I am Jay Faulkner, an Open Source Developer and Advocate. I believe that through working with others around the world to solve problems we can make the world better. Open source is a great way to do that.

My current employer, the G-Research Open Source Software team (GR-OSS), believes that and enables me to work on open source software to help ensure that the open source ecosystems they rely on remain healthy long term.

I host the GR-OSS OUT podcast, where we talk about OSS projects and investments G-Research is making. You can also find that in video form, as well as other video content from me about OSS, on the GR-OSS Youtube channel.

Web Presence⌗

Projects I Work On⌗

Ironic⌗

OpenStack, primarily written in Python, is a cloud computing platform. I’ve been working on Ironic, a component that plugs into OpenStack – or can be used standalone – to provision real, physical hardware as easily as one can provision VMs. I have served two one-year teams (2023, 2024) on the OpenStack Technical Committee including one six-month term as chair. I have served three terms (zed, 2023.1, 2023.2) as Project Team Lead for OpenStack Ironic.

I’ve been a working on Ironic since the icehouse cycle (2014), and have been active in code review and development of the project since then. Ironic remains a primary part of my daily work and representing approximately 4/5 of my full time focus.

Ironic is an incredibly impressive piece of software, and I’m very proud of how far it’s come in the years I’ve worked on it. It’ll be fun to see where the future leads.

Gentoo⌗

Gentoo is a highly customizable linux distribution that focuses on building the system from source. Gentoo linux is the tool I used to learn about open source and linux, and I’ve used it off and on for over 15 years. Now, it’s the primary OS on most computers I run.

I do Gentoo on my own time, cleaning up and helping proxy-maintain ebuilds across the main Gentoo repo and a handful of overlays. I’m also a regular presence on several Gentoo-related channels on IRC. Come find me there as nickname JayF or JasonF. I am currently on track to become a Gentoo developer in the coming months.

Working with Gentoo has enabled me to make small contributions to a myriad of open source projects – mostly minor build fixes. I always enjoy working with Gentoo because of the many different ideas, packages, and systems you can run up against when trying to solve problems.