Ruben Undheim

I am primarily a hardware guy, who happen to use Debian for a lot of things - because it makes "doing things" so much easier. My main focus is on radio, and I have focused quite a bit on software-defined radio (SDR). I have also been involved with tool chains for ASIC development / FPGAs etc.

I started using GNU/Linux at the age of around 13-14 years, which was around Potato / Woody times. I do not remember Potato, but I do remember Woody. I loved the idea of typing "apt-get install bugsquash" to get a game which worked on my old computer, and "apt-get install dtmfdial" which made it possible to dial with the landline phone by holding the speaker close to the telephone (sadly 'dtmfdial' has been removed from the archive since then..). I also loved the idea of having so easy access to the source code and then LEARN from it. This then naturally makes me want to contribute back. Someone else shared their code so that I could acquire valuable knowledge!

Since I found it very annoying to so often have to compile software I used from source, I started writing shell scripts which built the software for me and applied necessary patches. This worked, but I realised that there was a cleaner option. I learnt how to make Debian packages instead, and when I first had prepared them - why not share them? This started a couple of years ago (2014). I slowly learnt how I had to act in order to attract sponsors, which then now has resulted in 29 initial uploads for new source packages - which I am still maintaining. (The number of binary packages is much higher, since many of the packages contain shared libraries etc) Things turned out much easier when I became a Debian Maintainer (DM), and it became possible to actually get things done without having to wait weeks for sponsors!

I also at times find it very limiting to be a Debian Maintainer. One of the most annoying limitations is that it is not possible for me to bump ABI numbers for libraries (I am the sole uploader for a number of libraries). This halts my productivity at times. Other temptations for becoming a DD, is that it will be possible to do NMUs (with a delay!) when I see something which definitely should be fixed, and there is a clear fix.

There are also advantages of being a DM - for instance that it forces me to actually get ABI bumps and new packages properly reviewed by someone else, which could be a good thing even for DDs. However, I think that based on the quite big number of uploads I have made so far, I am quite confident of not making huge blunders (although "everyone" does mistakes at times).

By becoming a DD, I believe I will focus on the same things as today - try to package as many free software packages as possible with high quality mainly within the field of electronics / SDR etc. I think it would also perhaps be good to get some more activity into the pkg-electronics Team which suffers from the lack of DDs who can sponsor. I would in this case be happy to sponsor packages in that Team.