I'd like to become a packager sponsor in order to shepherd new contributors to the Big Data SIG and to add additional sponsor bandwidth to Fedora in general. I [https://fedorahosted.org/packager-sponsors/ticket/101 had applied for sponsor status last fall] but failed to get enough votes to proceed; I'm hoping that more reviews, more packaging, and more overall Fedora involvement since will lead to more votes this time.

=== Packaging efforts ===

I've been a packager for Fedora since the F15 cycle, when I brought some projects that I was the lead developer on to Fedora from a Red Hat product. As part of that work, I dealt with some relatively major shifts in my package dependencies (e.g. going from Ruby 1.8 to 1.9 and beyond and going from SysV init, which I'd used when packaging these projects for EL, to systemd in Fedora). I currently [https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/users/packages/willb own or co-maintain fifteen packages], and have several more under review. Of these, a couple are especially notable for being covered by numerous parts of the packaging guidelines; for example:

• [https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/acls/name/wallaby Wallaby] has a long-running Ruby daemon (that has been maintained for some time under Ruby 1.8, 1.9, and 2.0) and subpackages containing client libraries for Ruby and Python.
• [https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/acls/name/thrift Apache Thrift] is a C++ framework that has client libraries for C++, Erlang, Python, Java, and Perl.
• [https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/acls/name/sbt sbt] is a sophisticated build- and dependency-management system for Scala and Java programs that required a bootstrap exception and several patches contributed upstream to integrate with Fedora's Java stack.

I've helped out with other packages as well. Around the time of the Ruby 1.9 transition, [http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/qpid-commits/201204.mbox/%3C20120416155704.009E8238890B@eris.apache.org%3E I contributed patches to the QMF project] in order to get their Ruby bindings working in Fedora again. More recently, I signed on as a co-maintainer of Leiningen (and have investigated and fixed a bug since). In another example, the Scala package was due to be retired since it failed to build or install, but [https://github.com/willb/scala-packaging I contributed patches to get it building -- and meeting packaging guidelines -- again]. In the last year, I've been trying to [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/bigdata/packaging/Scala bring more of the Scala ecosystem to Fedora], since many cool big data projects are implemented in Scala and this ecosystem has been historically underserved by native operating-system distribution packages.

=== Reviewing efforts ===

I began reviewing packages last year as part of my involvement with the Big Data SIG and have [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?cmdtype=dorem&list_id=1826361&namedcmd=willb-reviews&remaction=run&sharer_id=269966 completed over a dozen involved reviews] since (along with a few easy ones). Every review on that list should have some feedback from me for your consideration, but I'd like to call out the following, which are of particular interest:

• [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1010512 mesos] is a large, complex project with several subpackages; it was a substantial effort for the packager and it was also an involved review;
• [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=991621 remotetea], to which I contributed a patch in order to reimplement some functionality that the upstream project had included via code bundling;
• [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1007479 fastutil] and [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1007478 compress-lzf], in which I engaged upstream developers to limit licensing confusion; and
• [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1059805 greenmail], in which I helped the packager negotiate the bundling policy for forked code and apply for a bundling exception.

I have also been consulted by colleagues for help with packaging and reviewing, both informally and [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1029142 via NEEDINFO].

=== Other stuff ===

• I've developed software professionally in several languages (most notably C, C#, C++, Erlang, Java, Prolog, Python, Ruby, and Scala, although I may have done some PHP in the late 1990s) and will be able to continue to draw on this expertise as a packager and reviewer.
• I have a (mostly) Fedora-focused [http://chapeau.freevariable.com technical blog].