[gimp-web/testing] Cutting down on repetitions in my interview, and answering the last question.
- From: Michael Schumacher <schumaml src gnome org>
- To: commits-list gnome org
- Cc:
- Subject: [gimp-web/testing] Cutting down on repetitions in my interview, and answering the last question.
- Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2017 20:06:39 +0000 (UTC)
commit e8765e95a7dad368d2e019c9cf1ef7e043141a5c
Author: Michael Schumacher <schumaml gmx de>
Date: Sat Apr 22 22:03:19 2017 +0200
Cutting down on repetitions in my interview, and answering the last question.
...2017-04-19_Schumaml-interview-WilberWeek2017.md | 44 +++++++++++---------
1 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)
---
diff --git a/content/news/2017-04-19_Schumaml-interview-WilberWeek2017.md
b/content/news/2017-04-19_Schumaml-interview-WilberWeek2017.md
index 6d20847..2151aa5 100644
--- a/content/news/2017-04-19_Schumaml-interview-WilberWeek2017.md
+++ b/content/news/2017-04-19_Schumaml-interview-WilberWeek2017.md
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ _J: How would you describe your contribution to the GIMP project?_
**S:** I don't do much coding. It's just that so many people — from my perspective — do coding on GIMP
already and have a better grasp of source code, how it is made up. So I don't think I can contribute much in
that regard. So I try to do administrative stuff like handling the monetary aspect of the project like
telling GNOME that we need money for events like Wilber Week, for LGM reimbursements…
<br/>
-I also care about the bug reports we have. I try to have them categorized, have a proper status, make sure
that they get replies, that we don't leave a bug report untended for a long time.
+I also care about the bug reports we have. I try to have them categorized, have a proper status, make sure
that they get replies, that we don't leave a bug report unattended for a long time.
<br/>
-And also I have administrative priviledges on GIMP web server, on mailing lists, and… what else. Do I forget
anything? That's about it, yeah.
+And also I have administrative privileges on the GIMP web server, on mailing lists, and… what else. Do I
forget anything? That's about it, yeah.
-So I've been called the tie-bearing GIMP office manager. I even got a t-shirt with a printed tie because
I've actually been in one meeting, at Libre Graphics Meeting wearing a shirt and a tie.
+I've been called the tie-wearing GIMP office manager, and I even got a t-shirt with a printed tie and a
"TWOM" label, because I've actually been wearing a proper shirt (made to measure) in one GIMP meeting, at the
Libre Graphics Meeting 2012 in Vienna.
<br/>
_J: How long have you contributed?_
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ _J: How long have you contributed?_
_J: Was it like nightly builds?_
-**S:** No it was not like nightly builds. I just wanted to be able to have a current build **for** the
Windows platform and also made **on** the Windows platform so that I could build on my Windows system I was
using at the time. Yes just be able to follow GIMP development more closely than for example a build someone
made for a development release.
+**S:** No it was not like nightly builds. I just wanted to be able to have a current build **for** the MS
Windows platform and also made **on** the MS Windows platform, so that I could build on my Windows system I
was using at the time. Yes, just be able to follow GIMP development more closely than for example a build
someone made for a development release.
_J: So you mostly use GIMP on Windows?_
@@ -50,17 +50,18 @@ _J: So you mostly use GIMP on Windows?_
<br/>
_J: Do you use GIMP?_
-**S:** I use GIMP. Not as much as many other people but I use it to test many things of GIMP itself. I use
it to edit photos I make. I don't publish many of them because when I'm editing them, I print them or I use
them for some documentation work so it goes to a customer. I even use it on Windows still. But now my main
platform is Linux.
+**S:** I use GIMP. Not as much as many other people but I use it to test many things of GIMP itself. I use
it to edit photos I make. I don't publish many of the images because when I'm editing them, I print them or I
use them for some documentation work, so it goes to a customer. I even still use it on MW Windows still. But
now my main platform is Linux.
_J: What kind of job do you do?_
-**S:** I'm working for a company that used to be a part of Siemens. It's been carved out. It's still
partially owned by Siemens. And we are selling communication systems. Nowadays this stuff is called
"Communication Enabled Business Processes". Like everything which has to do with communication. Calling
someone or texting someone or exchanging chats or whatever. And we are providing the software, the service and
-the consulting.
+**S:** I'm working for a company that used to be a part of Siemens, which had been carved out by now. And we
are selling communication systems - in the past, you would have called these telephony systems. Nowadays this
stuff is called "Communication Enabled Business Processes". Like everything which has to do with
communication. Calling someone or texting someone or exchanging chats or whatever. And we are providing the
software, the service and the consulting.
<br/>
_J: Why do you contribute to GIMP?_
-**S:** It started with pure selfishness like being able to have the most current GIMP available to me. I
believe in Free Software. I believe software should be available for everyone for every purpose. GIMP is a
Free Software project. Around the time I got hooked up on GIMP, I got hooked up on Wikipedia which does the
same to knowledge. So I kind of feel like — yeah well — I'm contributing to something that helps a lot of
people all over the world. I think that's a good thing. And GIMP happens to be the project that was my first
major project I contributed to at all. And I like it. It's kind of in-line with what I specialized at
university. Like image synthesis, image manipulation, whatever. Kind of seem like a logical extension.
+**S:** It started due to pure selfishness: being able to have the most current GIMP available to me.
+<br />
+Since then, a lot has changed: I believe in Free Software. I believe software should be available for
everyone for every purpose. GIMP is a Free Software project. Around the time I got hooked up to GIMP, I also
got hooked up to Wikipedia, which follows the same approach towards knowledge. I feel like — yeah well — I'm
contributing to something that helps a lot of people all over the world. I think that's a good thing. And
GIMP happens to be the the first major project I contributed to. And I like it. It's also in-line with the
topics I specialized in at university: image synthesis, image manipulation. Kind of seem like a logical
extension.
<br/>
_Rishi: What do you think of Michael Schumacher?_
@@ -70,49 +71,52 @@ _Rishi: What do you think of Michael Schumacher?_
_R: Yeah._
**S:** First thing, you know about his current condition, like probably still in the coma or a vegetable.
Surely I hope that he will get better. He probably won't make it to his former self but at least to a state
that he can live his remaining life in a somewhat decent way.
-He got famous when I was in the so-called German gymnasium, like I was in school. So it was a bit of an
annoyance. I got the same nickname "Schumy" as he did. I didn't follow his career too closely but of course
every time he won a race, I knew about it because I would be
-congratulated at school.
+He got famous when I was in the so-called German "Gymnasium" (part of secondary education). It was a bit of
an annoyance. I got the same nickname "Schumy" as he did. I didn't follow his career too closely, but nkew
about every race he won because I would be congratulated at school.
_pippin: Have you ever made use of sharing the name?_
-**S:** No I haven't. It got me an interview opportunity with a locale radio station because they were
calling all people who beared the name "Michael Schumacher" and they were asking them "How hard does this
affect your personal life? Has it ever affected you?". And I almost once had an appointment canceled because
someone thought I was mocking him.
+**S:** No I haven't. It got me an interview opportunity with a locale radio station because they were
calling all people who beared the name "Michael Schumacher" and they were asking them "How hard does this
affect your personal life? Has it ever affected you?". Once, I almost had an appointment canceled because
someone thought I was mocking him, but that was the only incident ever.
I've never used it, I've never abused it. And nowadays, or after the end of his professional racing career,
it basically didn't matter anymore.
<br/>
_P: Any controversial theme you wish to be asked?_
-**S:** Like the fact that I would like to kill spammers?
+**S:** Like the fact that I would like to kill spammers? (Maintain several mailing lists, one forum and also
be a recipient for "can we haz ads on gimp.org, plz?" and you know what I mean)
_Nomis: Not very controversial._
<br/>
_J: What do you want to see in GIMP?_
-**S:** Feature-wise, I'm quite OK with what GIMP is right now. I have to admit that some of the current
stuff in GIMP development version is still above my head like I have no real concept yet of the difference of
compositing and blending. Learning that it was 2 different things was quite useful. I hope that we can get
the documentation of GIMP up-to-speed in time.
+**S:** Feature-wise, I'm quite OK with what GIMP is right now. I have to admit that some of the current
stuff in the GIMP development version is still above my head - like for example, I have no real concept yet
of the difference of compositing and blending. Learning that it was 2 different things was quite useful. I
hope that we can get the documentation of GIMP up-to-speed in time.
-I'm more concerned about the project management. As in how do we decide what new feature go in GIMP, how do
we decide how they get into GIMP, how do we decide what GIMP development will look like, for instance
post-2.10. Because you see it yourself, right now, our release cycles are much too long. Even the fact that
we have actual release cycles is probably bad, because if you look at things like Twitter or whatever, they
are constantly releasing. Like they just push new features out to the people and there is a constant review
"this is working, this is not working". So you are surprised by "ouh this does not work. Why have they
changed it?".
+I'm more concerned about the project management. As in how do we decide what new feature go into GIMP, how
do we decide how they get into GIMP, how do we decide what GIMP development will look like, for instance
post-2.10. Because you see it yourself, right now, our release cycles are much too long. Even the fact that
we have actual release cycles is probably bad. If you have a look at services like Twitter or similar, they
are constantly releasing. They just push new features out to the people and there is a constant review "this
is working, this is not working". With our long release cycles, users get surprised by "Ouh this does not
work as it usede to. Why have they changed it?".
-But yeah the project is still a bit old-fashion in regard to releases. So we are trailing current
development models. "Development models" is the term I use because I'm not even really familiar how you call
this. I'm intrigued by the idea of having stable branches that can actually receive new features. I'm not
quite sure if I want 2.10 constantly evolving. I would prefer to have 2.12. That's details.
+But yeah, the project is still a bit old-fashioned in regard to releases. We are trailing current
development models. "Development models" is the term I use because I'm not even really familiar how you call
this. I'm intrigued by the idea of having stable branches with continuously added new features, but I'm not
quite sure if I want 2.10 to be constantly evolving. I would prefer to have 2.12. That's details.
<br/>
_J: How do you see GIMP in 20 years?_
-**S:** First thing in 20 years, I'll be 60 (laughs). So I'm not even sure how I see myself at that point.
Well let's be selfish. I very much would like to see myself still part of the project in 20 years. I would
still like to be able to see it as an image manipulation program. One of the major Free Software ones. And I
have no idea at all how it will look like (laughs) because there is so much that can change. Especially even
in the user interaction. How people interact with software might actually be the defining factor for how
applications will look in 20 years.
+**S:** First thing in 20 years, I'll be 60 (laughs). So I'm not even sure how I see myself at that point.
Well, let's be selfish. I very much would like to see myself still part of the project in 20 years. I would
still like to be able to see it as an image manipulation program. One of the major Free Software ones. And I
have no idea at all how it will look like (laughs) because there is so much that can change. Especially even
in the user interaction. How people interact with software might actually be the defining factor for how
applications will look in 20 years.
<br/>
_J: What's **the** feature you are really waiting for?_
-**S:** The feature I'm really waiting for. It's not a feature of painting or image manipulation. It's about
organization. This thing we want to do, plugin or ressource registry 2.0. Like properly built. Like really
managed. Like not the hand-duplicate of an existing plugin. This thing we talked so much about, have so many
great ideas, but always seem to lack the time to do it. This is the feature I would like to see.
+**S:** The feature I'm really waiting for. It's not a feature of painting or image manipulation. It's about
organization. This thing we want to do, Plug-in or Ressource Registry 2.0. Properly built, really managed.
Like not the hand-duplicate of an existing plugin. The thing we talked so much about, have so many great
ideas, but always seem to lack the time to do it. This is the feature I would like to see.
<br/>
-_J: Do you contribute under the influence?_
+_J: Do you contribute under influence?_
-**S:** Yeah have a look at the 2.8.20 NEWS file, at the typos, which I did totally not notice. So now I
prefer to not contribute under influence.
+**S:** Yeah, have a look at the 2.8.20 NEWS file, at the typos, which I did totally not notice. So now I
prefer to not contribute under influence.
_J: Indeed you are now the maintainer of the 2.8 branch, or at least the releaser. If not mistaken, you took
care of 2.8.18 and 2.8.20 releases. What can you say about this?_
-**S:** TODO: add answer!
+**S:** I guess I should start at why I am doing more 2.8 releases. As I explained before, I'm not interested
in coding that much, but much more engaged in user support and maintenance. Approximately one month before
the release of 2.8.18, we had received [a report about a security issue in the XCF loading
code](https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=767873). It was fixed quickly, for both the development and
2.8 branches, but there was no plan to do a 2.8 release. We have instructions for this, and mitch replied
"Just do it!" when I asked about it.
+
+It still felt like partly flying blind. Had I done the version changes - to 2.8.18, and afterwards advancing
to 2.8.19 - correctly? Was the tarball made correctly? Would it build on any other system than mine? It did -
but I had still missed two action: the release tag is supposed to be signed (i.e. git tag -s), and the GNOME
translations teams should be notified about planned releases and a string freeze be put in place until the
release to make it easy for them to complete translations. 2.8.20 was much better prepared, and even had an
extra long string freeze - I had planned to do it in October 2016, but had to delay it to February 2017,
during Wilber Week.
+
+Releasing is definitely something you want to do right, and this means to take a moment of uninterrupted
time to do it, like a GIMP event I have in my schedule already. My approach towards bug handling has changed
a bit, too. I pay much more attention to bugs with attached patches, and try to apply and test those (we
really neglected to do this) in order to get them into a stable release.
_J: This was a good interview._
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