Ubuntu Wiki

About Me

Hi there. My name is Dan, and I am a long time fan of Debian/Ubuntu. I first experimented with Linux by attempting some sort of crude dual-boot of my parents computer (without asking first - always a good choice) and somehow managed to not completely wipe the computer in the process. I became a Debian Developer in 2001, but left the project in 2006 as I was not a very active contributor.

I joined HP in 2007, where I had the opportunity to work on a proprietary Debian derivative called ThinPro. Later ThinPro would be "similar to Ubuntu". This work entailed traditional software development and Debian-style packaging against LTS releases from Lucid to Bionic. I continued work on ThinPro until 2020, and had the opportunity to contribute a little of that upstream to the FreeRDP and lxqt-panel projects.

In January of 2021 I joined Canonical's Ubuntu Foundations team, where I have been able to focus most of my time on installer related matters, but also get to do some "distro work" and contribute fixes to several packages.

I reside in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA with my wife and two children.

I became an Ubuntu Member Aug-5-2021.

Contact Information

Contributions

• #2 contributor to Subiquity in the last year

• Wrote autoinstall-generator tool to help transition people over to the Subiquity installer

• Helping out the ubuntu-desktop-installer project with supporting changes in Subiquity and the inevitable integration issues

• Fixes merged to other installer related areas - curtin, livecd-rootfs

• 7 uploads sponsored + another direct to Debian on dh-exec

• 3 +1 maintenance shifts so far - I like the mix of distro work, it feeds well to my interest on working on a little bit of everything

• Have performed a SRU (of my own crash bug :facepalm:) and a MIR

• I'm starting to involve myself in relevant community discussions autoinstall-generator, ubuntu-desktop-installer

• Help verify Shim behavior on Apple systems 1, 2

Future Goals

• End-to-end understanding of the live cd creation, installer, and first boot processes
• Improvements to automated installs
• A lighter weight iso process that our users clamoring for "mini.iso" can be happy with

• General quality improvements on the install process - first impressions can last a long time

Testimonials

Note: If you have anything nice to say about this person, please do add it below along with @ SIG @ (no spaces). The @ SIG @ command will sign your name and date/time it after you "Save Changes".

I've worked with Dan since the day he started at Canonical and have since that day been impressed with his knowledge and the care he puts into his work. I have no doubt in my mind that he meets the criteria for Ubuntu membership and look forward to his future contributions. -- mwhudson 2021-08-02 23:27:22

I also have worked with Dan since he started at Canonical and was happy to see him dive into community discussions, which can involve a lot of opinionated people, on discourse regarding subiquity and the autoinstall-generator he worked on. I also believe he meets the criteria for Ubuntu membership. -- brian-murray 2021-08-05 17:15:47