18:38:11 by 99-191-111-134)