PPUApplication

I, Ross Gammon, apply for PPU rights for some of my Debian packages and Ubuntu Studio packages.

Name

Ross Gammon

Launchpad Page

rosco2

Wiki Page

Ross Gammon

Who I am

I am one of the Developers in the Ubuntu Studio Development Team. In the past I have also held the Test Manager and Release Manager roles. I am an Ubuntu Member, and Contributing Developer. I am also a Debian Developer, maintaining a few packages on my own, and within the Debian GIS, Debian Multimedia, Debian Javascript, and Debian Python Modules Teams.

I am applying for PPU rights to some of my Debian packages (mainly multimedia ones), to the ubuntustudio-* packages, and to Carla which has just been uploaded to Ubuntu and which I hope to upload to Debian after the Buster release.

Which packages?

Ubuntu Studio Packages:
carla
grub2-theme-ubuntustudio
ubuntustudio-controls
ubuntustudio-default-settings
ubuntustudio-icon-theme
ubuntustudio-installer
ubuntustudio-look
ubuntustudio-menu
ubuntustudio-meta
ubuntustudio-live
ubuntustudio-lightdm-theme

My Debian packages:
calf-plugins
debian-multimedia
gramps
lmms
pmidi
qxgedit
sfarklib
sfarkxtc

My Ubuntu story

After becoming interested in Linux in 2010, and trying out Sabayon, Debian and Fedora, I eventually settled with Ubuntu on my desktop machine. In 2013 I started to look at how I could contribute back. I joined the Bug Squad in 2013 and learnt how to triage bugs in Launchpad. Due to the maintainer of the Gramps package being inactive, I took over the maintenance of that package in Debian after the steep learning curve of bringing the packaging up to date. Then I learnt the process of merging and syncing packages to Ubuntu, and have also managed a couple of SRUs & done a little backporting. These days I am mostly helping out in the Ubuntu Studio Team, and recently I became an Ubuntu Member, Contributing Developer and Debian Developer.

My involvement

  • Keeping an eye on the packages I maintain in Debian here in Ubuntu, and also seeded packages in Ubuntu Studio (SRUs, backports, syncs, merges & removals)

  • Help with the Ubuntu Studio seeds and packages (e.g. ubuntustudio-menu ubuntustudio-wallpapers)
  • Helping out with ISO Testing of the Ubuntu Studio releases for Trusty (point releases) & Xenial, marking them ready for release for the Release Team, and drafting the Release Notes. These days I just help with the testing.

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

Areas of work

Within the Ubuntu Studio Team, Kaj Ailomaa normally uploaded the ubuntustudio-* packages prepared by the Team Members. However, Kaj retired from the team a while back, and we need some new developers to look after the Ubuntu Studio packages. Currently, I am the only Ubuntu Studio Team member with any substantial packaging experience (in Ubuntu or Debian), although Len Ovens and Erich Eickmeyer have produced some packages this cycle also demonstrating good packaging knowledge.

For my Ubuntu packaging work, I have had various sponsors:

The uploads were mostly comment free, although occasionally my sponsors have needed to remind me of Ubuntu specific things (e.g. correct changelog version format for a rebuild, and only providing a diff for debian/changelog when doing an update to the us-meta package).

This cycle (disco), I have been more active thanks to the work of Len Ovens and Erik Eickmeyer. Over four years I have tried most of the Ubuntu specific packaging situations (SRU, merge, sync backport), understand the release process and when to apply for freeze exceptions, and where to look to find out why packages are not migrating from "proposed" to "release". Recently I have successfully had some packages merged using git-ubuntu.

Things I could do better

As a volunteer, I find that sometimes I do not follow through and finish things as quickly as I would like after receiving feedback on my work etc. But I do follow up eventually. I would love to have more hours in the day!

Plans for the future

General

After getting PPU rights for my Debian packages, and the ubuntustudio-* packages, I would eventually like to:

  • Obtain upload permission for the complete Ubuntu Studio package set.
  • Use the Ubuntu Studio Contributors Team to mentor new developers and build up the Ubuntu Studio Developers Team (maybe eventually becoming a delegated team).
  • Become a MOTU.

It would be great if the Ubuntu Studio Package Set could be updated in preparation for a future upgrade :-)

What I like least in Ubuntu

There is not much to say here, as I love Ubuntu and Ubuntu Studio. I suppose the biggest frustration has been the need to take up the time of various upload sponsors for so long.


Comments

If you'd like to comment, but are not the applicant or a sponsor, do it here. Don't forget to sign with @a link to your launchpad page@.

Previous comments and endorsements can be found on my Contributing Developer Application page, and my Ubuntu Membership Application page. Me


Endorsements

Laney

General feedback

I sponsored a couple of packages for Ross a little while ago. The changes were minimal, so you might want to adjust the weight of this endorsement accordingly, but I had no problems. Ross seems to have done things the right way by becoming a DD, and has a decent knowledge of Ubuntu processes - so I have no hesitation in +1ing him.

Specific Experiences of working together

Some sponsorship listed on the miner.

Gianfranco Costamagna

General feedback

Gianfranco endorses Rosco2 for MOTU (7th March 2019), on a Developer Application that was prepared some time ago but not progressed: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RossGammon/DeveloperApplication

cyphermox

General feedback

I've only sponsored a single package for Ross (carla, still in NEW at the time of this writing), and found no issues. It's a complex package that appears to be a collaboration with Erich Eickmeyer, and I'm unsure who did the lion's share of the work, but the package was of acceptable quality and my own review of other packages uploaded and I am satisfied with the quality of the work. It's a clear +1 from me for PPU, and would like to invite Ross to apply for the UbuntuStudio packageset as a whole.

Dmitry Shachnev

General feedback

I have sponsored a few packages related to Ubuntu Studio for Ross. The only issue I found was a missing dependency in ubuntustudio-installer, but such a thing is easy to miss. So in my opinion these packages were in good shape.

Specific Experiences of working together

SteveLangasek

General feedback

Sponsorship history shows that I have sponsored three packages for Ross. These uploads were complete non-events, to the point where I can find nothing in my chat history to show that any interaction at all with Ross was required while sponsoring. Granted, two of these were trivially-mechanical uploads of ubuntustudio-meta, but he is a Debian Developer and I have no doubts regarding the quality of his work in Ubuntu, particularly as it concerns the UbuntuStudio packages which he is directly involved in and can be expected to care about.


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.''
## Full list of sponsored packages can be generated here:
## http://ubuntu-dev.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi?
=== Areas of Improvement ===


CategoryUniverseContributorApplication

RossGammon/PPUApplication (last edited 2019-03-08 16:10:23 by rosco2)