People of openSUSE: Ludwig Nussel
Please introduce yourself!
I’m Ludwig, release manager for Leap. What else do you want to know?
What is your education? What do you like to do when you are not working on openSUSE?
I studied computer science. I’m machine operator in a volunteer fire brigade and like motorcycle tours.
How do people usually call you? What nickname do you use on IRC. Do you have a blog or any other web site you would like to share?
People call me by my name when as far as I know. I have no idea how they call me behind my back though :-) lnussel on IRC.
What are you doing for a living? Are you paid to work on openSUSE?
I’m paid as release manager for Leap by SUSE.
When and why did you start using openSUSE?
Well, I was working for SUSE when openSUSE was created so I merely switched from SUSE Linux to openSUSE. I can’t remember why I chose SUSE Linux in the first place. I guess because it was very popular in Germany back then.
What was your first contribution to openSUSE?
That was so long ago I can’t remember.
What contributions do you remember which you were especially happy about?
I remember pushing for delta RPM support in the YaST online update module when very little people considered it worth the effort. The prototypes were embarrassing enough for mls to come up with a better implementation. So we were the first distribution with support for delta RPMs.
In what way do you participate in openSUSE today and what keeps you going?
Well, I’m paid for it :-) More seriously we are building a general purpose operating system here. Where else can one do that?
What have you learned in your time as part of the openSUSE community you would have wished to know when you started?
No idea
When people ask you why they should use openSUSE instead of another distribution, what do you tell them?
I’d ask them for their use case and experience first. There is no generic answer.
What are your favorite applications? What sets them apart?
(g)vim. Covers all editing needs :-)
Three words to describe openSUSE? Or make up a proper slogan!
Lots of fun!
What do you think the future holds for openSUSE?
The future is unwritten. As long as we have brilliant people we will see new ideas we haven’t thought about before.
If you would have unlimited resources, what would you do with it?
What kind of resources?
Let’s say you have money to hire a thousand people to work on openSUSE. Who would you hire and what would you let them do?
Finally fix RPM, printing and KDE? :-)
Star Trek or Star Wars?
Star Trek.
Torvalds or Stallman?
Pfft.
Tumbleweed or Leap?
I use both depending on use case.