I, Nick Black ("dank"), apply for Notcurses PPU

I am applying because:

• I'd like to eliminate delays in getting my work sponsored.
• I'd like to be able to apply Ubuntu-specific modifications without sponsors.
• I'd like to become more involved with Ubuntu.

Who I am

I started using Linux (Slackware) in 1997, irritated by the perceived indirections and bloat of Windows 9x. Upon realizing the value--the miracle--of Free Software, I was an immediate convert. All code I've written (save that directly sponsored+owned by external commercial entities) has been Free since that time, representing the vast majority of code I've ever written.

I began using Debian circa 2002, impressed by the APT system (especially in comparison to the alternatives of that era), the technical acumen of the Debian Developers, the unique and romantic role Debian played in the GNU/Linux and larger Free Software ecosystem, the ease of contributing back to the Project, and the simple fact that it worked better than anything else I'd found. Save the two years during which I developed+ran the SprezzOS Debian Derivative, and a laptop running Arch, I've had Debian Unstable on all my workstations and laptops since.

Free Software has given me so much, and now that I've the time, resources, and knowledge to give back, I see doing so as one of the noblest bits of work I might accomplish in the days left to me.

My contributions to Free Software are many and wide-ranging, including the Linux kernel, LLVM, Glibc, NCURSES, wireshark, autotools, CMake, Valgrind, and many others.

In the non-Free world, I am currently employed by Microsoft, writing code for satellites. I have worked at Google (where I spent significant time on the internal Linux team), NVIDIA, and Intel, and several startups.

My primary interests include systems programming, algorithmic information theory and the foundations of computer science, compilers, terminal graphics, string algorithms, and computer algebra. Beyond computers, I am very fond of postmodern literature and orcas.

My Ubuntu story

I've not been very involved in Ubuntu proper, though I've deployed it for any number of clients. I requested and was granted an FFE post-Debian-Freeze for Notcurses 1.7.4 in Focal.

At Google, I was on the internal Linux "Goobuntu" team, which was based on Trusty and later Xenial.

From 2012 through 2013, I was (for better or worse) the primary developer of the SprezzOS project, a Debian Derivative. It pushed a number of frontiers, several of which ended up in Debian/Ubuntu.

My involvement

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

I've not had any uploads sponsored into Ubuntu, but I've maintained Notcurses in Debian, Alpine, Fedora, Arch, and FreeBSD. I'm deeply familiar with the debhelper ecosystem.

I have an extensive history of reported DBTS bugs, many of which I patched myself. In February 2013, I found, reported, and offered a fix for a debhelper bug which would have otherwise silently dropped Depends entries.

Areas of work

* Notcurses: I'm the project leader, primary upstream author, and I maintain the package for most distributions.

Things I could do better

I really ought stop smoking?

Plans for the future

General

What I like least in Ubuntu

It should have never left Compiz 8, heh. And I suppose all those bash completions installed by default seem a bit extra.

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

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

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:
##  https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi
=== Areas of Improvement ===