pulling the strings

“It doesn't matter how small the contribution is – I think everyone benefits from the different environment, the different culture, of open source communities.” From ‘free software’ to the Mars Rover, the scope of open source is expansive, growing, and offering new challenges to organizations and practitioners alike. Now, Perforce Director of Product Management Javier Perez is excited to share the latest findings from the 2023 State of Open Source Report with the context of his 26+ years in the software industry. Look into the past and peer into the future with this exciting discussion between two open source evangelists.

Join Javier and host Ben Ford, Developer Relations Director at Puppet by Perforce, as they discuss the history of open source, examples of open source software dating back to the 1950s, the communities that have formed around open source, where open source software is headed, and highlights from the highly anticipated 2023 State of Open Source Report, which asked ~900 global respondents about their use of open source software.

Highlights:

• AI and machine learning took the number one spot as a technology that most survey respondents were interested in.
• The number-one reason organizations use open source software is access to innovation — not cost savings.
• How initiatives intra-organization methodologies like InnerSource are breaking down silos between companies.
• Why AI and Web3 are trends worth watching in the open source space.

Speakers:

• Ben Ford, Developer Relations Director at Puppet by Perforce
• Javier Perez, Director of Product Management at Perforce

Links:

• Get the 2023 State of Open Source Report
• Follow Javier on Twitter
• Read the episode transcript

Find Us Online:

• puppet.com
• Apple Podcasts
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Creating and maintaining community is hard, especially when you don't bump into each other in the hallways on the regular. And community is vital, especially when it advocates for you and helps create a safe space to bring your whole self to work. Todd and Melissa share their experiences with Puppet's Pride ERG and how they're using it to work towards systemic change.

Learn More:

• Join our community at https://slack.puppet.com
• Find Melissa on Twitter as @mcasburn or on LinkedIn
• Find Todd on Twitter as @ShawnTErvin or on LinkedIn

Managing the configuration of an entire ecosystem is not an easy thing to do, and bootstrapping the system that manages that configuration is even more challenging. Edwin from Puppet’s Solutions Architects team shows us a tool they've built that aims to simplify that task.

Learn more:

• Join our community at https://slack.puppet.com and chat with Edwin.
• Try out the module from its Forge page and file any issues on the linked source repository.
• Using Process Mapping to target your automation efforts.
• Find Edwin on Twitter here.

Cortez worked his way up through the ranks as a cloud security and compliance engineer, managing hundreds of production applications. Now he's taking those grueling lessons and teaching the team at Relay how to automate away tedium and toil. Join us as Cortez shares stories from the field and some of the motivation behind Relay's cloud compliance enforcement capabilities.

Learn more: 

• Join our community at https://slack.puppet.com
• Find more about Relay at https://relay.sh
• Let us know about new integration ideas at https://pup.pt/ideas
• Find Cortez on LinkedIn

The recent log4j fiasco reminded us that not only is it important to stay updated and current with security news, but it's also critical to have safe ways to deploy configuration updates or orchestrate reporting/remediation scripts across your infrastructure as quickly as possible. Jeremy and Nick join us today to share best practices and automation suggestions.

Learn more:

• Join our community at https://slack.puppet.com
• Contribute to the module at https://github.com/puppetlabs/log4jscanner
• Download the module from its Forge page: http://forge.puppet.com/puppetlabs/log4jscanner
• Read about Puppet's security response policies https://puppet.com/security/
• Reach Jeremy Mill on Twitter at @living_syn

Update: the GI Joe quote our hapless host massacred was  – "Now you know; and knowing is half the battle."

Puppet has been open source since day one and our success has largely been built on community contributions. One could even say that it's part of our DNA. Now the question is where do we take it from here? Puppet CTO Abby Kearns and Chief Architect Chip Childers have a long and storied history with open source. Join us to hear their thoughts on how Puppet will map out the open source roadmap ahead.

Learn more: 

• Join the Puppet Community Slack, we'd love to hear your ideas.
• Take a look at the Puppet Toy Chest for some projects that we're inviting you to adopt.
• Get involved by contributing written content or to one of our modules.
• Read about open source at Puppet.
• Read as Chip introduces himself to the community.
• Read more of Abby’s ideas on her Medium page
• Follow Abby and Chip on Twitter.

The DSC configuration engine is the standard way to manage Windows systems, and it’s incredibly powerful. Now it's easier to use too, because all the PowerShell Gallery DSC resources are only a `puppet module install` away. Mike and Bill are here to tell you the whole story, from building the integration and the publication pipeline to deploying DSC Resources for customers and debugging them in the field.

Learn more: 

• Using PowerShell DSC Resources with Puppet
• Puppet & DSC: Puppetizing and Debugging
• Picaroons by Michael T Lombardi
• Join our community at https://slack.puppet.com

User research shows that a huge number of our customers were using ServiceNow alongside Puppet Enterprise. It only made sense to teach the tools how to integrate with each other so that users didn't have to switch between them. Molly and Milad join us from Puppet's Integrations team to tell us how they put user experience front and center when building the new extensions.

Learn more: 

• Join our community at https://slack.puppet.com
• Find more about the integration at http://puppet.com/integrations/servicenow/
• Let us know about new integration ideas at https://pup.pt/ideast/ideas

Learning new tools is hard enough on its own. But then you often have to install software, set up a working environment, download a dev kit, or more. Our Education team recently released the new Puppet Practice Labs, which let you learn the Puppet ecosystem at your own pace and remove all these impediments from your progress.

The labs run right in your browser and require no extra downloads. And best of all, they're free and you can access them any time. Many are even short enough that you could run through one over your lunch hour. Join us to chat with the team about how they built the platform and how you can best use it.

Learn more: 

• Boost your skills with Puppet Practice Labs
• Looking for more ways to learn Puppet? Check out Puppet Compass.
• Have more ideas? Take a look at the Puppet Idea Portal.

Pride is a celebration of our true selves -- of loving yourself for who you are, and of accepting and loving others for who they are.

It can be a challenge to feel safe being out and proud without role models providing guidance and showing the way. Listen to Melissa Casburn share her personal and professional journey.

Learn More: 

• To go more in depth, read Melissa’s post on Medium

What is Onceover testing you may ask? A tool to automatically run basic tests on an entire Puppet controlrepo, it was written mostly while sipping inflight cocktails on airplanes. Dylan Ratcliffe explains Onceover testing and addresses some of the reasons it exists in the first place. Tune in to gain the clarity you need for your automation woes.

Learn More

• Get started with Onceover.
• Learn how to use Onceover to start testing your Puppet Control repository.

Have you hit a wall with your Open Source automation platform? Are you frustrated that your support has been limited? Well, Jesse Brennan and Claire Hernandez will calm your nerves with four words: Open Source Puppet Assist. They share how you can gain access to exclusive tools and content on Puppet, and help you make sure that you don’t take your Open Source journey alone.

Visit the OSP Assist Portal: https://ospassist.puppet.com/hc/en-us

As the new normal continues, the evolution of open-source software thrives. Lucy Wyman runs down the evolution and importance of Puppet’s Open Source Stewards on this episode. 

 Learn more

• Find out why Puppet is moving toward a more diverse culture and also removing harmful language from its code and the correlation to #blacklivesmatter movement
• SeaGL: https://seagl.org/

Are you using Slack to do cool things (other than chatting about Netflix episodes at the virtual water cooler)? In today’s episode, Martez Reed and Demetrius Malbrough discuss how Hydra integrates with Slack to create and scale virtual environments. If you are interested in how your environment can be automatically created and spun up behind the scenes, this episode is for you!