Valentin David
Software Engineer at Canonical
Bergen, Vestland, Norway
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolValentin David is a seasoned software engineer with 22 years of experience building system-level software, currently working on Ubuntu Core at Canonical and contributing to GNOME OS in his spare time. His background spans research-grade compiler and meta-programming work (including a PhD) to production engineering on BuildStream, Freedesktop SDK, and soft real-time middleware. He’s an active open-source contributor to high-profile projects like snapd and systemd, where he’s improved initramfs mounting, switch-root handling, shutdown robustness, and test infrastructure. Valentin combines deep theory—expression templates and concept-driven C++ development—with practical system architecture and DevOps skills. Based in Bergen, Norway, he excels at solving tricky platform and boot-time problems that most engineers don’t routinely encounter. Colleagues rely on him for thoughtful, low-level fixes that increase system reliability across the stack.
22 years of coding experience
14 years of employment as a software developer
Engineer's degree, Computational Science and Images, Engineer's degree, Computational Science and Images at Ecole pour I'Informatique et les Techniques AvancéesPhD, Computer science, PhD, Computer science at University of Bergen (UiB)Baccalauréat, Science and industrial technologies, Baccalauréat, Science and industrial technologies at Lycée Alexis de Tocqueville
French, English, Norwegian
Stackoverflow
31reputation
2kreached
1answer
0questions
Github Skills (22)
software-design10
init10
linux10
bash10
system-design10
c1110
c1710
go10
sys10
systemd10
devops10
scripting9
testing9
shell9
script9
Programming languages (13)
Github contributions (5)
canonical/snapd
Nov 2021 - Jan 2023
The snapd and snap tools enable systems to work with .snap files.
Role in this project:
Backend & DevOps Engineer
Backend & DevOps EngineerContributions:1163 reviews, 62 commits, 459 PRs in 1 year 2 months
Contributions summary:Valentin primarily focused on modifying the snapd system, addressing issues related to read-only mounts, particularly in Ubuntu Core environments. They implemented changes to ensure snaps are mounted read-only in the initramfs and made enhancements to systemd mount configurations, including dependency adjustments for better switch-root compatibility. Further work included integrating keyboard device handling within the initramfs environment, ensuring the daemon could correctly chroot during switch root. The user also updated and improved testing infrastructure with the addition of several test scenarios.
snapdsnap
flathub/com.albiononline.AlbionOnline
Jun 2017 - Jun 2022
Contributions:58 commits, 22 PRs, 39 pushes in 5 years
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