CoreDev

I, Michael Terry, apply for core-dev.

Name

Michael Terry

Launchpad Page

mterry

Wiki Page

mterry

Who I am

I'm a long-time open source developer from Boston. I currently work for Canonical in the Desktop team. I maintain various small upstream packages (most notably deja-dup).

I like board games and long walks on the beach.

My Ubuntu story

I've used Ubuntu since Warty, but not terribly seriously until Edgy. I considered myself only as an upstream and didn't got involved in the packaging side of things until Canonical's OEM Services hired me in the spring of 2008.

Since then, I've immersed myself in packaging and gotten involved in all manner of things.

My involvement

I'm currently most involved with Quickly, fixing indicator bugs, and reviewing MIRs.

My favorite things are fixing bugs and syncing from Debian. Smile :)

I occasionally interact with my LoCo, but not as often as I should. I've attended every UDS event since UDS Intrepid (let's go back to Prague!). I run the occasional App Developer Week session.

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

  • Pushing patches to GNOME (did a lot in OEM Services and continue to in Desktop; hopefully steady cooperation will win out in the end)
  • Handled transition to rsyslog in 9.10
  • Wrote the new Ubiquity translated timezone support for 9.10
  • Wrote the indicator-datetime preference dialog, following mpt's delightful spec
  • Made indicator-appmenu much more robust during 11.04's cycle
  • Just lots of little grease all over the place. I'm a happy cog in the wheel of Ubuntu.

Areas of work

I've been working mostly on the GNOME/Desktop side of things, especially since transitioning to the Desktop team starting with the 11.04 cycle. So lots of Desktop team cooperation and interaction.

I also spent the 9.10 cycle on the Foundations team, where I mostly worked on the installer.

And I'm on the MIR team, where I try to avoid blocking blueprints.

I also keep an eye on some universe packages dear to my heart, like deja-dup and duplicity.

Things I could do better

  • I don't know several processes by heart that I probably should. But that's what the wiki is for!
  • I'm not overly welcoming of newcomers. I tend to just keep my head down and work. I could stand to be a more social face of Ubuntu. I'm not mean, just not outgoing.
  • Blog more.

Plans for the future

General

To keep on rocking. Fix bugs, merge new GNOME releases (3.2 will hopefully rock for 11.10), manage Quickly.

What I like least in Ubuntu

It's unavoidable, but the delta we get from Debian and upstream is a constant firefight. Sometimes it grows too large (too many packages that can be sync'd from Debian but aren't or that really should have patches sent to Debian/upstream so we can sync in future).

No one's fault, as it generally requires an experienced hand to pass a patch on the to right people with potential cleanups. And often Ubuntu people are just too busy or whatnot. And the idea that your patch may not land until a month or two of inactivity is not enticing. But it's something that needs to be done.

I'd be interested in seeing a reverse Patch Pilot program, where we try to get rid of as many patches as possible (without just throwing them away obvi). Smile :) Need a snappy name... Patch Postal Service...


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.

Martin Pitt

General feedback

I have worked with Michael for over a year now and I am really impressed about both his technical skills as well as his throughput. He seems to have his hands on all areas in the desktop, implementing quickly, fixing gnome-power-manager and indicator issues, implementing the new date/time dialog, debugging complicated crashes, leaks, etc. He has done desktop related uploads by himself for four months now in a very good manner, and is very thorough in working together with upstreams. I fully trust and welcome him to become a general core developer.

(Sorry, no particular pointers to sponsored bugs, etc. -- I don't know how to get them)

Sebastien Bacher

General feedback

I strongly support Michael's application, he has been a solid contributor to Ubuntu for over a year and showed his technical skills and his understanding of the Ubuntu community. His current focus is on the desktop and he put a lot of work into fixing GNOME and unity issues this cycle but he's also usually helping when needed on merges and ftbfs issues (and not only on desktop components) and a standing member of the mir team as well. He has upload rights to the ubuntu-desktop set for some months and the did solid work there and showed that he can be trusted.

Didier Roche

General feedback

Michael is just an awesome ubuntu contributor and I strongly recommend him for having core dev rights. He has already showed for the past year his strong technical skills putting in shape a lot and different parts of the ubuntu stack. When sponsoring his numerous GNOME uploads, all were almost all without any flaw, and when there was one small nitpicky detail to fix, I never saw the same error again from his part. I totally trust him for having full upload rights and his strong understanding of the technical and social implementation of a change. In addition, he doesn't hesitate to ask something if he's unsure about a change. He bases all his decision after having taken into account option about the wider community. Keep up the solid work!


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 ===


CategoryCoreDevApplication

mterry/CoreDev (last edited 2011-03-25 16:50:53 by mne69-6-82-231-93-97)