Application - PPU ubuntu cinnamon packages - Joshua Peisach (jpeisach)

Community Ubuntu Developer Membership
1
  • Application announcement: TODO. Currently collecting endorsements.

I, Joshua Peisach, apply for PPU upload rights for packages:

  • ubuntucinnamon-artwork
  • ubuntucinnamon-meta
  • ubuntucinnamon-environment
  • ubuntucinnamon-wallpapers

Contact Information:

I am applying because:

  • I’d like to eliminate delays in getting my work sponsored.

  • I’d like to reduce the burden on my sponsors.

    • I’d like to stop bothering @eeickmeyer for Ubuntu Cinnamon uploads.

Who I am

I am the flavor lead of Ubuntu Cinnamon! I have many interests in tech, and I am entering Stevens Institute of Technology in the fall to major in Computer Science.

See my Ubuntu membership application, which goes into more detail about me and my contributions!

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 an Ubuntu Member for about a year, but my contribution history goes as far back as 2019. I got my own personal laptop in late 2018, eventually settled on Ubuntu, and thought it would be fun to make an Ubuntu Cinnamon flavor. So, long story short, I did that (first release as a flavor: 23.04). In the process of doing that, I learned a lot about FOSS (nearly everything I currently know).

I personally enjoy being able to maintain Ubuntu Cinnamon as a flavor, keeping Cinnamon available and having it around as my home base for anything Ubuntu related. It keeps me up to date with Ubuntu as a project and keeps me in the land of FOSS.

Examples of my work / Things I’m proud of

As a result of Ubuntu membership, I’ve also started contributing to the Linux kernel with my fancy ubuntu email :slight_smile: (linux-next tree commits authored by me)

Areas of work

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

Things I could do better

Spending some more time on QA testing for Ubuntu Cinnamon would be good. I did a lot before I started high school, and since then I’ve only been doing the bare minimum. If I did some more throughout the release cycle, it would prevent me from scrambling at each freeze to get everything I needed to done.

Also I need to be more active on Discourse.

Plans for the future

General

As for the new permissions: each release, the Yaru-Cinnamon theme variant needs to be updated, new wallpapers need to be placed, and because of that the dependencies and configurations (like the wallpaper file path) need to be updated. This happens every release cycle, and progress on this is why I often need to use a sponsor.

What I like least in Ubuntu

A few things I think about from time to time:

  • The sizes of ISO images have ballooned with new drivers and HWE. While it is “natural”, I would love to see Ubuntu Cinnamon get to USB sizes <4 GB again.

    • I don’t know how feasible this is, but maybe for flavors we can disable some drivers that may not be relevant, like iio drivers? This would probably require more kernel packages… so this probably won’t happen.

  • Sometimes, navigating Snaps can be difficult, such as when you need to access files of Snap software (like game files in Steam, or setting a video output folder in OBS)

    • I have no ideas how to fix this issue honestly

  • Recently I bought a StarFive VisionFive 2, and then found out that it’s not supported for Ubuntu 26.04 or later because it does not support RVA23. Not much I can do, unfortunately.. but it will run 24.04 LTS.

Endorsements and Comments

Leaving the template below for easy access.

## Sponsoring feedback

* Please fill us in on your shared experience.
  * How many packages did you sponsor? A list of sponsored packages can generated [via UDD here](https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi)
  * 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 and next steps

What is the journey you see ahead of the applicant, the next steps they should take, the next things they likely have to learn and the next mountains to climb?
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Sponsoring feedback

  • Over the past few years I have sponsored several packages for Joshua. Starting from humble beginnings in helping him get Ubuntu Cinnamon from a remix to official flavor status, including sponsoring the initial uploads of the packages he is requesting PPU rights to.

https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi?render=html&sponsor=Erich+Eickmeyer&sponsor_search=name&sponsoree=Joshua+Peisach&sponsoree_search=name

  • Each year I have seen improved quality to the point where, now, I pretty much handwave the package through by simply sponsoring without more than a cursory review.
  • The improvements have gone from DEP-5 compliance to fixing a typo here or there to simply no need to improve.
  • Do you trust the applicant? Yes. I think he’s ready to handle these four packages on his own, and I’m always there to help.

Specific experiences of working together

  • I think this only needs one example: the Ubuntu Cinnamon flavor. At times I’ve had to either upload a fix of the cinnamon DE or do a sync on his behalf of the DE and its components. That along with these four packages has been what it takes to keep the flavor running for the most part. Year over year I have seen tons of improvement for this.

Areas of improvement and next steps

What is the journey you see ahead of the applicant, the next steps they should take, the next things they likely have to learn and the next mountains to climb?

  • In the future, I’d like to see him gain access to the cinnamon DE packages, perhaps working with the DMB to build a packageset consisting of these packages (an ubuntucinnamon packageset). He already helps maintain these in Debian, but it would be good for him to be able to patch for any Ubuntu-specific issues that can arise.
  • Following that, I’d like to see him eventually apply for MOTU. I think if he can keep up, he’d be an invaluable asset.
  • Another area of improvement I’d like to see is a little more boldness when it comes to asking for help from people other than myself, such as the release team or the SRU team. He tends to be a bit shy in that regard, and I’d like to see him eventually break out of that shell.

It’s really no bother. :wink:

2 Likes