Aloha, so UDS is around the corner and I’ll be attending it. I’m really looking forwarding to meeting some of the folks that I met last May and also new people. UDS Lucid is taking place in Dallas Texas, which is going to be 6 hours behind Irish time folks. But that shouldn’t be a reason not to take part remotely.

Remote participation is encouraged, via IRC, Lifestream Gobby and Live Stream. There are a number of EXTRA channels to join as each room at the venue will have a different track topic in it every hour. So it’s not by Stream type so you do have to keep an eye on the time table. I’m posting today so you know in advance. The Overall discussion, including plenary: #ubuntu-devel-summit on freenode.

Discussion Channels – The tracks are shuffled around different rooms, so the irc channels are /per room/, not per track. Here are the channels, which corresponds to the room of the session in the schedule.

• #ubuntu-uds-waverly
• #ubuntu-uds-stanford
• #ubuntu-uds-madison
• #ubuntu-uds-esmeralda
• #ubuntu-uds-mayflower
• #ubuntu-uds-riviere
• #ubuntu-uds-vinoy
• #ubuntu-uds-presidente
• #ubuntu-uds-riogrande
• #ubuntu-uds-lonestar1
• #ubuntu-uds-lonestar2
• #ubuntu-uds-lonestar3
• #ubuntu-uds-alamo1
• #ubuntu-uds-alamo2

For Icecast – see the link here

A stream of all Ubuntu and UDS posts made to Identi.ca, Twitter, and Flickr can be found at http://summit.ubuntu.com/media/lifestream.html or if you just want to follow a certain track here is a list of them

• @udscommunity

• @udskernel
• @udsqa
• @udsfoundations
• @udsmobile
• @udsdesktop
• @udsserver

Gobby is my new best friend, having used it last May I found it an excellent resource and try and use it whenever I can. Everyone can take part using this, so an ideal way is to have the IRC channel open, or stream coming in and having the gobby document open. You can see extra thoughts been added here, or reasons for comments made in the channel, you can also add your thoughts here.

• gobby.ubuntu.com

• Gobby is being used at UDS to collaborate on the specifications that are being written and to facilitate remote participation.

To take part, please install Gobby (available in universe) and tell it to connect to gobby.ubuntu.com. You will be presented with a list of documents being edited. During any session or meeting, and particularly at the end of one, please do make a local backup of your documents. WARNING: There is a new gobby in karmic, gobby-infinote, we will NOT be using this at UDS since we need for people on older releases to participate. Ensure you are using the “gobby” package.

Finally, to take part I’d suggest a few things, have the channels joined before hand, a browser open with the timetable on it and remember each Room will have a different track topic in it at different times. If you have the icecast running, perhaps wear a set of headphones so you can hear better without distractions. If you’re in a channel and someone is talking and they are faint do write on the channel asking them to SPEAK UP YOU CANNOT HEAR THEM! you won’t be the only one!

If you make a comment on IRC and you want it to be conveyed to the people in the room, tell someone, perhaps make it bold so it stands out if it’s a busy discussion. But do poke again if it was missed and you want it conveyed.

Use gobby, and take part, you are a part of the community also, you’re comments are needed to help shape Lucid. Save the document afterwards locally if you like so you have a reference for it, I found that useful 2-3 months down the line when I wanted to refer to ideas that came up last May.

One other thing, on freenode you are limited to join a maximum of 20 channels. If you need to join more you need to join #freenode and ask a staffer there to allow you to join 20+ .

Also all of the information and more is here

[Discuss UDS Remote Participation on the Forums]

Originally posted by Laura Czajkowski here on 11/12/2009 09:40 am

I just wanted to provide everyone with a quick update on where we are with planning for the Ubuntu Developer Summit.

The twice-annual Ubuntu Developer Summit is the event in which we get together to design, discuss and plan the next version of Ubuntu. It is a critical event in the Ubuntu calendar not only for assessing what we would like put into the next release, but also getting many facets of our community together to bond, share ideas and thoughts and have some valuable face-time for a community so thoroughly distributed.

We are putting the organizational wheels in motion for the next UDS and while some details are still yet to be finalized, I didn’t want this to hold me back giving you an update on where we are. So, let’s cut to the chase:

* The next UDS will take place from Monday 16 Nov 2009 – Friday 20 Nov 2009 in a location that is yet to be confirmed but will certainly be in the USA.
* This will be the L release and while Mark has picked the name, it has not been announced yet. I will wait for him to get that juicy nugget of information out for you.
* Each year we (Canonical) provide travel and accommodation assistance for a limited number of community members. Again, I want to remind the many Ubuntu community rock-stars that we can only sponsor some community rock-stars due to limited resources. If you have a lot to offer the next UDS, go and find out details of how to apply here.
* Details as they emerge will appear on the UDS wiki pages

More details as I get ‘em!

[Discuss this UDS Update on the Forums]

Originally posted by Jono Bacon here on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 1:56 am

Catch all the latest UDS updates here! UDS Jaunty tags from Flickr, YouTube, and Identi.ca are displayed here.

Mark Shuttleworth has announced Ubuntu 9.10:

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Karmic Koala, the newest member of our alliterative menagerie.

When you are looking for inspiration beyond the looming Jaunty feature freeze, I hope you’ll think of the Koala, our official mascot for Ubuntu 9.10. And if you’ll bear with me for a minute I’ll set the scene for what we hope to achieve in that time.

Server

A good Koala knows how to see the wood for the trees, even when her head is in the clouds. Ubuntu aims to keep free software at the forefront of cloud computing by embracing the API’s of Amazon EC2, and making it easy for anybody to setup their own cloud using entirely open tools. We’re currently in beta with official Ubuntu base AMI’s for use on Amazon EC2. During the Karmic cycle we want to make it easy to deploy applications into the cloud, with ready-to-run appliances or by quickly assembling a custom image. Ubuntu-vmbuilder makes it easy to create a custom AMI today, but a portfolio of standard image profiles will allow easier collaboration between people doing similar things on EC2. Wouldn’t it be apt for Ubuntu to make the Amazon jungle as easy to navigate as, say, APT?

What if you want to build an EC2-style cloud of your own? Of all the trees in the wood, a Koala’s favourite leaf is Eucalyptus. The Eucalyptus project, from UCSB, enables you to create an EC2-style cloud in your own data center, on your own hardware. It’s no coincidence that Eucalyptus has just been uploaded to universe and will be part of Jaunty - during the Karmic cycle we expect to make those clouds dance, with dynamically growing and shrinking resource allocations depending on your needs. A savvy Koala knows that the best way to conserve energy is to go to sleep, and these days even servers can suspend and resume, so imagine if we could make it possible to build a cloud computing facility that drops its energy use virtually to zero by napping in the midday heat, and waking up when there’s work to be done. No need to drink at the energy fountain when there’s nothing going on. If we get all of this right, our Koala will help take the edge off the bear market.

If that sounds rather open and nebulous, then we’ve hit the sweet spot for cloud computing futurology. Let me invite you to join the server team at UDS in Barcelona, when they’ll be defining the exact set of features to ship in October.

Desktop

First impressions count. We’re eagerly following the development of kernel mode setting, which promises a smooth and flicker-free startup. We’ll consider options like Red Hat’s Plymouth, for graphical boot on all the cards that support it. We made a splash years ago with Usplash, but it’s time to move to something newer and shinier. So the good news is, boot will be beautiful. The bad news is, you won’t have long to appreciate it! It only takes 35 days to make a whole Koala, so we think it should be possible to bring up a stylish desktop much faster. The goal for Jaunty on a netbook is 25 seconds, so let’s see how much faster we can get you all the way to a Koala desktop. We’re also hoping to deliver a new login experience that complements the graphical boot, and works well for small groups as well as very large installations.

For those of you who can relate to Mini Me, or already have a Dell Mini, the Ubuntu Netbook Edition will be updated to include all the latest technology from Moblin, and tuned to work even better on screens that are vertically challenged. With millions of Linux netbooks out there, we have been learning and adapting usability to make the Koala cuddlier than ever. We also want to ensure that the Netbook Remix installs easily and works brilliantly on all the latest netbook hardware, so consider this a call for testing Ubuntu 9.04 if you’re the proud owner of one of these dainty items.

The desktop will have a designer’s fingerprints all over it - we’re now beginning the serious push to a new look. Brown has served us well but the Koala is considering other options. Come to UDS for a preview of the whole new look.

UDS in Barcelona, 25-29 May

As always, the Ubuntu Developer Summit will be jam-packed with ideas, innovations, guests and gurus. It’s a wombat and dingbat-free zone, so if you’re looking for high-intensity developer discussions, beautiful Barcelona will be the place to rest your opposable thumbs in May. It’s where the Ubuntu community, Canonical engineers and partners come together to discuss, debate and design the Karmic Koala. The event is the social and strategic highlight of each release cycle. Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu Community Manager has more details at http://www.jonobacon.org/2009/02/19/announcing-the-karmic-koala-ubuntu-developer-summit/ including sponsorship for heavily-contributing community members.

More details of the Ubuntu Developer Summit can be found at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS.

A newborn Koala spends about six months in the family before it heads off into the wild alone. Sounds about perfect for an Ubuntu release plan! I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in Barcelona, and before that, at a Jaunty release party. Till then, cheers.

Mark

With the release of Ubuntu 8.10 approaching rapidly, Mark Shuttleworth has announced plans for Ubuntu 9.04, codenamed Jaunty Jackalope. The overarching goal is to provide a better user experience, one that not only matches existing consumer platforms, but sets a new standard.

Keeping that in mind, a goal of Jaunty Jackalope is to decrease boot and resume times. Deep integration of desktop and web applications will be pursued. Discussions related to bridging the gap between both types of applications started at UDS-Prague and will continue in Mountain View.

Since collaboration is key to the open source ecosystem, Jaunty will provide new ways for developers to work with Ubuntu. All of Ubuntu will be moved into Bazaar. This will allow any package to be easily branched, modified, and built for PPAs. Developers interested in specific packages will also be able to participate outside of the usual MOTU and core-dev structure.

Much of this hinges on the planning that will go on at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, in the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, Monday 8th - Friday 12th December 2008. UDS historically involved Canonical employees and sponsored community contributors. For Mountain View, anyone from the community can submit a request to be sponsored.

Individuals sponsored will be expected to lead a discussion in one of the key topics for Ubuntu 9.04:

• Networking
• Power Management
• Desktop Experience
• Booting
• Hardware Support
• Sharing and Backup
• Desktop Configuration
• Server Configuration
• Network Authentication
• Security
• Community
• Mobile
• QA
• Other

Discussions should center around an Ubuntu Brainstorm idea.

To increase the odds of sponsorship, community contributions like keeping up with 5-A-Day and helping with the sponsorship queue will be beneficial. Volunteering to do crew duty is also a plus.

See Jono Bacon’s post for more details on how to get sponsored.

The deadline for sponsorship requests is Thursday 25th September 2008.

It has been a month since Ubuntu Developer Summit Intrepid Ibex was held in Prague, Czech Republic. The track leads have collated all their reports from the UDS discussions and Jorge Castro has made a summary of them, available here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-Intrepid/Report/Summary. This report is a combination of reports and specs:

• Reports from UDS: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-Intrepid/Report/
• The current list of approved blueprints for 8.10: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepid

The reports are meant to be a bird’s eye view of what’s to come in Ubuntu 8.10. Like all best-laid plans, these are subject to adjustment and/or changes, but should be general enough to give you a good idea of what’s being worked on.

Today was the last day of the Developer Summit and as such, it was a much lighter schedule.
After the spec sessions ended, Matt Zimmerman and Jono Bacon led a wrapup. However, a light schedule does not mean nothing was discussed:

Building a community around “enterprise” Ubuntu

Running Ubuntu in a large deployment can be tough, and a team to help reduce the pain is sorely needed. This spec talked about how to build such a team, including ideas like chatting with spec authors to make them aware of the needs of users of such deployments, as well as helping “enterprise-y” users contribute meaningfully to the larger Ubuntu community, including teams such as MOTU.

Banshee information discussion

The Banshee lead dev, Aaron Bockover, came to UDS to run an informal session on Banshee, talking about what it currently does and what development is expected in the future. He showcased how Banshee handles large libraries, iPod and other media device sync, and other features. Although shipping Banshee by default is not likely in the Hardy timeframe, it was strongly suggested that Hardy+1 would be a good time to do this.

Wrapup session

At the end of the conference, Matt Zimmerman led a wrapup session, describing this UDS as the “biggest and best” with the largest scope, encompassing Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and general education, Mobile, Server, and community. He then went on to cover the highlights of each major track:

Community - focusing on workflow between teams with the project, working with LoCo teams as well as building relationships with upstream developers.

Kernel - targeting the 2.6.24 kernel for Hardy, building a schedule, and announcing daily kernel builds during the Hardy cycle

Platform - focusing on robustness is a key target for Hardy, including creating a better testing infrastructure for language packs, bootloader, desktop applications and more.

Server - planning an amibitious schedule including LDAP auth on client/server with AD as an additional target, packaging of web apps, and more.

Mobile - focusing on how to handle software updates, backups, which applications to install by default, and general platform issues.

QA - talking about better measurement of QA during Hardy processes for verifying bugs. Also created a detailed schedule for what the QA team will be doing.

Desktop - discussing a major new theme for Hardy, including better procedures. Also talked about tracking new upstream projects such as PolicyKit.

Matt then turned it over to Jono, who led a a discussion of accolades and gripes about the UDS, with the reward of a donated O’Reilly book for the speakers. Lots of feedback was generated, from the now working phone system, the schedule being rejigged, notice boards and notices in general, where lunch was held, working with the LoCo team to help generate list of eating and cultural place within the host city, and much more.

Thanks for reading all this. There are a few more articles coming out over the next weeks, including talking with the Mobile and Server teams to see what they covered at UDS and those teams’ general plans for Hardy.

Attendees at UDS Boston 2007. They included community members, Canonical staff, upstream projects such as Samba, Banshee, Mono and others as well as reps from many companies including Google and more. Photo taken by Ken Wimer.

With Halloween falling during the Boston summit, it is only fitting that some of the more crazy Ubuntu people would get dressed up and party it up. Of course, an event like this must be documented:

Daniel Holbach and Jono Bacon wait for the crowd to show up for dinner

Jono enjoys a laugh while Ken Wimer searches for something

Marc Tardif gets his rollers adjusted by Rich Weideman

Rich and Jorge Castro enjoy a smoke

Francesca and Jono at dinner

Jono gets surprised by random strangers on the street

Mirco Müller demonstrates capoeira

Thanks to Ken Wimer for the pictures.

Greetings from the Developers’ Summit! As was predicted, the good weather didn’t hold up with today’s light rain and clouds. Inside, the ways to make Ubuntu rock more continue across the many areas on the schedule.

Desktop roundtable

This morning’s roundtable started with a discussion of possible new changes, including the merits of a darker theme, reducing the number of icons, and some larger general principles like simplifying the UI.

Windows installer
The Windows Installer, Wubi, was targetted at 7.10, however bugs prevented it from being released. Discussion centred on how to solve specific bugs, such as with UnionFS. The installer-for-windows spec is still New and may have another session.

Better integrated Wine

Making it simple for those users stuck with Windows apps was the target here. Wine won’t be shipped in main and enabled by default due to its fast moving development and beta status. For now, the better option is to make it easy to install Wine when needed, like with the codec installation. This spec allows a lot of advantages, such as double-click to run .exe and .msi files, integration of Wine application uninstallation via the Add/Remove Software tool and autorun of Windows cds. A few technical hurdles were talked about as well, such as building Mono and Gecko for Windows to plug into wine. The better-integrated-wine spec is now in Drafting and will not have another session.

Integrating sync

Being able to sync not only devices to applications but also random bits of data to anywhere is the focus of the Conduit and OpenSync projects. Integrating not only these projects into each other but also in Ubuntu was the primary focus of discussion. Upstream author of Conduit, John Stowers, joined in the discussion and explained how Conduit was working with OpenSync and how OpenSync needed to work with newer desktop technologies like HAL. Also discussed was the division between OpenSync, Conduit, GNOME online desktop and the built-in sync in Tomboy. At the end of the discussion, it was decided to agressively track upstream development during the Hardy cycle, but it is unlikely any of this will be shipped with 8.04. The syncintegration spec is now in Drafting and will not have another session.

Improving Add/Remove Programs

The current Add/Remove Programs tool is a good one, but has some limitations in terms of linking to user reviews, screenshots and more. The idea then is to create a website for a software catalog, working on top of the Apturl work that shipped with 7.10. This site would include the links to the upstream project, Rosetta translations, etc and would also be able to host user reviews, comments, screenshots, screencasts and more. What exact platform was not decided, but things such as the Wine Appdb, an Open Source PHP app, were discussed. The discussion also veered into ways to list apps, whether we should promote Open Source applications over proprietary ones and possible ones that cost money. The add-remove-software-improvements spec is in Drafting and will not have another session.

Shipping screencasts on the CD

The Screencasts team has been creating amazing screencasts to help users with all sorts of problems, across all the varieties of Ubuntu. Getting those screencasts onto the desktop via the Help browser was the primary focus here. It turns out that you can embed a video in Yelp to be played by the Totem media player. Also discussed was the ultimate screencasts creation tool, using PiTiVi, Istanbul and Xephyr. This bit is more for an upstream project and not Ubuntu itself to carry out, however. The screencasts-in-ubuntu spec is in Drafting and will not get another spec.

Easy file sharing

Sharing files between two Ubuntu machines, or from an Ubuntu machine to a non-Ubuntu machine is currently not as easy as it could be. There are two scopes for this project: that of sharing a small group of files in a scratch group, such as at a conference or meeting, and that of sharing out a set of files more or less permanently. The former use case will eventually be covered by Telepathy and Empathy, although that is not something that can be targetted for 8.04. The latter problem, however, can be covered by making Samba easier to install and setup. This will be done by making the Shared Folders capplet install only Samba. Some technical work deeper down to integrate Samba passwords with system passwords via PAM, something that is fairly easy to do with new installs but harder with upgrades. The problem of the user needing to be root to share out a folder was discussed, although there is no easy solution to this. The easy-file-sharing is in New and may have another session.

Ryan Paul of Arstechnica, who was here earlier in the week, has posted three excellent stories, covering an overview of the summit, including pictures, Hardy theme changes and finally how the summit lays out a “strong release”.

Overall, it was yet another productive day at the summit. There was so much discussed it was, as per usual, impossible to talk about everything that was. If you wish to participate and cannot be at here, check out the participate page.