I, Talha Can Havadar, apply for upload rights for ROCm package-set.
And the creation of a new rocm package-set. Please see ROCm package-set section below for packages in the set.
Contact Information:
| Name | Talha Can Havadar |
| Launchpad Page | https://launchpad.net/~tchavadar |
| Matrix username | @tchavadar:matrix.org |
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 be able to sponsor work of others
Who I am
Hello, I am Talha, a software engineer who is working with Canonical as
of today. Due to nature of my job I am interacting with our partners’ technical
teams and working with software that is provided by variety of silicon and tech
companies.
One of my recent involvement is with ROCm in the light of our partnership with
AMD. Hence, my application for a new package-set for ROCm and upload-rights for
me for this new package-set.
My Ubuntu Story
Of course as like for most of the developers, my Ubuntu journey started way before my professional
life. But I got even more involved for recent 3/4 years.
Examples of my work
- Please see complete list here for ubuntu: https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi?render=html&sponsor=&sponsor_search=name&sponsoree=Talha+Can+Havadar&sponsoree_search=name
- I also had one contribution directly to debian for
xlnx-image-updatepackage: https://dfsg-new-queue.debian.org/reviews/xlnx-image-update - Involved with changes on gnome in debian which is to make sure EGL
1.4 is supported still for ubuntu/noble: https://salsa.debian.org/gnome-team/mutter/-/merge_requests/126 - I worked with Nix on my spare time and also contributed on Nix: Pull requests · NixOS/nixpkgs · GitHub
related to that, here is another example, for home-manager: Pull requests · nix-community/home-manager · GitHub
for nix-darwin: Pull requests · nix-darwin/nix-darwin · GitHub - Please check my github and launchpad accounts to see more examples of my work
- github: talhaHavadar (Talha Can Havadar) · GitHub
- launchpad: https://code.launchpad.net/~tchavadar
Areas of work
During my time in Canonical, I have worked with variety of people but I will be
listing the ones related to my application below:
- Andreas Hasenack
- Benjamin Drung
- Dave Jones
- Frank Heimes
- Ken VanDine
- Loic Minier
- Sebastien Bacher
- Simon Chopin
The names I listed above are the people who either reviewed or sponsored my work
to ubuntu more than one time. I learned a lot from them so I thought I had to
mention them in my application.
My work mostly involves things related to AMD ecosystem. My past experience is on
embedded systems and I was working with Xilinx (Xilinx is also AMD now) platforms
even before I started working at Canonical so if you look at the packages I touch
you will see Xilinx related packages there as well, this is the reason. After
partnership with ROCm I started working on ROCm packages as well, in which I was
able to practice, the things I learned from my mentor.
Benjamin, was my mentor during my early days of getting hyped to be ubuntu developer.
I especially wanted to thank him for patiently answering my questions 
Things I could do better
I could probably start contributing to ubuntu way earlier and try to get involved
with distro work. But I was aware of the responsibility that it requires once you
become an ubuntu developer and that kept me away from studying and applying for it.
I could’ve created more opportunities for me to practice my packaging knowledge but
wasn’t able to do so. The things once I learned, flew away and get rusted so I
am trying to catch up with the changes. Still fighting with watch files and copyright,
thank god we have man pages.
Plans for the future
General
I am planning to keep contributing rocm stack since I did some personal investments
on AMD GPUs in my homelab But the developments in the area of AI, keeps my interest
high and I like to be involved in this journey as well.
What I like least in Ubuntu
Sometimes it is hard to use cutting-edge tools while relying on LTS. One of my
recent struggle for example watch file v5 changes. Well it is not available for
devscripts in noble so if you just want to change some tools to the latest version
you are stuck with traditional distro, dependency problems. (I know snaps would help)
But I usually opt for easier solutions like third-party packaging platforms in which they already have the version I need.
I like the stability of the Ubuntu but would love to have official way to easily mess with it.
ROCm Package Set
Please follow this email thread for more up to date information: Request to create new "rocm" package-set for resolute
I have gathered a list of packages here to show the impact of this package set: Ubuntu Pastebin
Endorsements and Comments
Please leave your endorsements and comments following the template below, it is much much appreciated!
## 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?