Fedora Devshell packages

Fedora Devshell packages

After learning my way around setuptools making packages for EKG, i decided the tool that deals with packaging should be packaged. I've spent the past couple of hours making some broad changes to Devshell in order to work better with setuptools. I used to not really get entry points that well, but now having worked with them a bit more in depth, i can really see how they can be useful. If nothing else, i'm going to have to fix my module importing and detection code sometime in the future. Alot of the base code needs some massive overhauls, so it's almost time to say goodbye to the original code Luke Macken wrote.

In order to work with the new and improved Devshell, i've updated the wiki documentation. The usage guide is roughly the same. Installation and usage has been simplified though. Technically you have to run a few more steps, but they are very standard in the Python world, so anyone familiar with Python programs will have little trouble working with them. You can check them out here.

There is also convenient API Documentation if you want to know something about the internals and how things are organized.

There is an RPM waiting for review, so hopefully there will be a package you can just install in the future. If anyone wants to have a look, the review is here.

Recently one of our very own, Christoph Wickert, mentioned Devshell in an interview he gave on the upcoming LinuxTag and FUDCon Berlin. It was an inspiration to focus on making it available to the masses and i'm hoping that we can ramp up Devshell development a bit more before the upcoming 'Messe' and 'Konferrenz'. The interview is in German, so you've been warned. I guess someone in the community will provide a translation in the next couple of days, it's an excellent interview. If not, i might have to have a stab at it myself, to make up emotionally for getting such a poor grade in German this semester.

Something i might miss

Something i might miss

I've said it before, and i'll say it again. One thing i won't miss about Pittsburgh is the hills. One thing i will miss though is the way the wind rolls into these hills right before it rains. First the sky gets dark and cloudy, and the air picks up this electric energy. The wind comes bursting in little puffs which send pretty much every piece of debris around the neighbourhood at least once or twice. Then it builds up further pushing you and the trees around, and you can see it just in the way everything around you is moving. You feel all these drops hitting you from nowhere, even though the rain's not really falling.

Then it stops, the heavens crack open, and it starts raining.

Then you're just in time to watch people get caught on the main road get caught in the rain while you sip an espresso from the comfort of a cafe.

Packaging EKG

Packaging EKG

Today i packaged my first python egg, or what ever they are called. I reorganized EKG to be a bit more like a module, and less like a bunch of scripts, and packaged it up. The SRPM is available for review if anyone wants it here:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=498073

Ubuntu Pittsburgh Release Party

Ubuntu Pittsburgh Release Party

Tonight i associated with the brown traitors and associated with the scourge of great brownness, and it wasn't actually that bad. The number one theme of conversation was members of the WPLUG (Western PA LUG) asking people why they don't go to LUG meetings. There were of course Folding of the Arms and the Glaring. This of course lead to Explanations and Reasoning, which tends to drift to Meaningful Conversation. Maybe it was some kind of geeky ice breaker.

(Or maybe i'm just reading too much Terry Pratchett lately.)

Honestly, most of the meeting was really more an excuse for people to have a couple of beers, eat bar food, and recruit for the LUG. I also had one talk with a guy from SGI who may actually try to show up at Hacking at Random. I love being able to plug random things at random events.

Next up, presenting Fedora 11 and all it's new features at the next LUG meeting.

Actually, i got another nice plug here; one person, whose name i didn't catch, was bemoaning the fact he missed out on a LUG presentation on VMWare. I mentioned that Fedora 11 has quite alot to do with virtualization. As a note to Ambassadors, there are key items that have a certain cult following amongst teenagers and young 20-somethings. VMWare as far back as i can remember has been pretty popular, because they tended to give out licenses like candy at conferences and shows. Virt-Manager competes quite nicely. Make sure to push it heavily.

He's a free man, folks

He's a free man, folks

Today i just took the last final exam i will probably ever take in my academic career. It's really not as big of a deal as it sounds; i'm only getting a certificate in German language skills, which is nothing more than a nice resume filler. The real highlight of my 'academic' career is not this, but having gotten RHCE certification last summer, thanks to Red Hat. Still, i'm glad that i'm not stuck between two very different competing demands in my life anymore. I could have spent another year and a half working towards a bona fide diploma, but i decided in the end that's not what i wanted to focus on. I decided that i didn't want to spend the rest of my life paying off student loans.

Here's what's in store for the Future. Some of you probably noticed, but this past February, i spent two weeks in the Netherlands 'hanging out'. The time i spent there was pretty productive though. My primary reason was to go job hunting and sit for interviews. While i was there, i also got a chance to go to Fosdem again, which i've written about (i think), and just see some friends again, that i made last summer when i was living there. I would like to thank Jeroen, publicly, for both hosting me at his place for a few days and helping me find a job there.

Now that my academic career is over, my internship at Red Hat will naturally be over soon too. Starting in June, i will begin working for the Genetics Institute in Utrecht, which has a long history of Fedora and other Red Hat based product use. I'm really looking forward to it. This of course also means i'll be moving to the Netherlands in less than a month. It's going to be a busy time.

For the summer, i have two big things lined up. Currently, i have LinuxTag and Hacking at Random on the agenda. At LinuxTag, i'll be giving a presentation on Git on practical day to day usage. I plan on covering some advanced tricks with a live demonstration. As part of the presentation, i hope to show a number of best practices people should use while working with Git, particularly on various Fedora projects. I hope that in the future, others are also willing to pick up the presentation, add their workflows and present it themselves. It will be nice to have people in the Fedora community better informed and able to use Git more consistently. I won't be presenting at Hacking at Random, though. Think of it more as 'vacation time'. (Who doesn't bring their laptop when they go camping anymore?)

I'll also be mentoring this summer in the Google Summer of Code.

In the next month, i'll be mostly hacking on EKG. And packing. And going to an Ubuntu release party tonight to hand out Fedora stickers. I have to put them to use somehow, how i ever ended up with 100 sheets of them, i don't know....

Recording Industry Fail

Recording Industry Fail

Pirate Party membership surges following Pirate Bay verdict

The harder you grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers. We need reform now.

Passover Food

Passover Food

Let's see, a turkey burger and guacamole on whole wheat matzo bread. It's healthy and tasty. Passover really isn't that bad (, unless you're vegetarian, then you're in trouble).

Wanted: a Graphic Designer

Wanted: a Graphic Designer

(could someone please cross post this on the fedora-art-list plskthx)

As a return favor to Beth Lynn Eicher, a local Pittsburgh resident who organizes the Ohio Linux Fest, i've offered to pass this message along.

Wanted: A Graphic Designer

The Ohio Linux Fest team is looking for a volunteer to do some graphic design for the upcoming conference in 2009. From what i gathered, the primary job would be to maintain a consistent look across materials distributed and create any logos or other graphic design work needed. For more info, get in touch with me via the usual channels.

This is entirely volunteer work, which suits the nature of an Open Source conference. Still, the organizers are willing to provide something in return. This can include advertising either for the Fedora Project, the Art SIG, or your own private graphic design work. Attendance at this event is well in the thousands, and you could have your logo displayed in many places and your name mentioned several times. It is also a way to contribute more to Open Source upstream without having to write a line of code.