Martin Michlmayr is a
free and open-source software
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
advocate and
Debian
Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of D ...
developer, formerly president of
Software in the Public Interest
Software in the Public Interest, Inc. (SPI) is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization domiciled in New York State formed to help other organizations create and distribute free open-source software and open-source hardware. Anyone is eligible to ...
.
Michlmayr joined the Debian project in 2000. In 2003, Michlmayr was elected as
Debian Project Leader
This is a chronological list of Debian project leaders. Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open-source software primarily under the GNU General Public License, developed by a group of individual ...
; he was re-elected to that position one year later, in 2004.
Michlmayr contributed to Debian's New Member process, participating in the recruitment of over 120 new members. Additionally, Michlmayr made various contributions to Debian's
quality assurance
Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to ensure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...
effort. He identified the problem of packages with inactive maintainers and implemented processes to address this problem systematically. He also became involved in identifying inactive maintainers whose
packages
Package may refer to:
Containers or Enclosures
* Packaging and labeling, enclosing or protecting products
* Mail, items larger than a letter
* Chip package or chip carrier
* Electronic packaging, in electrical engineering
* Automotive package, in ...
should be reassigned; created overviews of
bugs in Debian; and coordinated
keysigning to improve Debian's
web of trust
In cryptography, a web of trust is a concept used in PGP, GnuPG, and other OpenPGP-compatible systems to establish the authenticity of the binding between a public key and its owner. Its decentralized trust model is an alternative to the centr ...
. He also contributed to Debian's ports to the
ARM
In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between the ...
and
MIPS platforms, by porting Debian to several embedded devices and
Network Attached Storage
Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level (as opposed to block-level storage) computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a heterogeneous group of clients. The term "NAS" can refer to both the techn ...
(NAS) devices. He used snapshots of the GCC compiler to build the entire Debian archive. This work resulted in the identification of compiler bugs as well as build errors in many open source packages.
Michlmayr completed a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
in technology management at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in 2007. The focus of this research was on
quality improvement
Quality management ensures that an organization, product or service consistently functions well. It has four main components: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. Quality management is focused not only ...
in
free software
Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...
and open source projects, and particularly on release management processes and practices.
In 2013,
O'Reilly
O'Reilly ( ga, Ó Raghallaigh) is a group of families, ultimately all of Irish Gaels, Gaelic origin, who were historically the kings of East Bréifne in what is today County Cavan. The clan were part of the Connachta's Uí Briúin Bréifne kin ...
awarded an
open source award to Michlmayr, putting him in "the 'unsung heroes' category—the people who devote themselves to the important but not always glorious jobs that keep open source healthy".
Between 2008 and 2014 Michlmayr served on the
board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
of the
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the steward of the Open Source Definition, the set of rules that define open source software. It is a California public-benefit nonprofit corporation,_with_501(c)(3).html" ;"title="110. - 6910./ref> is a type o ...
, acting as the organization's secretary.
He is a member of
Software Freedom Conservancy
Software Freedom Conservancy, Inc. is an organization that provides a non-profit home and infrastructure support for free and open source software projects. The organization was established in 2006, and as of June 2022, had over 40 member pro ...
's evaluation committee, which evaluates projects that apply to Conservancy for membership.
Michlmayr acted as an advisor to
Software in the Public Interest
Software in the Public Interest, Inc. (SPI) is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization domiciled in New York State formed to help other organizations create and distribute free open-source software and open-source hardware. Anyone is eligible to ...
in the past.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michlmayr, Martin
Debian Project leaders
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Living people
Members of the Open Source Initiative board of directors
Year of birth missing (living people)