MOTUDeveloperApplication

I, Travis Watkins, apply for MOTU and upload rights for compiz packages.

Name

Travis Watkins

Launchpad Page

https://launchpad.net/~amaranth

Wiki Page

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TravisWatkins

Who I am

Hmm, a bio... Well, I'm 22, live in Iowa in the USA, and have been crazy about computers since I was 12. Other than working on Ubuntu I enjoy playing video games and biking while trying not to get run over.

My Ubuntu story

I started using Ubuntu shortly after 4.10 came out when I thought it was a repo for updated GNOME packages for Debian. Smile :) Soon after I was helping others in #ubuntu on freenode and then helping as an operator in the channel. Around this time I also started working on Alacarte for Ubuntu but then got it included in GNOME. I've since moved on to working on Compiz both upstream and in Ubuntu.

My involvement

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

  • Got alacarte included in Ubuntu and in GNOME
  • Kept compiz from becoming the package with the most bugs in launchpad

Areas of work

I mostly work with mvo on the compiz packages but occasionally work with the rest of the Desktop Team to get a patch accepted in some other part of the desktop that affects compiz.

Compiz package maintenance is handled in bzr and since upstream has not changed what files ship where or anything recently the actual packaging for compiz is pretty stable. We mostly work do small tweaks to the default settings, updates to newer upstream versions, and small patches for features or workarounds that upstream does not want (they refuse to do workarounds for driver-specific problems). The biggest problem with compiz maintenance is keeping on top of bug triage so the bug count does not grow out of control.

Things I could do better

The main thing is to forward more bugs upstream. Right now the only way compiz bugs filed in launchpad get fixed upstream is because two of the other upstream developers will occasionally look at our bugs.

List of compiz packages

  • compiz-fusion-plugins-main
  • compiz-fusion-plugins-extra
  • compiz-fusion-bcop
  • libcompizconfig
  • compizconfig-backend-gconf
  • compizconfig-backend-kconfig
  • compizconfig-python
  • compizconfig-settings-manager
  • emerald
  • compiz
  • fusion-icon
  • simple-ccsm

Plans for the future

General

I hope to be able to work on integrating more of the desktop with compiz for thumbnails, screenshots, desktop recording, etc as these things are hard or impossible to do right when compiz is running without being compiz. Otherwise my main goal is to get the bug count below 100 and keep it there.

I also want to get involved in packaging and maintenance of the rest of the desktop.

What I like least in Ubuntu

I'd have to say my main problem with Ubuntu is that visually it really has not changed since the first release compiz was enabled. Since then we've had the same compiz effects, the same desktop theme, etc. Luckily this is already changing and I hope to help in any way I can to further this.


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

mvo

General feedback

Travis is doing good work on the compiz packages. He has a good knowledge of the code and a good relation with upstream. He also does great work on the bug triage and manages to keep the bug list under control this way. I trust the quality of his work.

Specific Experiences of working together

I recently sponsored the compiz upload for 0.8.3+git20090917-0ubuntu2. The changes were commited to bzr, they included a patch, some debian/rules hacking and a update to the compiz-manager script. All done without problems. So it was just a bzr diff, bzr-buildpackage for me. Also the recent triage work helps a lot to get a feeling for the outstanding issues.

What I like is that he does not stop if the problem seems to be "difficult", he just keeps poking and ask the right people (e.g. in #xorg-devel).

Areas of Improvement

The only thing I have here is that Travis has been inactive for some times (serveral weeks) in the past. Of course with real-life commitments (that we all have) its unfair to turn that against him. Mabe a occasional I'm-alive in irc or by mail is enough here.


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 ===


CategoryMOTUApplication

CategoryPerPackageUploaderApplication

TravisWatkins/MOTUDeveloperApplication (last edited 2009-10-09 07:49:47 by 74-221-39-29)