I, Micah Gersten, apply for MOTU

Who I am

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm a 31 year old Web Application developer that works with open source technologies (PHP, Perl, Apache, MySQL).

My Ubuntu story

Tell us how and when you got involved, what you liked working on and what you could probably do better.

I've been using Xubuntu as my primary desktop since Gutsy. I started about 2 years ago in the Answer tracker. A few months after that I started triaging bugs, mainly focusing on Firefox bugs. I then started to maintain the Mozilla daily builds and eventually joined the Mozilla Team about a year ago. I worked during the Lucid cycle on porting application to xulrunner-1.9.2 and updating the Mozilla application to the latest versions. I was encouraged to have a packageset created for the Mozilla based applications and finally completed that about 3 months ago.

My involvement

For the last cycle I was responsible for merging and updating the xulrunner rdepends. I think I did a pretty good job of this.

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

Actually, the thing I'm most proud of this cycle was doing an update for libfxscintilla. I not only updated to the new version, but upgraded the packaging to the latest Standards version with all the necessary changes, and fixed some packaging issues in the original package.

Areas of work

Let us know what you worked on, with which development teams / developers you cooperated and how it worked out.

I mainly worked on the Mozilla packageset, but towards the end of the cycle, tried to squash some RC bugs.

Things I could do better

Estimate my available time better. Sometimes I can grab a task, but not have time to do it.

Plans for the future

General

I'd like to help the Xubuntu dev team as I know they're short handed.

What I like least in Ubuntu

Please describe what you like least in Ubuntu and what thoughts do you have about fixing it.

The ability to easily switch between archive versions and PPA versions of select packages.

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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@.

Scott Kitterman

I don't think I've sponsored Micah recently, but I can comment that his integration with MOTU seems very good. He is active on #ubuntu-motu, easy to work with, and helpful. In the discussions I've seen he seems knowledgeable and capable. I think he would make a good MOTU.

Nathan Handler

I have not sponsored any of Micah's work recently, but I have worked with him a lot in the Ubuntu Chicago LoCo. I have helped to answer some of his questions, and I have seen him interacting well with other developers on IRC. So while I am unable to vouch for his technical skills, I am certain that he has the proper social skills to be a MOTU. He will ask questions when necessary, and has already demonstrated his ability to work well in a team by being a member of the Mozilla Team (where he already has upload privileges for their packages). -- nhandler 2010-10-20 02:39:03

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Endorsements

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

Bilal Akhtar (bilalakhtar)

General feedback

I sponsored around 4 syncs from Micah, and all of them resulted in an upload. Though I haven't sponsored much from him, I would recommend him for MOTU. I am impressed by his work for the Ubuntu Mozilla team, and he respects the freezes as well in his syncs/merges.

Specific Experiences of working together

https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/twisted-calendarserver/+bug/644964

https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calendarserver/+bug/631221

https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dojo/+bug/640092

https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/yate/+bug/648507

Areas of Improvement

None that I could think of.

Stephan Hermann (\sh)

General feedback

Micah is working with me on the Zend Framework packages. He is responsible for pushing new releases from the development release to older Ubuntu releases. I didn't sponsor a lot of packages for him, but what I see in regards of the backports of ZF and also on his Mozilla Team experience, I would like to recommend him for MOTU.

I met Micah during UDS-M and talked quite a lot with him. He is a very calm and friendly person. For me, Micah will be a good addition to the Universe Crew and to Ubuntu in general.

Micah is a good example how people are integrating well in the Ubuntu Developer Sphere.

Artur Rona (ari-tczew)

General feedback

I have worked with Micah in a lot of cases and our cooperation always was a benefit. He has enough knowledge to get upload access for universe and making Ubuntu better independently and responsibly.

Specific Experiences of working together

I have only 2 packages sponsored for Micah Gersten and I didn't have any objections. High quality work.

Areas of Improvement

Nothing technically. Help us reduce remaining merges.

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Bhavani Shankar (coolbhavi)

General feedback

I ve ACK'ed 2 syncs from michah during the maverick FF(Post beta freeze). His explanations were descriptive and the fact that he does work on pushing fixes late in the cycle too shows his enthusiasm to do high quality work for ubuntu universe. Apart from this I m a huge fan of micah due to his tireless work on mozilla team. I am sure he will be an invaluable addition to the MOTU team

Specific experiences

The two syncs I acked are

https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/653949

https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/654977

Fabrice Coutadeur (fabrice_sp)

General feedback

I have been in contact with Micah several time for bug related to xulrunner (packages that build depended on libmozjs-dev, especially), and even if I ended up sponsoring only 3 uploads, he demonstrated that he knows how development cycle work in Ubuntu and has the technical knowledge to be a Motu. He is also very well integrated into the Community and always willing to help. IMHO, he would be a very good asset for Motus!

Specific Experiences of working together

https://edge.launchpad.net/bugs/656678

https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/630602

https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/656659

Areas of Improvement

Contribute more to Universe

Stefano Rivera

General feedback

Sponsored a handful of syncs, and some xulrunner-related SRUs. The syncs were all flawless.

One of the SRU sets (gnome-web photo, gjs) went through a few iterations, some of which could have been avoided if Micah had run lintian (I assume he now does this) :P

Micah is easy to work with and helpful on IRC. I'm sure he'll make a good MOTU.

Specific Experiences of working together

Summary:

• merge: 1

• sync: 8

• sru: 5

• Total Sponsorships: 16

Areas of Improvement

None I can see.

Benjamin Drung

General feedback

I work with Micah in the Mozilla team and in MOTU in general. He is active on IRC. He fits into MOTU personally and technically.

Specific Experiences of working together

Some examples:

• https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/614535

• https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/618071

• https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/562745

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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 ===

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CategoryMOTUApplication