[aur-general] TU Application - Dustin Falgout

[Dustin Falgout]

> To: aur-general at archlinux.org> From: bpiotrowski at archlinux.org
> Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2016 14:33:18 +0100
> Subject: Re: [aur-general] TU Application - Dustin Falgout
> 
> On 2016-02-28 22:02, Dustin Falgout wrote:
> > Hi Everyone,
> > 
> > My name is Dustin Falgout (aka lots0logs) and this is my application to join the Arch Linux project as a Trusted User.
> > 
> > About Me:
> > 
> > I'm 29 years old. I live on the Gulf Coast (USA). I work for a leading WordPress Theme Company where I do a little bit of everything: from sales, to development, to quality assurance, to tech support (you name it...). My first experience with linux was with Ubuntu in 2003. It wasn't until around 2008 that I began using linux exclusively on my desktops. Wanting more control than comes easily with Ubuntu, I first turned to openSUSE and was content for a while. In early 2013, I performed my first Arch linux installation and have been using it ever since.
> > 
> > - From the start I loved almost everything about Arch. The one thing I didn't love was the attitudes towards new users that was so common in the forum. I certainly understand all sides of what is a complex issue and I'm not trying to open that can of worms here. I'm only mentioning it because when I first became an Arch user I found the overall tone of the forum to be extremely off-putting, so much so that I can pinpoint it as the sole reason I shied away from trying to become an active contributor back then. Also, it will help everyone to know where my head was at when I tell you the rest of my story.
> > 
> > I stumbled upon Antergos in May 2013 and I immediately knew that I had found my home. The project's goals and the views of its developers aligned perfectly with my own. For me, Antergos was (and still is) the perfect solution as it has allowed me to contribute (albeit indirectly) to the advancement of what I truly believe to be the best linux distribution available. I know that's a rather broad statement, but I'm trying to keep this short and to the point. If anyone would like me to elaborate on something more specifically, I'd be happy to do so.
> > 
> > I currently maintain six or seven PKGBUILDS in the AUR, of which three are notable: pycharm-eap[1], lightdm-webkit2-greeter[2], and lightdm-webkit-theme-antergos[3]. I've indirectly contributed to other packages in the AUR through comments by offering advice to users, notifying maintainers of new releases as well as any problems with PKGBUILDS (always including a proposed solution), and directing bug reports away from AUR comments and to their proper channel. I always take the time to properly request deletion of PKGBUILDS that shouldnt be in the AUR (for whatever reason) whenever I come across one. I've also reported (and still do report) bugs on http://bugs.archlinux.org when it was/is appropriate. On one or two occasions I've gone as far as reaching out directly to maintainers of official packages to provide them with important information.
> > 
> > Its's also worth mentioning that I currently maintain many packages[4] for Antergos and I'm open to moving any (that are appropriate) to community.
> > 
> > So you might be wondering: "Why become a TU now?". Well, the reason is pretty simple. I was asked to consider applying by Alex Filgueira, the TU who currently maintains the Cinnamon packages and a person with whom I've had the pleasure of collaborating with on Antergos for the past three years. Sadly, his schedule has become far too busy to continue to maintain the Cinnamon packages. Another TU, György Balló, has been picking up the slack for the past few months but, having more than a few packages of his own to maintain, he told Alex that it would be nice to have some help with Cinnamon. Considering that Cinnamon is my own personal desktop of choice, Alex thought I would want to consider joining forces with György to maintain Cinnamon. Obviously, Alex was correct and so here we are. That's my story :)
> > 
> > I know that every minute of your free time is priceless, so thank you all in advance for taking the time review and consider my application. I look forward to (hopefully) "making things official" between myself and Arch Linux.
> > 
> > 
> > [1] https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pycharm-eap/
> > [2] https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lightdm-webkit2-greeter/
> > [3] https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lightdm-webkit-theme-antergos/
> > [4] http://build.antergos.com/browse/main
> > 
> > 
> > Best Regards,
> > 
> > Dustin Falgout
> > Web Developer
> > 
> > E-mail: dustin at falgout.us
> > Google/Skype: dustinfalgout
> > Freenode IRC: #antergos
> > 
> 
> Hi Dustin,
> 
> To begin with, could Alex reply to your application to confirm it?
> 
> How exactly are you going to contribute to Arch, except maintaining
> Cinnamon? Packages from AUR you mentioned aren't really notable (and in
> fact, one just repackages proprietary tarball) and these in Antergos
> repositories also seem rather unpopular. Looks like some of them can't
> be even distributed at all unless JetBrains license allows that; as far
> as I know, distribution of ZFS binaries is a GPL violation.
> 
> Cheers,
> Bartłomiej
> 


Hi Bartłomiej,
TBH, I'm not able to commit to much more than Cinnamon right now. You are right about my AUR packages, but IMO, its best to maintain packages that you actually use regularly. Everything I use for my workflow is available either in the official repos or in the AUR. Of course that's subject to change as time goes on and my workflow evolves. If the opportunity to maintain a more notable package presents itself, of course I'd be glad to do it. Also, its worth mentioning that I'll be continuing my work on Antergos as I firmly believe that it is beneficial to Arch. 
Best Regards,-- Dustin FalgoutWeb Developer
E-mail: dustin at falgout.us