I, Scott Moser, wist to apply for CoreDev, with additional membership in ~server-dev and MOTU

Who I am

I'm Scott Moser, a member of the Ubuntu Server team. I've personally in charge of building, publishing and maintaining the Official Ubuntu images for EC2 and for UEC (now 'Ubuntu Cloud) for the past 2 years. Along with the rest of the Ubuntu Server team, I help to make Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Cloud great.

My Ubuntu story

I began using Ubuntu around the Warty time frame. Prior to that I had used Debian since around 2001 and other Linux distributions starting with Slackware in 1995. When Ubuntu appeared, I was in the same boat as many others. I loved using Debian. However, due to the long release cycle I wasn't ever satisfied with the 'stable', but wasn't so interested in keeping an 'unstable' system working. Ubuntu's 6 month stable release cycle was a perfect fit.

I remember a conversation with Manoj Iyer where I introduced him to Ubuntu after I had previously gotten him hooked on Debian. He was complaining about his custom kernels not functioning perfectly with his Thinkpad. I asked him why he wanted to spend his days maintaining a custom kernel, and told him that these guys (handing him a Warty CD) had people that did that for me. My persuasion half worked, Manoj was converted to Ubuntu, but still spends time maintaining a kernel (He's on the Ubuntu Kernel Team now).

The single greatest thing about Ubuntu is that virtually nothing is closed. If I'm working on a package that isn't interacting well with another, or just want to see how something works, I can dig into that package with a simple 'bzr branch lp:ubuntu/package' (DistributedDevelopment rocks)

My involvement

I became involved in the development of Ubuntu in August of 2009. Since then, I've loved working with other Ubuntu developers and contributing to making Ubuntu better. I've enjoyed greatly the 1x1 interactions with other developers, both face to face and IRC where I learn from them and occasionally share knowledge.

I've participated as a session leader in 2 different Ubuntu Developer Weeks.

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

• I backported support for our using "pv-grub" kernels on EC2 to 10.04. This allows the guest to apply kernel updates with a reboot (prior to July 2010 that was not possible).
• cloud-init: As upstream developer and Ubuntu maintainer, I'm proud of cloud-init, and its acceptance and popularity in EC2 and EC2 like systems.
• Developed 2 different mechanisms in Ubuntu Cloud for applying kernel upgrades to running instances:

  • grub loader floppy: 611144, present in 10.10 and since.

  • kexec loader (supports 10.04 and EBS-root like behavior)

• Reduced execution time of byobu startup and status scripts in Oneiric. End result was a ~65% reduction in startup time of byobu.
• UEC in Lucid. Because of my efforts and those of the rest of the Ubuntu Server team, UEC is much more functional, stable and usable than it was in Jaunty. Some things I've contributed to this are end-user fixes and tools (uec-publish-tarball, uec-publish-image) for making usage easier.

Areas of work

My biggest claim to fame is definitely maintaining the UEC images. I've helped to make the "Official Ubuntu Images" the best and easiest choice for an instance on ec2.

Since beginning work with Ubuntu in 9.10, I've increased my contribution each release. I've worked primarily on core packages to UbuntuServer, and most specifically those that are related to "Ubuntu Cloud". I've recently been making a larger effort to branch out and help with larger Ubuntu maintenance and development. I run Ubuntu+1 on my primary development system and make an effort to make quality bug reports during the development cycle to help other Ubuntu teams. When applicable I report bugs to debian.

Other Areas of Work

• awstrial is the code that runs behind 10.cloud.ubuntu.com. It allows users to "test drive" a Ubuntu Server installation in about 3 minutes at no cost to them. We also did work towards supporting desktop version of the same, utilizing NX technology. That did not move past a small scale public beta prior to 11.04 release.

• participated in testing and ISO tracker usage in every alpha, beta and release since 9.10

EC2/UEC Images And Ubuntu Cloud

• Create and maintain the official Ubuntu images on EC2 and UEC

Bugs Raised to Debian

• 607129 : vsftpd

• 629457 : amavisd-new

• 630756 : devscripts

• 633802 : dkms

PackagesMaintained

• http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cloud-utils

• https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cloud-initramfs-tools

• https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ec2-api-tools

• https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ec2-ami-tools

• https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/euca2ools

• https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/iamcli

• https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rdscli

• https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cloud-init

MainInclusionRequests

• ec2-init : 434693

• euca2ools : 434697

• python-boto : 434701

• python-cheetah : 434704

• python-configobj : 434717

• python-m2crypto : 434723

• pyyaml : 516924

• libyaml-dev : 516930

• cloud-utils : 518911

• cloud-initramfs-tools : 726572

• tokyotyrant: 811338

New Packaging

I did the initial packaging of the following new Ubuntu packages:

• right-aws : 521002

• right-http-connection : 521006

• cloud-utils : 517696

• txaws : 521121

• cloudfusion : 522877

• iamcli

• rdscli : 797387

Cloud-init and friends

• I'm the primary upstream developer of cloud-init. Ubuntu is the primary target for development, and this has been present in 10.04 and onwards.

• I added package cloud-initramfs-tools which provides 2 initramfs modules, cloud-initramfs-rescuevol and cloud-initramfs-growroot

PPAs maintained

• AWS Tools

Things I have Touched

• karmic

  • byobu 2.25-0ubuntu1

  • ec2-ami-tools 1.3-34544-0ubuntu2

  • ec2-api-tools 1.3.36506-0ubuntu4

  • ec2-init 0.4.999-0ubuntu2 0.4.999-0ubuntu4 0.4.999-0ubuntu6 0.4.999-0ubuntu3 0.4.999-0ubuntu5 0.4.999-0ubuntu7

• karmic-proposed

  • ec2-init 0.4.999-0ubuntu7.1 0.4.999-0ubuntu7.2

  • euca2ools 1.0+bzr20091007-0ubuntu1.1

• lucid

  • apport 1.11-0ubuntu5 1.12.1-0ubuntu2 1.13.1-0ubuntu1

  • cloudfusion 2.5.0-0ubuntu1

  • cloud-init 0.5.10-0ubuntu1 0.5.3-0ubuntu1 0.5.3-0ubuntu2 0.5.4-0ubuntu1 0.5.5-0ubuntu1 0.5.5-0ubuntu2 0.5.7-0ubuntu2 0.5.7-0ubuntu3 0.5.7-0ubuntu4 0.5.8-0ubuntu1 0.5.9-0ubuntu1

  • cloud-utils 0.1ubuntu1 0.10-0ubuntu1 0.11-0ubuntu1 0.2 0.3ubuntu1 0.4-0ubuntu1 0.5-0ubuntu1 0.6-0ubuntu1 0.7-0ubuntu1 0.8-0ubuntu1 0.9-0ubuntu1

  • ec2-ami-tools 1.3-45758-0ubuntu1

  • ec2-api-tools 1.3.45772-0ubuntu1 1.3.46266-0ubuntu1

  • ec2-init 0.4.999-0ubuntu8 0.5.0-0ubuntu2 0.5.0-0ubuntu3 0.5.0-0ubuntu4 0.5.1-0ubuntu1 0.5.2-0ubuntu1 0.5.2-0ubuntu2

  • euca2ools 1.2-0ubuntu10 1.0+bzr20091007-0ubuntu2 1.2-0ubuntu2 1.2-0ubuntu3 1.2-0ubuntu4 1.2-0ubuntu7 1.2-0ubuntu8 1.2-0ubuntu9

  • eucalyptus 1.6.2-0ubuntu20 1.6.2-0ubuntu21 1.6.2-0ubuntu27 1.6.2-0ubuntu4

  • libvirt 0.7.5-5ubuntu14

  • openldap 2.4.21-0ubuntu4

  • python-boto 1.9b-1ubuntu1 1.9b-1ubuntu3

  • right-aws 1.10.0-0ubuntu1

  • right-http-connection 1.2.4-0ubuntu1

  • txaws 0.0.1-0ubuntu1

  • ubuntu-dev-tools 0.93

  • upstart 0.6.5-3

• lucid-proposed

  • cloud-init 0.5.10-0ubuntu1.1 0.5.10-0ubuntu1.2 0.5.10-0ubuntu1.3 0.5.10-0ubuntu1.4 0.5.10-0ubuntu1.5

  • ec2-ami-tools 1.3-45758-0ubuntu1.1

  • euca2ools 1.2-0ubuntu10.1

  • grub2 1.98-1ubuntu9

  • mountall 2.15.3

• maverick

  • cloud-init 0.5.11-0ubuntu1 0.5.11-0ubuntu2 0.5.12-0ubuntu1 0.5.12-0ubuntu2 0.5.12-0ubuntu3 0.5.12-0ubuntu4 0.5.12-0ubuntu5 0.5.12-0ubuntu6 0.5.12-0ubuntu7 0.5.13-0ubuntu1 0.5.13-0ubuntu2 0.5.13-0ubuntu3 0.5.14-0ubuntu1 0.5.14-0ubuntu2 0.5.14-0ubuntu3 0.5.14-0ubuntu4 0.5.14-0ubuntu5 0.5.15-0ubuntu1 0.5.15-0ubuntu2 0.5.15-0ubuntu3 maverick cloud-utils 0.12ubuntu1

  • cloud-utils 0.13ubuntu1 0.14-0ubuntu1 0.15ubuntu1 0.16ubuntu1

  • ebsmount 0.92-0ubuntu1

  • ec2-ami-tools 1.3.49953-0ubuntu1

  • ec2-api-tools 1.3.57419-0ubuntu1 1.3.53907-0ubuntu1

  • euca2ools 1.2-0ubuntu11

  • eucalyptus 2.0~bzr1218-0ubuntu1 2.0~bzr1224-0ubuntu1 2.0~bzr1233-0ubuntu2 2.0+bzr1239-0ubuntu1

  • s3cmd 0.9.9.91-1ubuntu1

  • uec-provisioning 0.3

• maverick-proposed:

  • ec2-ami-tools 1.3.49953-0ubuntu1.1

  • euca2ools 1.2-0ubuntu11.1

• natty

  • cloud-init 0.5.15-0ubuntu4 0.6.0-0ubuntu1 0.6.0-0ubuntu2 0.6.0-0ubuntu3 0.6.0-0ubuntu4 0.6.1-0ubuntu1 0.6.1-0ubuntu2 0.6.1-0ubuntu3 0.6.1-0ubuntu4 0.6.1-0ubuntu5 0.6.1-0ubuntu6 0.6.1-0ubuntu7 0.6.1-0ubuntu8

  • cloud-initramfs-tools 0.1ubuntu1

  • cloud-utils 0.17ubuntu1 0.18ubuntu1 0.19ubuntu1 0.20ubuntu1 0.21ubuntu1

  • ec2-ami-tools 1.3.49953-0ubuntu2 1.3.49953-0ubuntu3

  • ec2-api-tools 1.3.57419-0ubuntu2 1.3.57419-0ubuntu3

  • euca2ools 1.3.1-0ubuntu1 1.3.1-0ubuntu2 1.3.1-0ubuntu3 1.3.1-0ubuntu4 1.3.1-0ubuntu5 1.3.1-0ubuntu6 1.3.1-0ubuntu7

  • iamcli 1.1.0-0ubuntu1

  • lirc 0.8.7-0ubuntu4

  • netbase 4.44ubuntu1

  • openssh 1:5.6p1-2ubuntu2

  • ssh-import-id 2.2-0ubuntu1 2.4-0ubuntu1

  • testdrive 3.3-0ubuntu1

  • udev 166-0ubuntu4

  • util-linux 2.17.2-3.3ubuntu2

  • xinetd 1:2.3.14-7ubuntu4

• natty-proposed

  • sudo 1.7.4p4-5ubuntu7.1

• oneiric

  • busybox 1:1.18.4-2ubuntu1

  • byobu 4.1-0ubuntu1 4.2-0ubuntu1 4.4-0ubuntu1 4.8-0ubuntu1

  • cheetah 2.4.4-2ubuntu1

  • cloud-initramfs-tools 0.2ubuntu1

  • ec2-api-tools 1.4.3.0-0ubuntu1

  • euca2ools 1.3.1-0ubuntu8

  • hostname 3.06ubuntu1

  • jigit 1.18-1ubuntu1

  • nagios-plugins 1.4.15-4ubuntu1

  • nut 2.6.0-2ubuntu1

  • offlineimap 6.3.3-3

  • openvpn 2.1.3-4.1ubuntu2

  • pptpd 1.3.4-5ubuntu1

  • python-boto 1.9b-4ubuntu1

  • strace 4.5.20-2.3ubuntu1

  • sudo 1.7.4p4-5ubuntu8

Things I could do better

I'm often easily distracted. Running an open source operating system in development does not help the condition described at here.

Additionally, procrastination is a problem. I've done a better job recently getting used to what can be accomplisedh in a 6 month release cycle, and attempting to not bite off more than can reasonably be done.

Plans for the future

General

In addition to being a member of CoreDev, I hope to continue making Ubuntu server the obvious choice for cloud computing or server-computing in general.

What I like least in Ubuntu

I believe there is a real problem with people triaging bugs with the primary goal of moving them out of the "new queue". This manifests itself when a triager is not willing to put in the time to attempt to reproduce a bug even if it is trivial, and asks a unimportant question of the reporter and then moves the bug to "Incomplete". They've been successfull in reducing the un-triaged bugs, and even the open bugs, but have quite likely upset someone who took time to create a good bug report. This has happened to me, I've seen it happen to others, and I am probably guilty of it.

I've recently been focusing on merging packages from Debian. In this, I've come to 2 conclusions:

• Many times Ubuntu developers take the short term path and do not attempt to get changes into debian, and thus only ever increase our delta.
• UDD is really wonderful, when it works. Hopefully the places where it doesn't can be reduced (quilt v3.0 and import failures).

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