# Introduction - Will Stephenson

**URL:** <https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729>\
**Category:** Introductions & Stories\
**Created:** [November 23, 2018, 9:24am UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729 "2018-11-23T09:24:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wstephenson](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/in-thread.sonic-pi.net/wstephenson/32/790_2.png) [@wstephenson](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/wstephenson)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 9:24am UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729/1 "2018-11-23T09:24:24Z")

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Hello!

I’m Will, I’m a software developer based in Nuremberg, Germany.

A long time ago I booked Sam for an event back when he was doing Overtone+Emacs, and I’ve been watching Sonic Pi from a distance since the early days, but haven’t contributed in any meaningful way. I’m not a musician, but I’m trying to learn and am using Sonic Pi as part of that.

As I’m a Linux user, I’m interested in making Sonic Pi more accessible to others on Linux, because I know that sometimes I don’t have time to do the configure/make/make install dance and just want to install something and start using it.

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**Author:** ![ethancrawford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@ethancrawford](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/ethancrawford)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 9:44am UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729/2 "2018-11-23T09:44:48Z")

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Welcome @wstephenson!

Regarding Linux, if you haven’t seen it already, you might like to read the following discussion about making it easier to bring Sonic Pi to Linux:  
[Creating a snap package for Sonic 3.0](http://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/creating-a-snap-package-for-sonic-3-0/441)  
(Though that’s by no means the only way to contribute if you feel so led 🙂)

Anyway, great to meet you, even if it’s just virtually 🙂

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**Author:** ![Martin](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/in-thread.sonic-pi.net/martin/32/157_2.png) [@Martin](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/Martin)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 9:48am UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729/3 "2018-11-23T09:48:22Z")

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Hi @wstephenson,

welcome to Sonic Pi and in\_thread! As I am also a dedicated user of Linux (but no programmer) I very much appreciate other Sonic Pi’lers wanting to devote some time/effort to the Linux-side! (I can always help with testing.)

Cheers  
Martin

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**Author:** ![wstephenson](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/in-thread.sonic-pi.net/wstephenson/32/790_2.png) [@wstephenson](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/wstephenson)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 10:26am UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729/4 "2018-11-23T10:26:53Z")

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Thanks for the heads up. I have these newfangled packaging systems on my radar (since the days when AppImage used to call itself ‘klik’) but need to see how things have developed recently with Flatpak and Snap joining the fray. My packaging experience is mainly on rpm. I am a little skeptical about how much easier containerised set ups of multi-process applications that have complex relationships with the platform can become, but I’m interested to find out.

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**Author:** ![wstephenson](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/in-thread.sonic-pi.net/wstephenson/32/790_2.png) [@wstephenson](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/wstephenson)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 10:27am UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729/5 "2018-11-23T10:27:12Z")

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Thank you! I’ll let you know how I get on.

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**Author:** ![samaaron](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/in-thread.sonic-pi.net/samaaron/32/7_2.png) [@samaaron](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/samaaron)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 11:14am UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729/6 "2018-11-23T11:14:10Z")

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@wstephenson also forgot to mention that we’ve been very good friends since uni days 🙂

Welcome Will!

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**Author:** ![wstephenson](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/in-thread.sonic-pi.net/wstephenson/32/790_2.png) [@wstephenson](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/wstephenson)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729/7 "2018-11-23T22:39:52Z")

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Woop woop: initial packages of SuperCollider 3.9.3, sc3-plugins 3.9.1, osmid-0.6git and sonic-pi 3.1.0 for openSUSE 15.0 are built and available [here](https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/home:wstephenson:branches:multimedia:apps).

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**Author:** ![paubarrina](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/in-thread.sonic-pi.net/paubarrina/32/2286_2.png) [@paubarrina](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/paubarrina)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 9:02am UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729/8 "2018-11-24T09:02:52Z")

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Interesting! It wound be great if it would work easily on Ubuntu, since in our education system we use a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu.

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**Author:** ![wstephenson](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/in-thread.sonic-pi.net/wstephenson/32/790_2.png) [@wstephenson](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/u/wstephenson)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://in-thread.sonic-pi.net/t/introduction-will-stephenson/1729/9 "2018-11-25T12:17:46Z")

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My plan is to improve the build system and packaging of sonic-pi so that it is more easily installable (and hackable) on as many platforms as possible. I’m using openSUSE as a starting point as that’s where I am most comfortable, and that process is already showing up pain points.
