RossGammon

I am an Engineer by day, and in my spare time I maintain packages for Debian and act as the Test Team Lead for Ubuntu Studio. Since May 2016 I have been an Ubuntu Member, since March 2017 I have been an Ubuntu Contributing Developer, and since August 2017 I have been a Debian Developer.

I was born in Australia, and now live in Copenhagen, Denmark. In my younger days I spent a lot of time learning to program. This was mainly in BASIC, but I also learnt some Assembler (Z80) and Pascal programming through my studies. Then my work got in the way, and I spent many years as a software user only (Windows of course).

Then in 2011 I installed Linux, discovered the joy of software freedom, and rediscovered the fun of making computers do what you want. Then in 2013 I decided to start contributing something back. I started by taking over the maintenance of the Gramps package in Debian. Nowadays, as well as Gramps, I also maintain the goocanvas, abcmidi, and dominate packages. I am a member of the Debian GIS Team, the Debian Multimedia Team, and the Debian Javascript Team where I also help to maintain several packages. I am also enjoying brushing up on some Python, PHP and C programming skills.

In Ubuntu, I am a member of the Ubuntu Studio Team. With the Ubuntu Studio Team, I am the Testing Team Leader. As well as managing each release, we hope to create a suite of Manual Test Cases that we can use to test the important Ubuntu Studio applications before the release. I am also a member of the Ubuntu Studio Bugs Team, and the Ubuntu Bug Squad. After we get the suite of Manual Test Cases in order, my intention is to build on the Bug Triage documentation for Ubuntu and create some Bug Triaging guides specific to Ubuntu Studio (particularly with respect to audio and MIDI), and begin to plan some Bug Hugging days on Ubuntu Studio packages in need of some love. I am also planning to hack together a few tools to help manage typical tasks in the Ubuntu Studio Development Team. I also try to help out by syncing and merging software from Debian where I am one of the maintainers, or the package is in the Ubuntu Studio seeds. I have also done Backports for some of these packages. For Ubuntu Studio, I hope to be a bit more systematic about this aspect in the future.

Contributions

Bugs: Being a member of the Ubuntu Bug Squad, I have learnt the process of triaging bugs in Ubuntu. This also includes assigning bugs to packages that have been submitted against Ubuntu in general. Recently, I subscribed the Ubuntu Studio Bugs Team to relevant packages in Launchpad, so that the Ubuntu Studio Bugs Team receive emails through the mailing list about bugs against Ubuntu Studio packages.

Development: I have had a few Syncs, Merges, Backports, SRUs and package removals sponsored. Initially this was to take care of the packages I maintain in Debian, but now also for Ubuntu Studio packages. I have also helped with the Ubuntu Studio packages including packaging some new wallpapers from the Community Wallpapers competition in the ubuntustudio-look package, some tweaks to the ubuntustudio-menu package, and keeping the ubuntustudio-meta package up to date.

Testing: I have taken part in ISO testing as part of several Ubuntu Studio releases. Since taking on the Ubuntu Studio Testing Team Lead role, I have worked to encourage team members to produce Manual Test Cases, produced some myself, and helped to create an embryonic set of Manual Test Cases on the Ubuntu Package QA Tracker.

Releases: Since becoming Ubuntu Studio Testing Team Lead, I have taken the lead since the 14.04.4 and 16.04 Beta1, Final Beta and Final Releases, marking the ISO's ready for the Ubuntu Release Team, and then following up on the bugs discovered and producing fixes where possible for sponsorship. I have also produced most of the Release Notes since the 16.04 Beta & Final releases.

A summary of some of my Open Source learning and contributions can be found on my blog.

Future

I want to ...

  • Help to build up a portfolio of Manual Test Cases for Ubuntu Studio packages and begin Application Testing before the 16.04 release
  • Help with testing ISO's for the Beta and Final releases of Ubuntu Studio 16.04 and marking them ready for release
  • Write up some Bug Triaging guides specific to Ubuntu Studio
  • Hack some tools to help monitor and manage the packages of interest to Ubuntu Studio
  • Obtain per-package upload rights so that I can assist with merges, syncs, SRUs, and backports of Ubuntu Studio packages and other packages I maintain within Debian, and eventually a MOTU.
  • Help to build up the Ubuntu Studio Team with more developers so that we can be faster at fixing problems with Ubuntu Studio related packages

Testimonials

Note: If you have anything nice to say about this person, please do add it below. Please do not forget to add your launchpad link and account username as a signature of your testimonial.


Being new among the Ubuntu Community, I cannot quite yet tell what are good requirements or qualities for a member. However i know how to recognize a dedicated, generous and sharp person. Ross has been of an incalculable value to Ubuntu Studio, working hard and regularly on some of our most important packages. The fact that he seems to enjoy testing software aimed at multimedia is in itself a testimony of Ross's creative fiber. His emails to the Ubuntustudio-devel mailing-list are in my humble opinion templates and examples of well put, well structured information loops and proof that Ross is a socially skilled team-worker; always straight to the point and positively pragmatic. Simply put, it is a pleasure to work and discuss with Ross.

Set Hallström


Ross is the kind of developer you want to encourage to have on your team. Good communicator, reliable, and skilled. During the last years, he has increasingly been active with Ubuntu Studio development, and based on my experience about Ross I highly recommend for him to become an Ubuntu member, as well as getting upload rights for the Ubuntu Studio package set in a foreseeable future. In my view he's a great asset for the Ubuntu community.

zequence - Ubuntu Studio project lead (2013-2016)


I became involved with the Ubuntu Studio through my involvement with both Xubuntu and the Ubuntu Manual testcase team, in order to help them bring their testing to the Ubuntu Package Tracker. It faltered a bit - mostly because a small team finds it hard to include something new in all the things they have to do.

Ross showed up to amongst other things help with testing - in short time the testcase issue was progressing fast - in fact they made it in time to have testcases available on the package tracker.

Ross exemplifies Ubuntu Member - he's helpful, he's kind, he listens - he does all the things anyone would expect from a member of Ubuntu - he certainly has my backing.

flocculant Xubuntu QA Lead


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RossGammon (last edited 2017-11-07 19:43:59 by rosco2)