January 2019 - openSUSE Project - openSUSE Mailing Lists

[opensuse-project] Application for openSUSE Board
by Dr. Axel Braun 10 Jan '19

10 Jan '19

Dear all, looks like xmas was a quiet time for new candidates, but the first week is getting busy! Already 4 applicants for 3 seats - lets make it 5. Herewith I apply for a seat in the openSUSE Board tl:dr Dr.-Ing. Axel Braun, nickname DocB electrical engineer by education, working as business consultant and project lead on software (mostly SAP/ERP) implementations mature age :-) Linux, openSUSE and KDE user since S.u.S.E. 5.3 Member of openSUSE community since 2010 Package maintainer for GNU Health, Tryton ERP Framework and various other packages Why Board: Serve, support and develop the openSUSE community, promote openSUSE as user-friendly and powerful distribution *Long Version* I have detailed out some personal computer and Linux history on my connect page [0] In the more than 20years I use Linux now, I tried various other distributions, but always returned to openSUSE. Since around 2 years I use Tumbleweed on my workhorse, a T520 Laptop, and very happy with it. openSUSE makes it quite easy for less experienced users to maintain their system, and this is the focus in the things I do within the community: making life easier for end-users. In 2013 I had the need for an (ideally free) ERP system, and while it was way too hard to install this from source, I started packaging it in OBS. After some time, Application:ERP:Tryton became an official repository. Currently there are 5 versions (3.8, 4.0, 4.2, 4.4, 4.6) with each around 120 packages maintained, and as announced during oSC 2018 [1], I'm looking for a successor for this. In between I'm concentrating more on GNU Health [2,3], which is now part of the standard Leap distribution. Additionally we had a Live-CD on Studio, but due to the shutdown and lack of time, this is currently not maintained. Nevertheless, I'm very happy to see how the two communities work together, and are sharing efforts to support healthcare on a free software basis. openSUSE is in between the platform, on which it is easiest to set-up and run GNU Health on, as all dependencies are resolved automatically, and the required setup-steps are handled by a script. This helps the medical doctor in Mali, who is not very technical, but leaves all option to the power users and admins in case they need to set up a database cluster.... A couple of new Python-packages for openSUSE were one of the side effects of packaging GNU Health and Tryton. *Why running for the board?* Serve, support and develop the openSUSE community, promote openSUSE as user-friendly and powerful distribution (Hm, did I say that already?) Generally speaking, the usage of Free and Open Source Software is an ethical imperative considering the proprietary spyware products ('mainstream') on the market. The four freedoms [4] leave the choice to the user, increasing his privacy and security. I fully support the openSUSE guiding principles [5], not only in the area of freedom. openSUSE is free software, and leaves the choice to the user to install unfree/proprietary additionally. This is clearly separated from each other, and this is not the case in all distributions. Thats what lifts openSUSE among others. This is one of the angles, next to the user-friendliness, where openSUSE is one of the most underrated distributions. We should try to change this, with our helpful and friendly community as multiplicator. A good community makes a big difference, and I want to help in developing this further. Additional to this, I have some experiences in leading teams in commercial and non-commercial environments, which may be a benefit as well. *Any questions?* Feel free to ask! Have a good time Axel [0] https://connect.opensuse.org/pg/profile/docb [1] https://media.ccc.de/v/1708-gnu-health-on-opensuse-a-community-view around minute 44:15 [2] http://health.gnu.org/home [3] https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/Application:ERP:GNUHealth [4] http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html [5] https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Guiding_principles

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[opensuse-project] openSUSE Board position consideration
by Nathan Wolf 10 Jan '19

10 Jan '19

Greetings, I am an openSUSE member that is interested in getting more involved through becoming a board member. openSUSE username: futureboy IRC Nickname: CubicleNate Website: http://cubiclenate.com Goal Statement It is my ambition to continue to support the positive and helpful community that openSUSE fosters. openSUSE is more than a technically very sound Linux distribution but a whole suite of tools. I have made it my mission to talk about and educate others on the benefits of openSUSE. Beyond the fantastic distributions Leap and Tumbleweed, there is the Build Service, openQA and KIWI that benefit more than just the openSUSE community. I believe that the way openSUSE conducts business benefits the entirety of the open source community, and not just serves its own interest. Whether I am a board member or not, I will continue to tell this story in the appropriate forums. Past work summary I am not a programmer or developer but what I am good at is problem solving and documenting those steps taken. I have chosen to take my gained knowledge and share it freely through the openSUSE wiki pages as when I find documentation that requires updates, such as with the Arduino project, I take the time to make updates and add clarity to instructions. Through my problem solving, I continue to learn that there is so much I don't know, which makes for further opportunities add to and improve documentation. I have a personal site that I put my learnings that I feel are not appropriate for the openSUSE wiki. These are personal projects that are often Linux and specifically openSUSE related. I use it as a way for me to talk about openSUSE and how I apply it to my life. I often feel like openSUSE doesn't get the chatter it should be getting so this is my way of adding it to the conversation. Future plans I intend on continued involvement with wiki documentation with the ambition of making the openSUSE wiki the primer location for understanding how to get software working properly. I often find that I use many Arch wikis which have lots of good information but I think they could be done better... on openSUSE. I am currently taking the time to learn the Open Build Service when I can squeeze it in between my work, life and other hobbies. As I sunset an unrelated activity, I am going to have a lot more time to devote to working with openSUSE. It is my plan to start to build applications of which I have interest and can share with others to use as well. As I learn more and have proficiency, I would like to get move involved in packaging and testing for openSUSE. I am going to continue get involved in other communities to ensure that openSUSE is a part of the conversation. I want to be sure that I can advocate with others the benefits of openSUSE, not just the distribution but the greater project in its entirety. --- I thank you for your consideration in running for a position with the openSUSE board. I want you to know that if I am not selected to be in the running, I will take not a single bit of offense. I appreciate, so much, what everyone on the project does. The names and faces I don't know that keep things going. I hope it is not lost on those involved in these projects how much they contribute to the lives of so many individuals and have made tough situations possible as such that life is less of a struggle. So, thank you so much for all that you do. I mean it from the depths of my being. -- Nathan Wolf -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] Application for the Board election
by Sébastien 'sogal' Poher 10 Jan '19

10 Jan '19

Hi all, My name is Sébastien Poher, also know on the internets as 'sogal'. I am 35 years old, I live in France, between Lyon and Grenoble and my day job is GNU/Linux sysadmin in a small cooperative company. I am not a super seasonned hacker but rather a skilled user who like to learn and share. Since I decided to use openSUSE in 2016, I have been maintaining some small packages that I missed in openSUSE, some of them have been included in Leap. I am a member of the French openSUSE community and as such I: * write articles about openSUSE news, tips and tricks and some other technical stuff * maintain alive our Diaspora and Twitter accounts * hold booths during FOSS events and report them in the wiki * am president of a French openSUSE users association (Alionet) and work hard to make french openSUSE community alive! So now that the ice is broken, let's go to the "Why do I run for board?" part. I like openSUSE, both as an OS and as a project. It has been truly easy for me to start contributing, people where helping and opened to discussion even when I made mistakes. I learned a lot thanks to this openness. Now I see this election as an opportunity to contribute in a different way to openSUSE and give back the project what I learned from it. If I am elected, there are two topics I would particulary like to work on: * the link between the project and its user base: how do we motivate our users so that they become contributors? how do communicate and cooperate with local user groups? * some interesting discussions happened few months ago about the juridic form of the project, the question of joining another umbrella organisation, a possible financial independance from SuSE. Those topics are very interesting. You can find more about me on: * my wiki page: https://en.opensuse.org/User:Sogal * my Connect page: https://connect.opensuse.org/pg/profile/sogal Thank you for the time you took to read me and thank you in advance for your votes. Regards, -- 'When there is no more room at school, the dumb will walk the Earth.' Sébastien 'sogal' Poher

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[opensuse-project] Re: [election-officials] Apply as openSUSE Board Candidate
by election-officials＠opensuse.org 09 Jan '19

09 Jan '19

To George F. Rozansky: Your application for openSUSE Board Candidacy has been received and is being processed. However, it is waiting for an eligibility requirement to be met. You will be notified when there is further progress. -- from: The Elections Committee: M. Edwin Zakaria Ish Sookun Gerry Makaro -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] Two More Candidates Approved for Elections
by election-officials＠opensuse.org 09 Jan '19

09 Jan '19

The Elections Committee is pleased to announce that Christian Boltz and Vinzenz Vietske have passed eligibility requirements and are Official 2018-2019 openSUSE Board Elections Candidates. This now brings our field of Candidates to four for the upcoming elections. All Official Candidates who have not already done so are asked to send at least one photo for inclusion in openSUSE News Articles and the upcoming Elections Poster, as well as any other Elections Promotions going forward. There is still time for others to step up and run for this election. We currently have 4 Candidates, two of them encumbents, vying for 3 Vacant Board Seats. Watch for more on openSUSE News and some of the Mailing Lists later Wednesday. -- from: The Elections Committee: M. Edwin Zakaria Ish Sookun Gerry Makaro -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] Re: [election-officials] Running for openSUSE board
by election-officials＠opensuse.org 09 Jan '19

09 Jan '19

Hello, Vinzenz Vietzke: Your application to run as a Board Candidate has been received and is being processed. -- from: The Elections Committee: M. Edwin Zakaria Ish Sookun Gerry Makaro -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] board_candidates++ - or: running for the Board again
by Christian Boltz 09 Jan '19

09 Jan '19

Hello, about two years ago, I wrote a mail titled "Another openSUSE Board candidate". These two years passed quickly, and I really enjoyed being part of the Board and helping the community whenever needed. I'd like to continue this "job", and therefore decided to run for re-election. I use openSUSE since years (it was still named „SuSE Linux“ with lowercase „u“ back then) and started annoying people in bugzilla, err, started betatesting in the 9.2 beta phase. Since then, I reported more than 1300 bugs. Nowadays, OBS ruins my bugzilla statistics by introducing the option to send a SR ;-) One of my current activities in openSUSE is working in the Heroes team, where I started with moving and upgrading the wiki. I also help out on various *.opensuse.org servers since someone was evil enough to give me root permissions on lots of them ;-) (Transparency note: I helped to setup the elections.opensuse.org server before last year's elections - but will of course not touch it until the elections finish.) My other openSUSE hobbies ;-) are AppArmor and PostfixAdmin, where I'm active in upstream development and as packager. AppArmor also turned out to be a good opportunity for cross-distribution collaboration [1]. You can find me on several mailinglists and on IRC (nickname "cboltz"), and of course I still scare people in bugzilla. I‘m also a regular visitor and speaker at the openSUSE Conference, and visit other conferences as time permits. My day job has nothing to do with computers. I produce something you can drink that is named after a software we ship in openSUSE ;-) Oh, and I collect funny quotes from various mailinglists, IRC, bugzilla etc. that then end up as random [2] signatures under my mails, so be careful what you write ;-) There are some things I‘ll never do (you might remember them from two years ago): - use a stable release on my main computer – Tumbleweed is just too good ;-) - open a bugreport if fxing the bug and sending a SR is faster - be too serious – hey, our motto is „Have a lot of fun...“ ;-) - drink beer ;-) (sorry, not even openSUSE beer) If you want to read more from or about me, have a look at - https://blog.cboltz.de (some more posts would be nice, but I prefer actually doing something over writing about it ;-) - https://connect.opensuse.org/pg/profile/cboltz - https://en.opensuse.org/user:cboltz I wish all candidates good luck, and hope that we‘ll see some more candidates and lots of voters! Regards, Christian Boltz [1] https://blog.cboltz.de/archives/74-AppArmor-or-Working-for-the-enemy.html [2] sometimes I hand-pick signatures, and this mail is one of these cases with a non-random signature ;-) -- Christian, there are times you are a pain in the ass, there are times I really like you. This is one of both of those times ;) [Richard Brown] -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] Two Candidates Officially Running for Election
by election-officials＠opensuse.org 09 Jan '19

09 Jan '19

Two Candidates have been qualified and are in the running for the openSUSE Board, which has three vacancies to fill. More Candidates are required, so please step up if you qualify. <url>https://news.opensuse.org/2019/01/09/first-two-candidates-for-the-2018-2019…</url> -- from: The Elections Committee: M. Edwin Zakaria Ish Sookun Gerry Makaro -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] Running for openSUSE board
by Vinzenz Vietzke 06 Jan '19

06 Jan '19

Hi all, I've been thinking about running for board for a while and now it seems to be the right time to step up. This text is also available on the wiki: https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Board_election_2019_platform_vinzv *Introduction, Biography and Contributions* My name is Vinzenz Vietzke but sticking with the much short "vinz" or "vinzv" is what I prefer. I'm 34 years, live in a small town in southern Germany. Like most German Linux users around my age I made my first steps with S.u.S.E. back in the late 90s. Over the years I moved across various distributions and contributed to quite a few of them in different ways. My day job is product management and marketing at Linux hardware vendor TUXEDO Computers. *openSUSE and TUXEDO* Starting with just one laptop running openSUSE we at TUXEDO now offer around 20 different models plus a wide range of desktop PCs all with Leap 15 pre- installed. Customers also get free lifetime support for their preinstalled system. Therefore of course our free phone/email tech support team need to be trained for openSUSE as well. For this whole project I was and still am in charge as the tech and project lead so to say to "bring" openSUSE on TUXEDO's computers. I got in touch with oS, worked out how and when we get everything done. [1][2] In addition to technical affairs I'm the pushing person at TUXEDO Computers to make our company step up suppoting openSUSE. As a result since October we are officially sponsoring the openSUSE project. We offer any of our models as demo and workshop devices at no cost and take care for the logistics and event booth support. Furthermore we're sponsoring oSC19 in Nuremberg with demo and install fest machines. [3][4] Of course these things are mainly financial efforts and company internal projects. But yet to get openSUSE a wider reception there needs to be someone coordinating, pushing and taking care. That's why I call my contributions to openSUSE mostly "meta contributions". *i18n* Besides the TUXEDO stuff which is partly paid and partly free time efforts I'm coordinating translation teams of upstream Xfce, actively translating openSUSE and quite a lot of other projects. [5] For details please check my profiles at Crowdin, Gnome, Transifex as well as my personal website. [6][7][8][9] *Aims/Goals* Like every volunteer-run project openSUSE has it's issues to tackle. Most of them are obvious and already under work: consolidating web appearances, cleaning the wiki, sorting out the communication infrastructure and possible extensions to it. I don't think there's anything further needed to push these things besides time. The board has done a really awesome job in the past on these things and surely will in the future. Major and Minor Issues One of the major issues I experience is public reception like in how openSUSE as a distribution is seen. When people talk about openSUSE they're mostly telling from their experiences they made (literally!) a decade ago. They ran into some YaST issues in 2011 and this is why they stopped recommending openSUSE and you never ever re-thought your opinion? Jeez. These memories need to get overhauled and put into correct contexts. Most of them are prejudices anyway. On the other side people who have heard about Linux but hardly any knowledge mostly equate one specific distribution with Linux. Though it's not technically correct end-users do this - which is fine. But they don't equate it with openSUSE and that is shame. oS really has come a long way and *is* easy to install, to run and to use. People just need to know about and this is where the prejudices mentioned earlier come into play. The "tech guy" inside a circle of friends is some multiplier and needs to be convinced that openSUSE is something he totally can recommend in good conscience. *Role of the board* >From my perspective the board has two main roles: First and foremost it is some kind of service provider. It serves the whole project as contact point for questions, projects coordination and pointing in directions etc. This is crucial for the whole openSUSE project and should never be changed but merely extended if possible. The second role might be named as "ideas sparking pot". Most ideas coming from the community are of a technical nature which is entirely logical. Just sometimes there are things that the whole project would benefit from but no one sees them or has time to do so. This is where the board could jump in throwing sparks and giving input from someone being able to take a step back for viewing the bigger picture. My role in this board team would both being approachable and helpful for part one. But also to give thoughts and ideas when needed, especially in the second part mentioned. *Why you should vote for me?* I've been into Linux and open source communities for about 10 years now. Though I'm not a long term contributor for openSUSE I know how "things work" in such a big, diverse project and how to handle this stuff. If you want to get someone with no "Geeko glasses" on you should vote for me. Not that being deeply inside openSUSE's community is a bad thing! But I can bring in new perspectives, most of them related to end-users, Windows-ditchers and curious but not tech-savvy people. I both understand developers and tech people on the one hand as well as people who are buying Linux preinstalled hardware with little will to tinker around. This way I act as some proxy between those worlds which in the end might be good for everyone involved. *Conclusion* As elaborated above my main goal boils down to people thinking of easy but powerful Linux when they hear openSUSE. The project in total is big and strong enough to really serve as "the makers' choice for sysadmins, developers and desktop users" - all of them! *Ask me anything* If you made it this far - thanks for your time and interest. For any questions, comments or disagreements feel free to contact me. I appreciate any of it via: - Email - XMPP (vinz(a)vinzv.de) - IRC (user: vinzv) Best regards, vinz. [1] https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebooks/ Alle.tuxedo [2] https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Computer-/-PCs/ Alle-Systeme.tuxedo [3] https://en.opensuse.org/Sponsors [4] https://events.opensuse.org/conference/oSC19 [5] https://l10n.opensuse.org/user/vinzv/ [6] https://crowdin.com/profile/vinz [7] https://l10n.gnome.org/users/vinzv/ [8] https://www.transifex.com/user/profile/vinz/ [9] https://vinzv.de/en/projects/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] Running for the openSUSE Board again...
by Sarah Julia Kriesch 05 Jan '19

05 Jan '19

Hello together! Two years are quickly left. So I have decided to run for re-election. My name is Sarah Julia Kriesch. I am 31 years old and an work experienced Student in Computer Science (at 2 universities at the moment). I have been living in Bristol until the end of January 2019. Then I will return to Nuremberg. You can find more details about me and my application on my homepage: https://sarah-julia-kriesch.eu/2019/01/04/running-for-the-opensuse-board-ag… I am enjoying the life in this wonderful community. Therefore, I want to give you something back as an openSUSE Board Member. I have done that in the last two years and it would be a great pleasure to continue. Thank you for your votes in advance! Best regards, Sarah J. Kriesch -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner(a)opensuse.org

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