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Re: Need Debian developer to hire as a consultant



On Sat, May 26, 2001 at 02:39:23AM +0100, james@spunkysoftware.com wrote:
> I am looking for a developer of Debian to hire as a consultant for a few
> hours (perhaps a whole day split into several sessions over a week) to talk
> with me and answer my questions. I am offering US$150/hour.
> 
> I need a developer who:
> * Can explain things in plain English for someone who has only been a
> programmer for a couple of years
> * Has an inside-out knowledge of .deb files, i.e. Debian packages (the
> Debain equivalent of Red Hat .rpm packages)

.deb files are gzip compressed, once you uncompress that, you have a tree
that dpkg uses.  

> * Knows about the software that parses .deb packages and installs the
> software inside them

It parses fields and commnands from the control file.

> * Knows how the installer works, from the start of the install routine where
> it asks a user to format their hard disk, etc, right to the end when you are
> ready to use the installed system, and can explain the code line by line
> including the assembly code (x86 assembly code only) - or can point me to a
> technical manual on Intel processors which does explain how to write code
> for a cold boot/bootstrap an OS/whatever the installer does.

There are two different installers for Potato and Woody.  Which one do you
want?  Remember, the woody installer is still developing.

I wouldn't think that the installers themselves would have assembler, unless
that was used to make it smaller, but then supporting many platforms
semi-equally would be much harder...

You need to also understand that the installer scripts the user through many
generic utilities, so it's not *that* complicated.  Unless you want a
line-by-line tutorial of those utilities...

> 
> I know this is a big ask, I hope not too big for one consultant. Please tell
> me if I am being unrealistic in asking this from one consultant.
> 
> My only language is English, so preferably I want a developer who's native
> language is English, but developers who are multilingual and fluent in
> English are just as good for my needs, but they must be fluent in English,
> since I can't afford to hire a translator/interpreter as well as a
> consultant.
>

Probably one consultant will do, you should look for the dpkg and/or dinstall
maintainers.

> I will need the consultant in the week 1st July - 7th July, i.e. in about 5
> weeks' time.
> 
> I hope someone can help me find a consultant who works on Debian or
> knows/can recommend someone involved with debian.org.
> 

Sorry, not me.

Mike



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