Ubuntu 11.10 Development update

Ensemble, which is now part of the server team has entered the archive this cycle. Originally, ensemble worked purely against the ec2 API to assist with cloud deployments. This cycle, support for provisioning bare-metal hardware using cobblers API has been achieved.

There are always areas where interested people can contribute to the server flavour. The development tasks that people can take on varies from bitesize trivial tasks, to larger undertaking depending on available time commitment and experience. The type of desired task also tends to vary depending on the stage of the development cycle.

The Ubuntu server team tracks these bugs for release. Please note, that anything unassigned or assigned to ‘Ubuntu Server Team’ is generally up for grabs.

Another crucial part of being part of the Ubuntu Server Team, is triaging incoming bugs. We generally follow this process. We also welcome testing of the development cd image, and server archive components. This is vital to help catch critical issues before release.

Ensemble is always interested in having formula contributions, which is another interesting way that people with experience in deploying workloads are welcomed to contribute.

All contributions to Ubuntu Server are appreciated, if you want to get more  involved please join #ubuntu-server on freenode IRC and say hello, or more formally follow: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/Membership

Thanks a lot Dave for the update! I’d like to add that if you’re interested in the Cloud and what’s happening there, make sure you visit http://cloud.ubuntu.com/! Also if you got excited about Ensemble and what it can do for you, have a look at existing formulas and requested formulas. Just join #ubuntu-ensemble if you need some help or want to meet the people behind this fantastic project.

If you’re interested in any other aspect of Ubuntu Oneiric, I’d refer you to the oneiric-changes mailing list and the big picture specification status overview instead. So what’s happening with the Ubuntu Desktop?

Events

We have one of the coolest events of the whole cycle coming up: Ubuntu Global Jam. Local Community teams around the world come together to have a good time on work on Ubuntu directly: translations, bugs, packaging, documentation, testing, documentation – everything goes! Check out the list of participating events to find out where to go, or set up an event yourself! There’s still some time until 2nd-4th September!

If you want to get involved in packaging and bug fixing, there’s still a lot of bugs that need to get fixed:

• There’s packages that fail to build.
• Also is the Ubuntu Mozilla team looking for help, so if you’re excited about Mozilla and what’s happening there, join IRC, talk to the guys on #ubuntu-mozillateam on irc.freenode.net.
• And then there’s Security bugs you can take a look at, the team is a friendly bunch and they’re incredibly helpful in getting your patch reviewed.
• Also is the Server team interested in your help: merges from Debian is one possibility, fixing important bugs another.

New contributors

I was on holidays for a two weeks, so here’s almost three weeks worth of new contributors! Here’s the list of new Ubuntu heroes: Ben Howard,  Tim Niemueller, Stefan Tauner, Gary Poster, Guybrush88. Five new people in the Ubuntu world, welcome everyone! 🙂

Get Involved

1. Read the Introduction to Ubuntu Development. It’s a short article which will help you understand how Ubuntu is put together, how the infrastructure is used and how we interact with other projects.
2. Follow the instructions in the Getting Set Up article. A few simple commands, a registration at Launchpad and you should have all the tools you need, and you’re ready to go.
3. Check out our instructions for how to fix a bug in Ubuntu, they come with small examples that make it easier to visualise what exactly you need to do.

Find something to work on

Pick a bitesize bug. These are the bugs we think should be easy to fix. Another option is to help out in one of our initiatives.

• Help out with the dh_python2 porting.
• Help out with fixing packages that don’t build anymore.
• Help out with security bugs.

In addition to that there are loads more opportunities over at Harvest.

Getting in touch

There are many different ways to contact Ubuntu developers and get your questions answered.

• Be interactive and reach us most immediately: talk to us in #ubuntu-motu on irc.freenode.net.
• Follow mailing lists and get involved in the discussions: ubuntu-devel-announce (announce only, low traffic), ubuntu-devel (high-level discussions), ubuntu-devel-discuss (fairly general developer discussions).
• Stay up to date and follow the ubuntudev account on Facebook, Identi.ca or Twitter.