Simon Poirier | Core Dev Application

Community Ubuntu Developer Membership
1

Simon Poirier | Core Developer Application

I, Simon Poirier apply for core-dev upload rights.

I understand going straight to core-dev may be a huge leap. However, despite avoiding to formally apply for contributing developer for so long (for no particular reason), I believe I have been a solid contributor so far and have put the work expected to prove myself in that regard.

Contact information
Launchpad ~simpoir
Libera simpoir
Matrix @simpoir:simpoir.com
Discourse @simpoir
Askubuntu simpoir
Email simon.poirier@canonical.com simpoir@gmail.com

Why I am Applying

  • I am confident in my understanding of tools and processes around Ubuntu, enough to feel at ease sponsoring other’s contributions when I believe them to be correct.
  • I want to be able to support other contributors as peers, instead of always being in a situation where I need them to sponsor me and not being able to give back.
  • I want to mentor other contributors-in-the-making.
  • I want to help reduce delays for some work to get sponsored. Specifically, I know some team’s work (e.g. landscape, cloud) don’t always get timely attention from sponsors and I want to help rectify that.

About me

I started as a Debian (slink!) user around 1999, after experimenting with the more minimal distros at the time (ulinux and such). I have also done my fair share of distro-hopping (and trying configurations before their time, like coLinux) up until 2010. After I graduated, I got introduced to Ubuntu by colleagues and I got to think “this is pretty good”, making me settle on it up to the present. Nowadays, I appreciate the opinionated nature of Ubuntu, of trying to keep efforts concerted to create a solid all-round experience which will appeal to even non-technical users.

My contributions to opensource are scattered. I enjoy solving problems, digging into how things work, and helping people around. I seldom hang around on IRC (still), Reddit and StackExchange to answer people queries and learn something while doing it. Daily, I get to contribute, to make use of my experience, and to raise the bar, thanks to my role at Canonical.

Code-wise, I’ve started developing in the 1990 with basic, turbo pascal and some C. Although I was mostly exploring and playing around back then (most of that code is long-lost), some traces still remain. Moving on, I’ve been developing with python for what feels like ages, starting with python 2.4 around year 2005 with blender scripting. I enjoyed the language growth since. I kept at it during my degree, despite all the pushback to switch to the more mainstream C++ java and ruby. How the tables have turned! Nowadays, I’ll generally write rust when I can, as I think it is one of the nicer language, toolchain and community (setting aside the packaging story).

Outside of code, I enjoy cycling, running, baking, swing dancing, overengineering my own infrastructure and playing music. I like to experiment. I take the least walked paths, sometimes leading to unseen wonders; other times to dead ends.

Contributions

Other contributions:

  • I still subscribe to and occasionally take time to answer questions on Askubuntu, mostly around Landscape. Although I’m not directly involved with that project, I think I still have a positive impact on users and the community.
  • I’m usually responsive to queries on libera.chat#ubuntu-cloud and matrix #ubuntu-cloud:ubuntu.com.

Areas of work

  • glibc maintenance
  • triage and fixing of Debcrafters packages

What I could do better

My participation to on some channels (matrix, discourse) is still spotty. I often feel overwhelmed by the number of threads all over the place and mostly keep participating in focused topics which are LP bugs/merges. I’ll sometime jump in matrix answer a few queries, then disappear for days. I aim to do more than that on the long term
Also, multiple times I’ve tried upstreaming many of my fixes, but I don’t always follow on those threads in a timely fashion.

What I hope we fix in Ubuntu

  • To improve tooling related to Ubuntu contributions, in order to remove irritants and facilitate accessibility of contributions.
  • I also think we have an opportunity to diversify our documentation. Text reference is great, but I think we could cater to different demographics by having streams of what it looks like to e.g. file a bug, fix a bug, verify SRU, etc.
  • I’m a firm believer in code review. Upload privileges shouldn’t allow one to bypass review.
2 Likes