A few professional announcements.

Seeking developers for paid contract on pip; apply by Nov. 22

One is that I helped the Packaging Working Group of the Python Software Foundation get funding for a long-needed improvement to pip. I led the writing of a few proposals -- grantwriting, to oversimplify -- and, starting possibly as soon as next month, contractors will start work. As Dustin Ingram explains:

Big news: the Python Packaging Working Group has secured >$400K in grants from multiple funders (TBA) to improve one of the most fundamental parts of pip: its dependency resolver. https://pyfound.blogspot.com/2019/11/seeking-developers-for-paid-contract.html

The dependency resolver is the algorithm which takes multiple constrained requirements (e.g. "some_package>=1.0,<=2.0") and finds a version of all dependencies (and sub-dependencies) which satisfy all the constraints.
https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/user_guide/#requirements-files

Right now, pip's resolver mostly works for most use cases... However the algorithm it uses is naïve, and isn't always guaranteed to produce an optimal (or correct) result.

.....

These funds will pay multiple developers to work on completing the design, implementation and rollout of this new dependency resolver for pip, finally closing issue #988.

Not only will this give pip a better resolver, but it will "enable us to untangle pip’s internals from the resolver, enabling pip to share code for dependency resolution with other packaging tooling". https://pradyunsg.me/blog/2019/06/23/oss-update-1/

This is great news for pip and Python packaging in general. Huge shout out to @pradyunsg for his existing work on the resolver issue and guidance here, and to @brainwane for all her tireless work acquiring and directing funding for Python projects.

If you or your organization is interested in participating in this project, we've just posted the RFP, which includes instructions for submitting proposals, evaluation criteria and scope of work.
https://github.com/python/request-for/blob/master/2020-pip/RFP.md

If you're interested, please apply by 22 November.

NYU, Secure Systems Lab, and my new title

In further news: I am now a visiting scholar in Professor Justin Cappos's Secure Systems Lab at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering. And I get to use an office with a door, shelves, whiteboards, and so on (per the picture at right). If you contribute to Python packaging/distribution tools and live in/near or sometimes visit New York City, let me know and perhaps we could cowork a bit?

The Secure Systems Lab stewards The Update Framework (TUF) and related projects, and works to improve the security of the software supply chain. The Python Package Index is likely going to implement TUF to add cryptographic signatures to packages on PyPI, and so I've gotten to give TUF's developers some advice to help that work move along. (I won't be the manager on that project but I'll be watching with great interest.) PyPA may also choose to use more of SSL's work in implementing further security improvements to the package distribution toolchain, and I'm learning more to work out whether and how that could happen. Also, Cappos's research on backtracking dependency resolvers has been helpful to the pip resolver work.

Edited 19 Nov 2019 to clarify role.

PSF projects

I'm grateful to get to help connect the Python Software Foundation with more resources and volunteers. Changeset's current and recent projects have mostly been for the PSF. Last month we finished accessibility, security, and internationalization work on PyPI that was funded by the Open Technology Fund, and Changeset's work on communicating about the sunsetting of Python 2.x continues and will go through April 2020.

Availability for one-day engagements in San Francisco in February

But I am interested in taking on new clients for short engagements starting in February 2020. In particular, I will be in the San Francisco Bay Area in mid- to late February. If you're in SF or nearby, I could offer you a one-day engagement doing one of the following:

• developing a contributor outreach/intake strategy
• researching potential funders and writing a rough draft of a grant proposal
• auditing and improving your developer onboarding documents

I'd spend a little time talking with you, then sit in your office and finish the document before leaving that afternoon. (Photo at right provides a sample of how I look while sitting.) Drop me a line for a free initial 30-minute chat and we can talk pricing.