Cameron Dale/ Resume/ Debian

Jan `06-Present — Volunteer Developer: Debian GNU/Linux

The Debian Project is an association of diverse individuals spread all over the world who have made a common cause to create a free operating system. The operating system is called Debian GNU/Linux, because it is based on Linux, and also consists of over 15,000 software packages. I am responsible for developing 1 of those packages and maintaining 3 of them (one of which is co-maintained):

I am currently applying to become an official Debian Developer, which will allow me to upload packages to the archive myself and to vote in elections. This process takes about a year to complete (on average), and I am almost done.

DebTorrent

DebTorrent is a proxy for downloading Debian packages files with APT. It will download any needed packages from other DebTorrent peers in a bittorrent-like manner, and so reduce the strain on the Debian mirrors.

I developed DebTorrent as a part of the Google Summer of Code. For more information on it's motivation and implementation, see the GoogleSoC page.

TorrentFlux

TorrentFlux is a PHP based BitTorrent controller that runs on a web server. It can manage all of your BitTorrent downloads from anywhere through a convenient and easy-to-use web interface.

TorrentFlux enables you to run BitTorrent downloads unattended on a monitor-less or remote server 24 hours a day, while still maintaining complete control from any web browser. Now you can control your downloading on your firewall, or keep up with downloads while on vacation. It uses the BitTornado client to download files, and also requires a web server with PHP.

Some of the many features:

This was my first Debian package, and my introduction to the world of Debian development. I use this software frequently myself, and seeing that it was not available in the Debian software archive, I took it upon myself to package it. I have been maintaining this package since January 2006. Unfortunately the upstream maintainer seems to have stopped developing it, so TorrentFlux's future is unclear.

BitTornado

BitTornado is a next generation bittorrent client based on the original BitTorrent. This client features an enhanced console/curses mode as well as a GUI, lots of new features under the hood, and is generally one of the most advanced clients out there. Get this if you need to limit your bandwidth, or you want more control of your torrents. It does everything the original bittorrent does, plus more...

The original maintainer of this package is Micah Anderson, who I came into contact with when he sponsored my first upload of TorrentFlux. As he was quite busy, he asked for my help in maintaining the BitTornado package, with the intention that I could take over full maintenance of the package once I become an official Debian Developer. I have been co-maintaining this package since March 2006.

libphp-adodb

ADOdb is a library for PHP, to allow for a universal way to access databases. ADOdb stands for Active Data Objects Data Base. Currently supported databases are MySQL, PostgreSQL, Interbase, Firebird, Informix, Oracle, MS SQL, Foxpro, Access, ADO, Sybase, FrontBase, DB2, SAP DB, SQLite, Netezza, LDAP, ODBTP, and generic ODBC.

Many popular web applications such as ACID, PostNuke, Xaraya, phpWiki, Mambo, PHP GACL, TikiWiki, eGroupWare and phpLens App Server are using ADOdb as their database abstraction layer. Some reasons why ADOdb is popular include:

I first noticed this package in March 2006, as my TorrentFlux package was being added to the archive. TorrentFlux uses this library for it's database access. I immediately noticed that the package was out of date with the upstream developer, and had several open security vulnerabilities. I created fixes for these vulnerabilities, including porting changes in recent versions back to old versions that were available in older releases of Debian. The package was finally orphaned in November 2006, at which time I took over maintenance of it.