Ubuntu MOTU Application

[Scott Kitterman]

On Tuesday, May 13, 2014 14:23:48 Iain Lane wrote:
> Hi Łukasz,
> 
> On Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 03:23:21PM +0200, Łukasz 'sil2100' Zemczak wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I would like to apply for MOTU membership.
> > My application can be found here:
> > 
> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LukaszZemczak/DeveloperApplication-MOTU
> 
> As we've discussed with you in private, we think it'd be easier if we
> handle this application on email. It's the same as on IRC: questions and
> answers followed by voting.
> 
> Here's some initial questions. Others will follow up later.
> 
>  - What's the goal of your application? What packages / areas are you
>    most intested in?
>  - Your work involves uploading packages through the CI train a lot. Are
>    you relying on the experience you've gained here for this
>    application? If so, can you outline how it's been helpful?
>  - There's sometimes a certain amount of tension between the CI train
>    and other Ubuntu teams. Can you think of any ways this can be
>    alleviated? Some examples I'm thinking of
>    + When an Ubuntu developer directly uploads a package under CI there
>      is often quite a bit of back and forth required to get the VCS back
>      in sync. This even happens for no-change rebuilds!
>    + When the archive is frozen close to release, or after release for
>      SRUs, the CI train stalls. For these reasons members of the CI
>      landing team often have to ask for expedited treatment of their
>      uploads from the release or SRU teams, creating tension. I see two
>      technical factors at play here, and a social one:
>      * 'silos' in the CI train are a limited resource and per policy
>        (and a technical limitation in Launchpad) they are not released
>        until the upload is in the release pocket
>      * having one upload in CI train locks that project out for further
>        releases until the existing one is already finished
>      * upstream developers expect to see their uploads in Ubuntu more or
>        less immediately
* CI train syncs are unreviewable with the SRU/release team's normal tool set.  
To get a diff to look at, you have to manually download the old/new packages 
and the diff them by hand. (I know work is in progress to alleviate this, but 
that's the state today)
* CI train is a process external to Ubuntu (the distro), so many Ubuntu devs 
don't and won't care about it.

>  - (to get off the topic of the CI train :P) What do you think the main
>    aims of the MOTU team as a whole are?
>  - MOTU's struggled with recruitment for a while now. Can you think of
>    any strategies we could undertake to try and recruit and maintain
>    more team members?
> 
> Thanks,