Stephan Hermann (\sh)

Age: 37
Location: Au am Rhein, near Karlsruhe, Germany
IRC Nick: \sh

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
Well, Linux got my attention in the beginning of 1993, while I was fighting with Sun OS on our university server (FernUni Hagen). My very first distro was a SuSE Slackware, I don’t remember the version anymore, but I knew how long it took for me to download 10 1.44mb floppy disk images, around 7 days with a 9600 baud connection between our Sun Server and the Terminal Server where we could dial in using Kermit Anyways, since then I used, IMHO, all Linux Distros on the market, SuSE, RedHat, Debian, Gentoo and other, smaller distributions.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
Oh, that was early 2005, when a strange guy named Oliver ‘Ogra’ Grawert (aka Mr. Edubuntu) came to me and asked me to test the pre-release of Ubuntu Hoary. We were working at this time in the same company (ISH GmbH, now Unity Media, a big Cable TV Provider in Northrhine Westfalia and Hesse today). I was using at this time Gentoo on my Company Laptop and at Home, so he needed to convince me to use it in the first place.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
Oh that was also early 2005 I think around April, just before the Hoary Release. When I felt that Ubuntu just worked on my personal and company machines, I was convinced, that I will use it for my daily work. Knowing that Oliver was working for the MOTUs (and these days also for Canonical as Main Contributor), my main drive was to contribute back to Ubuntu, just because I liked what I saw and thought to give back some work. Well, actually it didn’t matter to me for whom I was contributing, Ubuntu, Gentoo, RedHat, at least I was giving back some work. But Ubuntu was special. It was numbered in contributors and paid developers these days. So I started to work on Debian Packages (which I had before, for my own pet projects) in Ubuntu. During Breezy we had a nice big transition to deal with, (C++ Transition) and I started to power on my engines, and filed a lot of fixes and debdiffs, Matthias ‘Doko’ Klose was in charge for this, and he had to upload a lot of my packages. I think, Matthias got fed up with uploading packages for me, so was Oliver, and I had to apply for MOTUship. These days, everything was different from today. For becoming a MOTU you had to apply for Ubuntu Membership, which I did and I was approved an Ubuntu Member on 2005-05-20. It was special, because I first met Mark (Sabdfl) on IRC, and he had the final say on my application. After this approval it took only, I don’t know anymore, 2 or 3 weeks until I became an “official” member of MOTU with upload rights.

What helped you learn packaging and how Ubuntu teams work?
Oh, in general I had many experience with other packaging formats, including debian packaging. This wasn’t the problem actually. Reading Makefiles is not so difficult, when someone has a developers background. I think the most difficult is, when you deal with Debian packaging, to follow the policy. Sometimes it’s easy to just forgot those policies, but later it’s much better to follow them in the first place. Working for Ubuntu means working with a team of other developers, I’m noting here, that everyone who ever touched a package and changed something is a developer. Working with a team means, that you shouldn’t only focus on your own work, but focus also on the other peoples work. When you work in IT business, a good team helps you when you need advise, the same applies to Ubuntu, especially when you work on the software level. Nobody knows everything, so everbody learns more every single day.  Even old  pros  are learning. And nobody should doubt him/herself just because he doesn’t understand something in the first place. Listen to people, learn, try out, understand, I think these are the most important directives for people who wants to join the Ubuntu Army

Favorite part of working with the MOTU?
Oh there are a lot. First of all, the spirit of MOTU is unique (IMHO). You will know people, even if you don’t see them, much better, it’s like a big family, with good days and even bad days. Second, I learned a lot from other MOTUs, and I always learn a bit more, day by day. Third, others will learn from you, and it’s good to see that. For your own spirit. This drives me, to see people like Barry (bddebian) to evolve (he was my first scholar ;)) or like Og Maciel evolving in other parts of OpenSource (e.g. Gnome Foundation, Foresight Linux etc.). Fourth, it helps in your personal career, especially when you are working in the IT business.

Any advice for people wanting to help out MOTU?
Actually there is only one: Just do something. Really, if you want to be a part in this famous Ubuntu Team, just
start contributing. Package new software, fix packages, or whatever you like. Just do something. Yeah, not everybody does like to work with software, and not everybody likes triaging bugs, but every single help is important. And yes, listen to the people. Many old people from MOTU or other Ubuntu teams are knowing more then you do in the beginning of your trip. Don’t ignore them. We had this kind of people already, and most likely they fail and are not fitting in the team.

You have been working on a lot of different packages in the last cycles, what are you going to focus on in Hardy?
Well, Hardy is just around the corner, and I worked on merges and bugfixes and security stuff for Hardy. Wine was also on this list, even when I don’t like Wine, but I think it’s important to have such a tool in our repositories. Hopefully Scott Ritchie (the WineHQ Ubuntu Package Maintainer will become a MOTU soon, and he’s taking over the uploads of Wine ;))) For Hardy+1 I have some new packages hiding in my pocket, and hopefully they are hitting hardy+1 very fast. And then there is the Ubuntu Server Flavour. Which is very special, because I work with this flavour all day long. So at least for me, there need to be some changes regarding the Server flavour and hopefully I can add some ideas to it.

How do you think Hardy will special for our users?
I think every new release will give the users a new experience. When you started in the early days (with Hoary or Breezy) you can see, how Ubuntu is evolving. I do think that Hardy will be special, as Dapper was, because of the LTS (Long Term Support) status. It gives the user the guarantee, that he isn’t alone with it. This gives also our (I’m saying this with a purpose) business customers an idea to switch from RedHat Enterprise Linux or Novell/SuSE Enterprise Linux to Ubuntu LTS Releases. (I’m pointing out, that even business customers are using Universe/Multiverse repositories, so we, the MOTU Team, need to take care of the stability and safteyness of Universe/Multiverse).

Favorite quote?
There are many…
“Welcome to the real world, Neo” (Matrix) is the best quote of Year 1999/2000. But I think Linus has a better one: “If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I’ve won.” (http://thinkexist.com/quotes/linus_torvalds/2.html - just exchange  the “I” with “we”.)

What do you do in your other spare time?
Hmmm…what?

(The picture of the desktop (real) was taken with a Nokia N73 Mobile)

Jamie Strandboge

Age: 36
Location: Rochester, NY USA
IRC Nick:jdstrand

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
I was introduced to Linux in 1997, and installed Redhat 5.0 on my home system in 1998. I started using Debian not too long after that.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
Since Breezy.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
I became a MOTU in December 2007 and I got involved by reviewing universe security updates for sponsorship.

What helped you learn packaging and how Ubuntu teams work?
I learned most of what I know about packaging through my work on the Gnome 2.2 backport for Debian Woody from several years ago. I am a big fan of Debian Policy and package nearly everything I want to put on more than one computer. As far as learning how teams work, if I don’t know something, I read the wiki and ask someone if something isn’t clear.

Favorite part of working with the MOTU?
Easy– the people. It is very satisfying working with people who share the same passions and want to make Ubuntu even better!

Any advice for people wanting to help out MOTU?
Start doing the work, ask questions and most importantly don’t be afraid to admit when you don’t know something or made a mistake. This gets back to learning how Ubuntu teams work– there is a lot to learn but one of the strengths of our community is that we have a tremendous collective knowledge-base.

You have been working on a lot of different packages in the last cycles, what are you going to focus on in Hardy?
My priority is always security updates, but I am also working on the soon-to-be-uploaded ufw, ubuntu-cve-tracker, apparmor profiles, and network authentication (among other things).

How do you think Hardy will special for our users?
As an LTS release, Hardy will provide polish and many improvements for all users. I am particularly excited about Ubuntu Server, as there is a great community surrounding it and lot of new features since Gutsy and especially Dapper.

Favorite quote?
I’ll give the first two that popped into my head:

• “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Leviticus 19:18
• “Do or do not… there is no try.” Yoda from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’

Words to live (and work on Ubuntu) by.

What do you do in your other spare time?
Hmm, ’spare time’. Well, Wikipedia says: “Leisure or free time, is a period of time spent out of work and essential domestic activity.” I find the idea of ’spare time’ intriguing and would like to explore it more….

Seriously though, when not at the computer I spend time with my family, greyhounds, and playing music.

Harald Sitter

Age: 19

Location: Austria, Europe, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Universe

IRC Nick: apachelogger

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
In 2003 I started off with Red Hat Linux 9, didn’t last for long though. I soon switched over to SUSE (9 I think), where I fell in love with KDE.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
Since Breezy Badger in dual boot with SUSE, since Dapper Drake only Ubuntu.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
I think it was when I published my first package at kde-apps.org (didn’t even think about including it into Ubuntu), due to this Raphaël Pinson asked me whether I actually want to contribute to Ubuntu and maintain the package there. I joined the Kubuntu tribe and started creating more packages.

What helped you learn packaging and how Ubuntu teams work?
The first package was done following a howto on ubuntuforums.org, later on the all mighty Ubuntu wiki and the Kubuntu crew (well, also a very well known web search engine :-P).

Favorite part of working with the MOTU?
Everything. Really, since every part is having the higher goal of making (K)Ubuntu more usable I really enjoy everything. Though I guess mostly it’s introducing hot new KDE/Qt software and helping new contributors to join Ubuntu development.

Any advice for people wanting to help out MOTU?
Poke me More general though: never hesitate to ask.

You have been working on a lot of different packages in the last cycles, what are you going to focus on in Hardy?
Updates, sponsoring and getting all the shiny new KDE 4 software into universe *muhahahaha*

How do you think Hardy will special for our users?
Well, Kubuntu Hardy is going to be the first release which ships with KDE 4.0 (I’m actually using it as kind of default since November, and can honestly say it totally rocks, even more than ponies At the same time we are also providing KDE 3.5.8, this makes Hardy most awesome because of two resulting advantages: those who want to checkout 4.0 can do so, hence report bugs, hence improve whatever KDE 4.0.x is going to be shipped in Hardy+1 and those who just want a stable, reliable system can use 3.5.

Favorite quote?
Nothing is impossible. Not if you can imagine it. – Professor Hubert Farnsworth

What do you do in your other spare time?
Managing marketing/promotion, releases and everything else within the Amarok project as well as giving support on Amarok, Kubunu and KDE, and if there is any time left -> sleep

Till Kamppeter

Age: 37
Location: Coimbra, Portugal
IRC Nick: tkamppeter

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
From 1997 on, my first experience is with SUSE 5.1.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
Since middle of 2006.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
As I got contracted part-time as printing developer by Canonical middle of 2006.

What helped you learn packaging and how Ubuntu teams work?
Before starting at Ubuntu I was full-time employee at Mandriva (mid 2000 - mid 2006) and so I had already a lot of experience with free software developement and RPM packaging. I learned Debian packaging then by the Debian developer documentation and the #ubuntu-devel channel on IRC. I got mainly help by pitti, who did most of the printing development before. I have also been on the UDS in Mountain View.

In my main employment I am manager of the OpenPrinting project at the Linux Foundation, so I have also upstream development experience.

Favorite part of working with the MOTU?
The printing part of Ubuntu. It is not really MOTU, as printing is a core part of the OS and therefore all these packages are in main.

Any advice for people wanting to help out MOTU?
First, report and triage bugs, especially assign the bugs to the right packages, so that the appropriate developer teams at Ubuntu get note of the problems. Second, if you find great software, debianize it (if Debian did no do so already) and suggest it for Ubuntu.

You have been working on a lot of different packages in the last cycles, what are you going to focus on in Hardy?
I will continue with printing stuff, especially continuing the upstream development of system-config-printer, hal-cups-utils, and Foomatic, especially for auto-download of printer drivers, work together with manufacturers to provide auto-downloadable drivers, generally work on making printing “just work”, …

How do you think Hardy will special for our users?
Important things in hardware support will be much easier, especially X Window setup with more than one monitor and/or a projector and also printing due to auto-downloadable drivers, more reliable assigning of drivers to auto-detected printers, easy networked printing with Mac OS X boxes, …

We are moving from the rocket science of structured deposition of ink and toner particles on paper substrates to “just print” …

Luca Falavigna

Age: 24

Location: Guastalla, a small city in northern Italy

IRC Nick: DktrKranz

 

 

 

 

 

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?

I started using GNU/Linux in 2000 with Mandrake, soon replaced by Debian, which has been my O.S. until late 2005.

 

 

How long have you been using Ubuntu?

Since 2005, after installing Breezy Badger.

 

 

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?

My first package was merge of nttcp in March 2007, during late Feisty development cycle. I just discovered http://merges.ubuntu.com and I wanted to help out. After reading Ubuntu Packaging Guide and some documents in http://www.debian.org/devel, I started to understand packaging logic and began give my contribution.

 

What helped you learn packaging and how Ubuntu teams work?

I learned packaging by reading technical documentation (Ubuntu Packaging Guide, www.debian.org/devel) and following my sponsors’ advices. I found very useful looking at some debdiffs already published in Ubuntu too, they help a lot if you are unsure about a fix..

 

Favorite part of working with the MOTU?

Being aware your work is important for many people. Solve problems and make Ubuntu rock for all is a great goal, every little step is important because a minimal fix can be important for someone, and I am happy to give my contribution where I am able to.

 

Any advice for people wanting to help out MOTU?

Many people are not comfortable with development because they feel strong programming skills are required. Sometimes it is not so hard and everyone’s help is appreciated by fixing easy issues. I have the pleasure to work with some Italian contributors who show interest in the project: even if they are not programmers, they contributed actively and some of them uploaded more than 40 packages so far! Being curious is the key: join #ubuntu-motu, ask questions about development processes and start to work on a bug you feel important, when your efforts lead to a package upload, you will know why we are all so enthusiast to contribute to MOTU activities

 

You have been working on a lot of different packages in the last cycles, what are you going to focus on in Hardy?

I do not have a limited set of packages to look at (unless the ones I maintain in Debian), so I would like to help where there is need to, basically by fixing unmetdeps and FTBFS, reviewing patches and additional QA efforts.

 

How do you think Hardy will special for our users?

Plans to make Universe usable by everyone are very important and MOTU community started with enthusiasm to gather some tools to help this way (see http://qa.ubuntuwire.com). These activities will improve overall quality of Universe packages and our users will surely benefit of this. I hope new contributors will pursue this target too, Universe is huge and there is a lot of work to do!

 

Favorite quote?

“Politicians look at the next elections, statesmen look at the next generations” – A. De Gasperi

 

 

What do you do in your spare time?

I like playing basketball, I usually take shots on playgrounds when I have time to.

I like food too, Italy is a great place to pursue this kind of interest

 

Soren Hansen

Continuing our Server Team theme again this week we are talking with Soren Hansen. Soren is working in Canonical’s server efforts (most notably he’s working on getting ebox ready for Ubuntu Server) , and is the latest addition to the Ubuntu Core Developer ranks.

Age: 26
Location: Nørresundby, Denmark
IRC Nick: soren

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
I started running Linux back in 1996, I believe. I bought a CD set called “Infomagic “LINUX Developer’s Resource CD-ROM” which had a few different distributions on it. I knew nothing about the various distros, so I just went with whatever they had put on the first disk which was Slackware. After a few years I switched to RedHat, then Debian (around 2000, I think), and now finally Ubuntu.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
I’ve been running Ubuntu since a few months after Hoary came out.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
I’ve been involved in free software for quite a few years now, so it felt natural to take active part in the development of the distribution I used, so I got involved pretty much right away. I had my first self-made package included in Breezy a few months later, and I’m quite sure I must have contributed a few patches for other packages during Breezy as well, but Launchpad doesn’t have that on record.

What helped you learning packaging and learning how the Ubuntu teams work?
Being a Debian user before, it took a bit of reading to work out the differences between Debian and Ubuntu, and while reading up on what the different components (main, restricted, universe, and multiverse) were for, I also read about the MOTU team etc. I had previously worked on some packages used internally in the company I used to work for, and I also contributed a couple of packages to Debian (for which I never found a sponsor, though), so the technical bits of packaging weren’t that alien to me.

Favorite part of working with MOTU?
I love hanging out in the Ubuntu IRC channels People are friendly, helpful, and we have lots of fun. The presence of all the more experienced people is also an infinite source of inspiration to me.

Any advice for people wanting to help with MOTU?
Just realise that it’s really not that hard. We’re a friendly bunch, and even the smallest contribution is very welcome. You don’t have to start out with packaging a new complex package.

You are the latest MOTU to join the Ubuntu Core Developer ranks how would you compare working in Universe and Main?
Well, personally, I’ve felt that I requires a more holistic view of Ubuntu. A lot of the stuff I’ve worked on in universe was “safe” to fiddle around with. Nothing huge would break if it didn’t work out as planned. Recently, I’ve found myself patching the kernel and I needed to do make a tiny change to module-init-tools as well. I think I stared at my two-line patch for 5 minutes trying to convince myself it wouldn’t break anything. AFAIK, it hasn’t. Yet.

Any Plans for Hardy Heron?
Oh yes, plenty! We’re discussing a lot of different things here at UDS. Integration into existing networks is going to be a big thing, simplifying various system management use cases, virtualisation. It’s a bit too soon to say what we’ll actually be doing, but there’s certainly a lot of ideas, and I’m really excited about the Ubuntu server edition.

Favorite quote?
There is one that cracks me up every time:

“It has been said that XML is like violence; if a little doesn’t solve the problem, use more.”

If you’ve ever been pulled into a project using XML, you’ll know what this is all about

What do you do in your other spare time?
Sleep.

Pic of you, your work area, and/or your screen?

You realise of course, you’ve forced me to clean my office now, don’t you?

Mathias Gug

Today we’re talking to Mathias Gug, a member of Canonical’s Server Team.

Age: 28
Location: Montreal, Canada
IRC Nick: mathiaz

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?

The first time I saw linux was in 1997, Redhat IIRC.  The first time I downloaded it was in September 1999, Debian. But I gave up after a couple of weeks. I came back during summer of 2000 with Mandrake Linux and the 2.4 kernel. I’ve never left since then.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?

I installed Ubuntu one and half year ago, it was Xubuntu 6.06 IIRC.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?

I was hired by Canonical as the first member of the Ubuntu Server Team last May. I started packaging AppArmor and other server-related software which lead me to become a member of the MOTU team.

What helped you learn packaging and how Ubuntu teams work?

I’m using the packaging guide from help.ubuntu.com, the Debian New Maintainer Guide and the Debian Policy. For processes, I just keep referring to wiki.ubuntu.com where they’re all outlined. And last, but not least, the irc channels (#ubuntu-motu and #ubuntu-devel), are great resources. I’ve always find someone to help me there.

Favorite part of working with the MOTU?

Being part of a great team trying to deliver the best of the free software world. There are lots of interesting challenges when it comes to packaging - you get to learn how things work under the hood.

Any advice for people wanting to help out MOTU?

Start simple, start small. Pick one bug or one package and try to fix it. Ask for sponsorship and you’ll learn a lot of things in no time.

You have been working a lot in the Server Team, what can MOTU do to better the Ubuntu Server experience?

One of the project I’ll try to work one is a better packaging framework for web applications. So that such application can be added to the universe easily and in a consistent manner.

Any plans for Hardy Heron?

Most of them are in the server area - I’ll keep on working on security with AppArmor. Server hardware testing is another area I’m interested in.

Favorite quote?

“I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”
Plutarch quoting Socrates

What do you do in your spare time?

Among others things, I go swing dancing several nights a week, both in Montreal and in other places in North America. I’m also a big traveller: I’ve just returned from an eight month backpacking experience in Asia covering Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal and India.

Andrea Veri

Today we are interviewing Andrea Veri, fresh MOTU and eager Ubuntu volunteer.

Age: 18
Location: Udine, Italy
IRC Nick: bluekuja

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
I started using Linux at the end of 2005 using Red Hat and Fedora distros, contributing on writing several pages for Fedora documentation (mostly server docs) but mainly working on some packaging-related activities (introducing ctorrent, gtorrent-viewer and v2strip packages inside Fedora) for more than 3 months until the beginning of March 2006 when I decided to move definitely to Ubuntu after discovering it at a friend’s party. Was love at first sight that made me leaving every Fedora plan and project creating my first personal wiki page on wiki.ubuntu.com some days later.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
In fact, I started using Ubuntu at the beginning of 2006, firstly getting involved inside the Edubuntu family making real the possibility to have an Edubuntu Italian support and website area inside the current Italian LoCo Team.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
Right after joining the Ubuntu brigade I started checking out MOTU documentation, mainly packaging guide plus debian new maintainer’s guide, trying to understand every single new word and applying directly to a source package every lesson learned during developer’s world “travel”. After getting introduced and fascinated from an active community, I had to left the project for a while for some small problems, restarting everything on May 2007 with my first sponsored upload inside the archive. My packaging passion increased right after meeting Alexander Sack inside #ubuntu-mozillateam irc channel some days later, deciding to work directly with him as my mentor for both Debian and Ubuntu distributions.

What helped you learning packaging and learning how the Ubuntu teams work?
I started with Debian New Maintainer’s guide and Ubuntu’s packaging guide moving then to package my first applications learning from already-packaged software and asking if needed to Alexander improving and learning every time from him or from other developers a new Ubuntu Team lesson.

Favorite part of working with MOTU?
Introducing a fix making tons of users happy is one of the best things I appreciate of being a MOTU. Mentoring, sponsoring, helping out new contributors or students is something special as well.

Any advice for people wanting to help with MOTU?
I always suggest to start with a package a new contributor cares about personally, that’s useful to improve/fix the package itself during its maintenance.
Reading MOTU and Debian documentation is a great starting point as well to avoid any strange question on our MOTU irc channel.

What packages/areas of Universe are you most interested in?
I’m currently working on a vast area of packages, but I’ll try to focus on p2p (Peer-2-Peer) applications both for Universe and Main. I planned to create a MOTU-p2p team really soon including it inside the existing motu-torrent team, but it will take some months to organize everything up; contributors (testers/packagers) are currently missing.

Any Plans for Hardy Heron?
I’ll keep working on a large number of packages but as I said before I would like to focus on having an updated situation of p2p applications, introducing libtorrent-rasterbar and its related clients like btg or linkage. Creating a working team with interested contributors and developers will be the first step to work on.

Favorite quote?

“As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.” — Socrates

What do you do in your other spare time?
I love going around with my motorbike, listening good music, playing basketball and meeting up with friends around the city centre.

Pic of you, your work area, and/or your screen?

Travis Watkins

 Travis Watkins recently became a MOTU after a long time in the Ubuntu community. He is best known for Alacarte, the Gnome menu editor. He also wrote a Bayesian content filter called willow-ng for Edubuntu and more recently has been working on 3D desktop with the Compiz community.

Age: 20
Location: Iowa, USA
IRC Nick: Amaranth

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
I started with Debian in 2003.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
Since the very first release so around the end of October or start of November in 2004.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
I had created alacarte, my menu editor, and needed a package for it. This was probably around April or so in 2005.

What helped you learning packaging and learning how the Ubuntu teams work?
I started with the Debian New Maintainer’s Guide and then started looking at existing packages that were similar to what I was trying to do. I mostly learned how things worked in Ubuntu by watching what everyone else was doing.

Favorite part of working with MOTU?
Knowing people are having a better Ubuntu experience because of work I’ve done.

Any advice for people wanting to help with MOTU?
Start with a package you care about personally, that way you’ll learn all the tricks and techniques needed to make it the best it can be because it makes your life better too.

How do you see compiz/3D desktop changing Ubuntu and computing in general in the future?
With compiz and related technologies we’re reaching the point where our only limit to what we can do is our imagination. With this new power we can redefine the way you use your desktop for the better.

Any Plans for Hardy Heron?
My main goal is still getting compiz working better but along with that I want to package all the fun blingful things you can use once you have compiz like avant-window-navigator, screenlets, moonlight widgets, etc.

Favorite quote?

“The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.” — Mark Twain

What do you do in your other spare time?
I enjoy walking/jogging and am trying to learn to play guitar.

Pic of you, your work area, and/or your screen?
My ‘work area’ is a reclining chair (laptop ftw) so it’s not very interesting.

Cesare Tirabassi

In the next few interviews we will be talking with some of the newly minted MOTUs. Cesare Tirabassi (norsetto) is a familiar face to anybody in #ubuntu-motu and became a full-fledged MOTU on 2007-09-21.

Age: Approaching twice your average MOTU …
Location: Rome, home to the Coliseum and the permanent traffic jam.
IRC Nick: norsetto

How long have you used Linux and what was your first distro?
It’s even more embarrassing than the age question. Since, hmm, like, hmmm, February, errr this year. The first try was Debian (a disaster). After a quick flirt with Knoppix I found Ubuntu. It was love at first sight.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
Ever since and not looking back once.

When did you get involved with the MOTU team and how?
Almost immediately, you can find in the motu mailing list archive the email of “young” me, titled “Willing to help”, dated 7 March.

What helped you learning packaging and learning how the Ubuntu teams work?
Its a very good question because for me the two were strictly correlated, the more I learned about how the Ubuntu teams work, the more I learned about packaging. The biggest help was the feedback from MOTUs, either sponsoring my uploads, commenting in REVU or giving me suggestions or answers to my questions in #ubuntu-motu.

Favorite part of working with MOTU?
The community. Being part of this amazing collection of people whose work reaches millions of other people everywhere, its just overwhelming.

Any advice for people wanting to help with MOTU?
Don’t be shy, don’t be afraid, and the more you give the more you will be given.

What can be done to help new contributors become new MOTUs?
I really think we need somebody which is dedicated full-time to training, recruiting, coordinating sponsorship and mentoring, updating and making available documentation, organising lessons and Q&A sessions, being a point of reference that contributors can look at. Daniel is doing a tremendous job in this respect but there is only so much one can do when one has 4 or 5 full-time jobs.

Any Plans for Hardy Heron?
Learning packaging
And helping new contributors as much as I can with the little I’ve learned up to now.

Favorite quote?
I’ve fortune set to give me quotes from Terry Pratchett books. Every one is a gem.

What do you do in your other spare time?
Sleep. Serious.

Pic of you, your work area, and/or your screen?
Attached. I’m the small white and red hairy one.