Getting Ready for UDS Boston

This blog post is really aimed at my friends and family, so apologies to the Ubuntu community if you know all this already.

I don’t use Windows on my computer. Like an increasing number of people, I use Ubuntu Linux every day. For me, Ubuntu has put some of the fun back into computing and it makes me smile when I see other people running free software such as Linux.

Every six months a new version of Ubuntu is released. Every six months I upgrade my laptop, desktop and sometimes server to the next release. Like many people, I like new stuff, and I especially like free new stuff.

A new version of Ubuntu was released just last week. Now that’s happened there’s a very short time to take a breath before work starts on the next release – which is now less than six months away. The next version of Ubuntu is what’s known as an LTS release. That stands for “Long Term Support”, which means that support – in the form of bug fixes and security updates – will be provided for a longer duration than releases which are not LTS. There’s clearly a lot of work to be done in the short time between releases. Indeed the last LTS release (nicknamed Dapper Drake) – released back in mid 2006 was delayed for a few weeks to make absolutely sure it was ready.

In order to get Ubuntu out the door every six months there’s a lot of work done by some very committed individuals. They write specifications and software, bug fix and improve existing software, design graphics, write comprehensive documentation and all the other tasks that go along with maintaining a large software product.

Some of these people are employed by Canonical, but most aren’t. Many are employed by companies like Sun, IBM and Novell. A significant number are individuals (like myself) who work on free software projects, do so in our own time.

The kick off for a lot of this work is an event called UDS – Ubuntu Developer Summit. This is a week-long gathering of Ubuntu developers and other interested parties. The last UDS was in Sevilla, Spain. This next one is in Boston, MA, USA. I went to Sevilla back in May and will be attending UDS Boston next week too!

Most of the week consists of meetings where specifications are thrashed out, re-worked, then re-submitted for discussion. In the meetings (where pretty much everyone has a laptop) there is a fantastic amount of frank discussion, collaboration, compromise and resolution. Tools such as gobby (the collaborative text editor) and launchpad are used to the maximum during these sessions, which generally last an hour. Each morning the schedule is posted online, and printouts posted outside meeting rooms so that attendees can plan their day.

Ordinarily the thought of a day full of meetings (let alone a week full) would fill me with dread in the workplace, but here it doesn’t. There’s a fantastic spirit at UDS, and I’m really looking forward to going again.

Hopefully I’ll get time to blog more about what’s happening through the week.