N2K8 Hackathon Summary Part 8

Mark Uemura (mtu@) is back to wrap up his articles from the Network Hackathon in Japan with is eighth and final submission. Mark's summary and more pictures below.

Network Hackathon (Part 8 of 8) - May 5-10, 2008, Ito, Japan

Yes, this is my wrap up of 2008 Network Hackathon. I would like to express my sincerest thanks to Mike Erdely. He spent many hours of his precious time over the past couple of weeks correcting my English and beautifying the plain old text that I kept sending to him. I'm also grateful to him for maintaining YAIFO. If you have enjoyed the pictures as I have, then we owe a great deal of gratitude to Tomoyuki Sakurai (sakurai@). He took so many photographs -- almost 4GB worth! Sakurai-san is a real OpenBSD Puppet master and like Mike, an awesome SysAdmin. I also want to thank all those who commented on each of the various parts. Your comments were encouraging and appreciated. I'm going to give you some insight on how all of this transpired in an effort to inspire others to do what they can for OpenBSD.

My first experience at a hackathon was at c2k6 in Calgary and it was truly an educational and exhilarating experience. It was also a privilege. Near the end of it, I asked Theo (deraadt@) what would it take to hold a hackathon in Japan. He said that the timing had to be right and that we would need the right mix of developers depending on the focus, of course. Two years later, it was so satisfying to be able to finally host a mini-hackathon.

Believe it or not, my main concern or fear was not having enough beer. I kept hearing what seemed like horror stories from one of the past mini-hackathons where they ran out of beer. I guess that this was a way for the developers to ensure that there would be plenty at future events: scare the host and remind him of how many Germans were coming. :-) It was difficult for me to calculate how much I would need for both the hackathon and for the party afterward. As it turned out, I bought enough for three hackathons! Well, better to be safe then sorry -- so says the Admin side of me. Wait... before you start thinking how good I have it, just know that I don't drink alcohol. On a side note, this was the first time that I came out of CostCo with four packed carts (two trips to the car). Needless to say, the same cashier was amused and I finally found my justification for buying such a big car. ;-)

In this last part of the whole n2k8 series, I wanted to mention what inspired this hackathon. While listening to Will Backman interview Sean Cody on the most recent BSDTalk, I couldn't help but think of how I met Theo for the first time. At the end of the interview, Sean mentioned how people can contribute to the Project even if you are not a developer. It was a question that I asked Theo the first time I met him. Let me give you a little background first to put things into perspective. It's a funny but true story:

Back in 2004, I went to a conference in Australia mainly to finally meet Theo, as I knew that he would be one of the speakers there. After attending a really good Open Source Database Systems tutorial given by Joel Sing (jsing@), I wandered downstairs to a big conference room where I was told that I could get wireless Internet.

There were only two guys in this huge room sitting on sofas and working away on their laptops. I sat down on one of the empty sofas across from them and struggled to get Internet. Then I overheard one of the guys mention 3.6 and my ears perked up. I was running 3.5-stable; the latest release at that time. I thought to myself, "Hmm, could they be running OpenBSD?". So, I got up the courage to ask, "Are you guys running OpenBSD?" They looked at each other and smiled.

I went on to say that I heard there was Internet access from this room but I'm having a heck of time getting connected. One of the guys who was kind of half sitting and half lying with one leg over the arm of the sofa asked, "What are you running?" Proudly, I said, "I'm running OpenBSD 3.5." The guy immediately replied back, "Oh, you should move to current. There is much better wireless driver support now." This was around the time that there was indeed a big push for better wireless support in OpenBSD.

By this time, I knew that they were both running OpenBSD. So, I asked them if either of them could help me get connected. They both turned to each other again and the guy who I was speaking to pointed to the other guy, Adrian Close. Adrian, unknown to me, was not only one of the main organisers of AUUG, but was also responsible for the wireless network.

I went over to Adrian and as I got closer, he kind of hinted that the other guy was the person that I should bother. So, I went over the other guy, who appeared to be some young hacker dude dressed as if he just came back from a run. So, I gave my shiny new Sony VAIO VGN-A50B laptop to him only to find out that it was poorly supported due to lack of hardware documentation.

Anyhow, we got to talking. "So, where are you from?", I asked. "Calgary", was his reply. "No, you're joking?" I asked, "You came all this way from Canada to attend this conference and you live in the same city as Theo de Raadt?!" The guy turned to me and said, "I'm Theo." It took a few seconds for that to register (or it seemed that long) and I almost fell over. I'm sure that Adrian, sitting right beside us, was busting a gut inside. At the very least, I'm sure he was thoroughly amused with all of this. "Come on, you're Theo? Heck, I came all the way from Tokyo just to meet you and here you are helping me with my wireless problems and I had no clue that it was you!"

And that was how I met Theo for the first time. Funny eh? But, I had no idea what Theo looked like. I just had a mental image of him forged over time by reading his posts on misc@. I was expecting someone very different. I've gotten to know Theo better over the past few years and I have to say he's been nothing but kind, understanding and very patient with me. Why is that? Maybe it's because I'm not a developer. Perhaps it's that I haven't had the luxury of sending in a diff that doesn't meet the high standards he and many of the other OpenBSD developers covet. We are very close in age. In fact, I am one month his senior, but junior in every other capacity. :-) Though, there is one other thing that we do have in common. We are both passionate about OpenBSD!

This brings me back to what Sean was mentioning on BSDTalk. A little less than four years ago, I asked Theo, "What can I do to help the Project; other than buy CDs, T-Shirts and posters every release?" He responded that he couldn't tell me. He went on to say that you have to find something in OpenBSD that either really bothers you and you want to fix it, or that you're passionate about. Well, I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the answer, but he was right. Since then, I have been in a position to help out in my own special way -- that's a whole other story. For the time being, let me just say that with the help of Ryan McBride (mcbride@), Tomoyuki Sakurai and all the developers who were able to make it to Japan, together we were able to do our little bit to help the Project forward. :-)

Now, not everyone has the means or desire to host a hackathon; however, it really doesn't matter how you contribute. I know that there are so many people out there doing what they can in all sorts of ways. Look at all the editors on undeadly. How about Nick Holland on misc@ and the FAQ? I think that if you read all of his posts on misc@ and follow up with www.openbsd.org, you'll know just about everything you need to know about OpenBSD. Others would argue that all of that is supplemental to what Jason McIntyre (jmc@) and other developers have contributed to OpenBSD's man pages. Similar to Theo, with uncompromising Project goals, Jason maintains the highest standards with documentation he produces. I can't tell you what sparks their fire to do what they do for OpenBSD, but we are certainly the beneficiaries of their time, effort and sacrifice. I've also had the pleasure of meeting so many of the developers and all I can say is, a great leader is usually surrounded by other great leaders!

This weekend, most of the developers will be arriving in Edmonton, Alberta for the annual big hackathon, c2k8. This event is usually held in Calgary, but this year, they are trying to be environmentally friendly. The OpenBSD Foundation have made it their mission to save the flowers in Theo's backyard from beer hurling, one-eyed, three-legged developers that can't distinguish grass from flowers! :-)

In summary, I want to thank everyone for their support of OpenBSD and related projects. I hope that the n2k8 hackathon and these reports have inspired others to contribute in their own unique and special way.

Sincerely,

Mark Toraki Uemura

(n2k8 hackathon summary - the end)

Once again, I would like to thank Mark for taking the time to bring us these excellent summary articles from n2k8. They were a pleasure to edit and more of a pleasure to read. Thank you.

Please show Mark your appreciation in the comments below. To make sure hackathons like this one continue, please support the project.