Ivan – The Man behind Xiaomi custom ROMs Interviewed

Ivan who is popularly known as 秋叶随风, is a well known and beloved person to Xiaomi fans around the world by developing customised ROMs. Though Ivan develops some amazing ROMs using latest versions of Android, he keeps a surprisingly low profile, and it is even impossible to add him in any of Social Networks!

MIUI news team reached out to Ivan for the ever curious MIUI fans, and here’s the much-awaited interview with some of the interesting fan questions, complete with a real snapshot of what Ivan looks like!

 

1 : Tell us 4 interesting facts about yourself!

I’m actually a staff of Xiaomi and a big loyal fan of MIUI!
Nobody calls me by my real name at work – Instead, everyone prefers to call me by my nickname, “秋大”
I used to be a developer for iOS and webkit, the open source web browser engine that’s used by Safari, Dashboard, Mail, and many other OS X applications
I’m a novice in swimming, having just picked up the skill last year; To be honest, my swimming can’t even rival that of the kids that I see in the pool!

2: What do you actually do in Xiaomi and how long have you been working there?

I started working for Xiaomi last year and is currently involved in Linux server and configuration management and technical support. My main duty is to ensure that my fellow colleagues can work or laze happily! Occasionally, I dabble in MIUI system upgrades, memory optimization, stable ROMs upgrades as well as updating the Android version to allow my colleagues to test out Google’s latest features.

3: How did you learn to customise ROMs and can you teach other aspiring fans how to go about doing it too and what is required to get started?

When I first came into contact with Android phones, the phone manufacturers integrated the phones with too much bloatware that made the user experience abysmal. Hence i decided to try my hand at customising the ROM by myself, purely out of interest! I am actually self-taught, and personally i think this is one area that is very difficult to teach.

For aspiring fans that would like to go down this path to customise their own ROM, my advice would be to first familiarise yourself with Java, C, C++ and Linux, as well as shell kernel script writing. A good way to get started is to follow what others have done in customising the ROM, by basing it on their git log to understand the logic behind the tweaking. Of course, the prerequisites are that you have plenty of time, and a relatively good computer with fast internet speed.

4: What features are you planning to add to your latest customised ROM?

It may surprise you, but i do not like adding new functionalities. If you want to, you don’t have to do it yourself, but use the ready solutions out there like CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android, AOKP, etc.

5: What device are you using now and why?

I am currently using two phones; an iPhone 5, and Mi2. I love my Mi2 primarily because i find the size perfect, and the hardware is not outdated, and best of all, i can customise it everyday! :)

6: How long does it take for you to work on each ROM?

From conceptualisation till its actual run takes around 1 week, but it could take 1 to 2 months to correct for all the bugs and stabilise the system. If i am lucky, I could update and release a more stable version in 1 – 2 weeks.

7: Do you actually earn anything from doing this?

I pursue and customise ROMs out of my pure personal interest and passion to share what I love with fellow MIUI fans, and I do not earn a single cent out of this. Of course, more money is always good, but personally my opinion is that if one were to pursue this out of monetary interest, it would defeat the purpose of doing this in the first place.

8: What was the first ROM you made and what was the motivation behind it?

I first customised the ROM for my Huawei C8500/U8150. Back then, the phones is packed with more customised softwares. I had the idea of customising it for my phone for a very simple reason; the touch points for the phone weren’t many at the point in time, and i decided to tweak the kernel source to add two more touch points and that’s how I got started! After that, I got hooked on customising and the rest is history.

9: Are you dating someone within the MIUI community?

My interactions with fellow colleagues hardly extend beyond our professional working relationship, and the majority of the fans are guys! No girl would want to date a code geek anyway, so… to put it simply, no.

 

Source: MIUI Forum