The latest version of java-package has been uploaded this evening. In addition to support for the latest security-updated Sun and Blackdown 1.4.2 JREs and JDKs, we have added a couple of features from the wishlist department:

• The username and email inputs for make-jpkg are no longer required; they default to Debian Java Maintainers and the project’s email address.
• Support for packaging Sun’s API Javadoc for 1.3, 1.4, and 1.5 JDKs (woohoo!), integrated with the Debian Documentation Menu for easy access.

Hope you like it. Just think, one day when the free runtimes for Java(TM) take over this will be packaging with a level of kitsch akin to vintage clothing. 8^)

I work onsite for my client, and they are located inside a large complex with numerous other organizations. The parking deck to which I am assigned lies beneath the building. About 2 years ago, I started taking the stairs instead of waiting on the elevators. I had two main reasons for doing this:

1. The elevators are unbelievably slow and prone to breaking down
2. This would provide a meager amount of exercise on the way to sitting in a cubicle

One major drawback of taking the stairs has been this highly unpleasant smell at the bottom of the stairwell. It distinctly smells like some sort of sewage leak in the building’s infrastructure. For the longest time I was sure it would go away whenever they got around to repairing it. Instead, they would douse the entire stairwell with this industrial-grade odor killer, which would bring me closer to vomiting than the initial odor. An additional curiosity to this mystery was that I would sometimes smell cigarette smoke near the source of the sewage-based odor. Smoking in the stairwell is forbidden, but even more freakish to me was that someone would decide to smoke in a confined area with that sewage smell swirling around with their Marlboro reds.

The mystery has been solved.

Apparently someone likes to sneak into the stairwell of this secured-access building and have a smoke and a pee. The white foam near the door is caused by a heavy dousing with bleach from the building custodial staff, who apparently also crafted the confrontational sign. I can only speculate on how the offender might retaliate to this escalation of the conflict, but I certainly hope solid human waste doesn’t enter the picture.

Had to go with the middle name; Biomechanical Artificial Replicant Responsible for Yelling just had no appeal for me.

It would an understatement to say that I have enjoyed the Debconf5 videos; as a New Maintainer who had no chance of being able to attend, the videos have both informed me and helped me feel more connected to the Debian community. Who knew all these hackergotchis on Planet Debian had bodies attached to them?

I received an email from the New Maintainer Front Desk today stating that they could see no evidence of me having contributed to Debian recently, and therefore I would not be assigned an Application Manager. For the first 90 seconds after I read it, I could feel the heat in my face and how rapidly my heart had begun beating. But right away I remembered the video of Hannah Wallach, Dafydd Harries, and Moray Allan’s presentation on the New Maintainer Process. I remembered them saying how understaffed the process was and what a large workload existed. They also explained how sometimes you might need to provide more information during the process via email conversations. Since most of my work is in the Debian Java Packaging project, I am less visible as an individual. Almost immediately this otherwise upsetting message made sense. I provided a writeup of my activity with links and mailed it back, ego a bit bruised but not too shaken 8^).

So thanks once more to the video team and to all the presenters from Debconf; your labor has paid off long after the conference and I can personally say it has made a positive and encouraging impact in my life.

but apparently is also worth getting someone to do the job right. I came home last night to find the real estate sign replaced: