Chris Packham
Principal Software Engineer at Allied Telesis Labs NZ
New Zealand
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolChris Packham is a Principal Software Engineer based in New Zealand with 16 years of hands-on experience building embedded and systems software. He has long tenure at Allied Telesis Labs, including international secondments in the US, where he focused on networking and firmware-level engineering. An active open-source contributor, Chris has improved core tooling such as Buildroot and crosstool-ng—adding package support, security fixes and integrating Picolibc—and has contributed practical enhancements to Git’s merge and clone behaviors. He combines deep embedded Linux and toolchain expertise with a pragmatic focus on maintainability and test coverage, evidenced by updates to test suites and compatibility patches. Collected commerce and computer science training from the University of Canterbury complements his practical mindset and propensity for long-term platform stewardship.
17 years of coding experience
6 years of employment as a software developer
BSc, Computer Science, Commerce, BSc, Computer Science, Commerce at University of Canterbury
Github Skills (35)
git10
buildroot10
python10
crossbuild10
package-management10
command-line-interface10
linux10
bash10
build-system10
c1110
c1710
i2c10
flash10
device-tree10
script10
Programming languages (11)
Github contributions (5)
crosstool-ng/crosstool-ng
Sep 2019 - Jan 2023
A versatile (cross-)toolchain generator.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:13 releases, 288 reviews, 320 commits in 3 years 4 months
Contributions summary:Chris's contributions focused on integrating the Picolibc C library into the crosstool-ng project. They implemented the necessary build scripts and configuration files for building Picolibc. Further contributions included creating a patch for the libc library, ensuring its compatibility with the existing codebase, and integrating updates for the musl libc build process.
generatorcross-toolchainversatiletoolchain
git/git
Feb 2010 - Dec 2016
Git Source Code Mirror - This is a publish-only repository but pull requests can be turned into patches to the mailing list via GitGitGadget (https://gitgitgadget.github.io/). Please follow Documentation/SubmittingPatches procedure for any of your improvements.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:13 commits in 6 years 11 months
Contributions summary:Chris primarily contributed to the `git` repository by modifying the `git-completion.bash` file and the `builtin/merge.c` file, focusing on the "merge" and "clone" functionalities. Their commits introduced options like `--recurse-submodules`, `--continue`, and `--abort` to improve command usability and consistency. The work also involved updating the test suite (`t/t7600-merge.sh`) to incorporate the new options and ensure proper functionality.
codemirrorcshell
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