Chris Boot

I originally encountered GNU/Linux as a teenager. I was a subscriber to a Mac magazine, being exclusively a Mac user at the time, which included an early preview of LinuxPPC. I installed this on my Mac and was immediately attracted by the idea of running various services in my home, such as a web, file and email server, and loved the idea of being able to read the source and change it to how it suited me. The rest, as they say, is history.

I am now working as a Linux Support Consultant for an exclusively Linux-based support and consultancy company, so I spend most of my days, evenings and weekends working with and on Linux. In addition to work I also run a large number of servers and virtual machines for my own use, all of which run Debian GNU/Linux.

So far my contributions to Debian have mostly been related to packaging. As a current Debian Maintainer I maintain squeezelite and ulogd2, co-maintain ppp with Marco d'Itri and have been somewhat involved with netatalk team maintenance. I have also taken part in a few BSPs and a number of Debian social events here in the UK.

I would be hard pressed to name specific areas of interest but I think I would tend to gravitate towards networking, storage and virtualisation if I had to make a choice. I'm more likely to stumble across something I care about and feel I can help with than rummage around and put my oar in.

As far as goals go, I just wish to be able to do useful things for Debian when I have time to do them. If I can help people out and maybe learn something new while I do it, that's great.

Note also that my work will often give me opportunities to contribute during working hours, e.g. my time would be sponsored by my employer. I feel that becoming a Debian Developer would facilitate this flow of contributions.