January 7, 2008 was supposed to be my second Linux birthday, if I had remembered it… I did nothing special to celebrate it, not even something like a bug triaging session of last year. Although last week I did manage to switch my Source Mage system from stable to the test grimoire (a.k.a. testing branch). I’d probably consider that a major change. I also noticed that January last year was the first time I’ve ever mentioned Source Mage, which happens to be the main distro on my desktop for quite some time now (Kubuntu still exists in some places and some forms, as Hardy). More on that some other time.

Come February, I applied for Kubuntu Membership. This membership basically means “contributor” in many ways, developing, packaging, community, advocacy, etc. At that time, my main area of contribution was user support, mostly IRC and then some in the forums. I also became a channel operator in #kubuntu (and much much later on in #kde) @ irc.freenode.net. Lately though, I’ve been slacking even in that area, due to my decision to lessen my IRC activities at times (to preserve sanity and what little productivity I have left). But I’ve still been silently monitoring how the community grows quite beautifully. New names, new contributors, fresh blood. It’s been interesting and fun to watch community dynamics such as this.

I did try later on to try out Debian/Kubuntu packaging, even tried to start a sort of journal. Unfortunately, I never really got the hang of it. It’s not really that difficult, but it can be overwhelming during your first attempts. With practice, you’ll improve. But I lacked that consistency, so almost everytime I have an urge to fix something, which happens almost every 6 months, I have to relearn the basics. During the course of getting intensely involved with Kubuntu development, I learned some lessons to keep in mind. One of that is that, whether you’re just a programmer trying to fix or add a feature, you will have to learn how to package. I guess this applies to any distribution. I believe that DEB is an excellent binary package format and it has excellent package management and creation tools. But the price of its quality is a bit of complexity (IMHO), so it can be daunting at first glance. But it’s not impossible. All you need is a bit of patience and perseverance, two traits I seem to lack.

This year I was also treated to my first two “geeky” (a.k.a. software/technology-related) events. One was a two-day seminar on FOSS and e-Governance, and another was the worldwide celebration of Software Freedom Day 2007. They were not as geeky as I hoped they’d be, and probably rightly so, since neither were really developer or hackfest events, but more advocacy-oriented. Still, it was fun to finally meet some of the people behind the IRC nicks, and to get to know other people involved with FOSS in the country. I was also treated to a different face of FOSS from what I’ve been used to in my limited world of the Internet. FOSS in the Philippines, and generally in South/East/Southeast Asia, takes on a more “social” face than what is common in the U.S. or in Europe. Here, the concerns are more on human development, empowering local government units and small enterprises, education, social awareness, and all that.

I’ve also been lucky enough to have made a small presence on the blogosphere, being added to Planet Ubuntu (perks of being a member) and Planet KDE. It has, of course, given a boost to my previously non-existent readership, but has also given me a chance to express some concerns or issues, learn new things from other people, and hopefully get to help others as well. I was also able to write my first (and so far only) “marketing” article about KDE, which found its way to dig, probably generating the most traffic on my site. I wanted to follow it up with a poster as suggested by one comment, but never got around to actually doing it (besides the fact that I seem to lack some decent amount of artistic talent). Still, I was glad that I wrote it and that it reached a lot of people, even those not reading my blogs and the Planets, since there seem to be some people who have only discovered or re-discovered those wonders of KDE.

Life in 2007 was not always this rosy for me though. Unlike 2006, which was exciting and uplifting, 2007 was stormy and stressful. I guess everyone reaches a sort of “burnout phase” in their involvement with FOSS projects. I guess I reached mine a bit early, just less than 2 years into it. First burnout happened around August, when I decided to take a sort of retreat for a while. I came back, but it has been a recurring problem. These periods of “depression” (for lack of a better word) has also brought into light certain personality problems that I didn’t know I had, or I did know I had them but didn’t bother. I’ll have to face my dark side sooner or later, and the sooner, the better.

One side-effect of this low periods is that I seem to have developed a talent for ranting during the last months of the year. So much that I’ve turned it into an art, called “blonting”, blog ranting (credit goes to Sho for the term, of course). I had a lot to rant about, and boy did I rant. Ranging from Kubuntu-KDE relation, to Kubuntu identity crisis, to No LTS for Kubuntu, any issue that was worth scrutinizing, I was there. The positive side to these blonts were that it created some discussion and some awareness about certain issues. On the down side, I kinda slowly distanced myself from Kubuntu a bit, probably contributing to even less presence in my usual areas of support. I haven’t left Kubuntu, of course. But suffice it to say that the honeymoon phase is a bit over. I’ve also learned to widen my horizon, perspectives, and experience. As usual, balance is the key. Let’s hope I can do that.

2007 hasn’t been adventurous only for me. It has equally been exciting and at the same time tumultuous for KDE and Kubuntu. With the release of Kubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon), Kubuntu has been scrutinized more for some of its differences with its older sibling, Ubuntu. With the release of KDE 4.0 delayed, and a few bumps on the road to getting there, KDE has also been put on the spotlight. But lo and behold, KDE 4.0 will be released in a few days, and the next version of Kubuntu will have two KDE offerings, as well as other new features that will (hopefully) keep it on par with Ubuntu.

2007 has indeed been exciting, adventurous, and eventful. Goals were set. Some were met, and some were not. Some things changed, some remained the same. New horizons were opened, other roads were closed. Do I have some regrets? Do I wish I could have done some things differently? Of course. But I’m also looking forward to a fresh and refreshing start for 2008. Many new things, new opportunities, and new endeavors lie ahead. So here’s to hoping for the best, and doing what it takes to make that come true.

Well, for one, I sort of took an extended “leave of absence” after the holidays. I basically just did nothing except lie around or watch T.V. I didn’t even play with the laptop, which is quite puzzling. I’ve also tried to “hang out” with a couple of friends from the neighborhood. In short, I was sort of busy with “real life” (Yeah, imagine my surprise in discovering life away from the computer). It was actually fun. Tiring, but fun. I was able to mess up my sister’s (our?) laptop yesterday and was forced to reinstall Windows XP. Not really a big deal, but quite embarrassing when you’re trying to “sell” the concept of Linux, dual-booting, and being a very computer-literate person.

Now it’s time to get the show running again:

1. I’ve recently been asked by our parish to make some layouts for posters to be put up on various solemnities next month. Searching for pictures and text and making the layout itself will not be that hard. What really “bothers” me is that I will have to, again, be forced to use Microsoft Office’s Publisher format to do this (yes, somebody, somewhere, still uses it…). I must say, though, that I found Publisher easier to work with than Scribus, despite the latter being more cross-platform. Then there’s also the question of file format… I hope the day will come when it won’t matter (much) what software you use, as long as you use the same format.

2. I’ve been slacking off my MOTU studies, partly because of that “break”, and partly because I don’t really know how to proceed, beyond my plan to make an initial survey of available MOTU-related references. My options are either following the Ubuntu Packaging Guide or the Debian Packaging Guide or proceeding on a different, topic-based system. (Special thanks to Hobbsee, who shared her own “outline” of topics.) On one hand, I hope that this little “experiment” of mine would help other MOTU hopefuls, and possibly even help add to the existing docs. But on the other hand, I also don’t want to step on some toes if I’m not doing it the right way or following some established protocol. Anyway, I won’t know until I get there.

3. Still on MOTU, I was very satisfied with the initial comments on my first MOTU post. Special thanks to Jerome, Andy, and Zak who all gave me great ideas and stuff to talk about. I plan on elaborating in my next post. This is what I hope to accomplish with this series: to be able to gather comments, suggestions, and questions in a convenient place. Hopefully, this won’t only help me, but others as well.

4. C++ is progressing like MOTU. Meaning, slooooow. Still on basic control structures (part 1 actually, no do…while or switch yet). Yeah, I should speed things up a bit. But at the same time, I don’t want to do a crash course type of studying. I’m still doing chapter 4’s exercises… hopefully I can finish chapter 5 before Sunday.

5. I’m currently trying to switch my desktop color scheme to a light text over dark background color scheme. Why? Because I like it, it looks sci-fi-ish, and it feels better on my eyes. I don’t know if there’s any usability study to back this up, but my thinking is that monitors and paper don’t “show” light and colors the same way, making dark text over light backgrounds better on printed media. Of course, I’m not usability expert. I’m planning to apply the same light over dark color scheme to my web page. But I think I’ll stick to a “normal” theme, until I learn of a way to let readers/viewers choose which color scheme they like, without requiring them to login, of course. I’m trying to use the Oxygen color palette in my color scheme. But right now, I’m having some difficulties using the darker colors in the palette. I’m also having problems with using custom stylesheets in Konqueror. But more on that in the future.

Long-ish post again.

Some of these questions might be similar to what other MOTU Hopefuls would be asking, so I hope that some of the answers will be helpful to others as well (might even end up in the MOTU FAQ at some point). These questions are pretty basic (a.k.a. newbie-ish) so I was able to find tentative answers for some of them. But as I go along, I might find more definitive answers and update the list.

How do a I make a package?

See the Ubuntu Packaging Guide

What should I know to be able to start learning how to make packages?

“You should know what Linux is.” Kidding aside, knowing how to compile from source code will definitely be a big advantage. Anyway, if there’s something you don’t know yet, you can learn it along the way. Oh, and you must at least know how to use the man pages. (the man:/ KDE kioslave is such a nice feature!)

Where to ask for help?

MOTU Contact. Just a note, as one developer mentioned, you should be willing to look for information and trying things yourself first, and not expect a lot of spoonfeeding and hand-holding. Search first, try it out, and then ask.

How do I set up my system for Ubuntu development/packaging?

See the Ubuntu Packaging Guide. You will basically be needing some of the tools listed in that guide.

What are the tools needed/used for packaging?

See the Ubuntu Packaging Guide. build-essential and pbuilder seem to be the most notable.

How do you get changes uploaded/accepted?

See the MOTU Sponsorship process

When would be a good time to make packages/changes?

See the MOTU Processes

How do I become a MOTU?

After working with MOTU’s, see the MOTU Recruitment process.

There, some nice, very basic, beginner-level questions. I know that I might have missed some, as these were mostly my own questions. I also have some other questions reserved for the future, but maybe for another day/post. If I recall any other newbie-type questions, I’ll update this list as well.

Now on to taking an initial survey of the available guides and documentation for MOTU Hopefuls. And, from what I’ve seen while looking for the answers above, there are a lot of them. Well, better get started then.

And with my MOTU journey comes my MOTU logbook. I plan to “document” my journey into the world of packaging, from start to finish (presuming there’s a “finish” at all). I’m going to write/blog about steps that I would take, people I would meet, things to keep in mind, etc. It might sound a bit crazy and impractical to do these things. My purpose for doing it, besides having my own notes, is to have a sort of reference for other people wanting to get into packaging, too. Hopefully, my notes would be able to help other aspiring packagers and discover possible problems with current documents/guides.

As they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Hope I don’t trip.

Up next: Wading through a sea of resources.