Neal Gompa
Norwalk, Connecticut, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolNeal Gompa is a seasoned software engineer and open source leader with 16+ years building and steering Linux distribution tooling, package managers, and build systems. He currently serves on the Engineering Steering Committees for AlmaLinux and Fedora, chairs projects like the Asahi SIG for Apple Silicon, and has driven cross-distro improvements in high-profile projects such as DNF, RPM, libsolv, and PackageKit. Neal blends backend and DevOps expertise—optimizing build and release pipelines, packaging for multiple distributions, and enabling reproducible appliance/image builds—while also contributing kernel-module and infrastructure work. He is an active community builder and board member across openSUSE, Mageia, CentOS, and KDE, with a knack for translating complex platform requirements into practical, cross-project solutions. Beyond code, Neal writes about mobile tech and co-hosts a podcast, reflecting a rare mix of technical depth, communication skill, and commitment to FOSS as an equalizer.
16 years of coding experience
17 years of employment as a software developer
Clinton High SchoolBachelor of Science (B.S.), Software Engineering, Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Software Engineering at Mississippi State University
English
Github Skills (58)
yum10
git10
compatible10
fedora10
c-language10
deploying10
lib10
cobbler10
python10
package-management10
suse10
packaging10
configuration-management10
dnf10
linux10
Programming languages (32)
Github contributions (5)
datto/dattobd
Feb 2016 - Jan 2023
kernel module for taking block-level snapshots and incremental backups of Linux block devices
Role in this project:
Back-end & DevOps Engineer
Back-end & DevOps EngineerContributions:4 releases, 12 reviews, 53 commits in 7 years
Contributions summary:Neal primarily contributed to the project by modifying the build and packaging infrastructure. They added files related to distribution-specific configurations and initramfs setups. Furthermore, the user worked on adjusting the build process, including the installation of headers and fixing references in the Makefile. In addition, they modified the kernel module's core functionalities.
kernellinux-kernel-modulelinux-backupincrementallinux
OSInside/kiwi
Feb 2017 - Jan 2023
KIWI - Appliance Builder Next Generation
Role in this project:DevOps Engineer
DevOps EngineerContributions:530 reviews, 155 commits, 347 PRs in 5 years 11 months
Contributions summary:Neal focused on improving the build and packaging process for the KIWI appliance builder. Their contributions primarily involved modifying the build configuration for different package managers like Yum and DNF. They implemented features such as package exclusion and ensured the correct file locations within the build environment. Furthermore, they addressed the integration of KIWI with the Open Build Service (OBS) and handled its modular package handling.
next-generationappliancebuilderkiwiiot
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