Re: -= PROPOSAL =- Release sarge with amd64
* Marc Haber <mh+debian-devel@zugschlus.de> [2004-07-15 19:31]:
> >For example, if you want to help the ftpmaster team, one way would be
> >to help with katie, the archive software tools. There is a long TODO
> >list and nothing stops people from sending in patches. This would
> >show the ftpmaster team that you're interested in this task, actually
> >understand the software involved and can contribute, and it would be a
> >first step of contact.
>
> Who would want to send in patches to a team that is known not to
> communicate with outsiders?
Maybe to help them? To make their life easier? To show that you're
on their side? To help Debian?
I know that some people think ftpmaster doesn't respond to mails
because they are evil, but in my experience, when they don't respond
it's mostly because they are too busy. One way to mitigate this
situation is to find ways to make them less busy. Let's take a random
example: if they spend all of their time writing the archive software,
they don't have any time to communicate. If you would now help them
writing the software, they would suddenly have more time which they
could use for other tasks, such as communication. To give a real
example from a few years ago: I'm listed in the THANKS file of katie -
not because I made such a large contribution to the software, but
because I got involved in New Maintainer. Now how is this related?
Well, by decreasing the amount of time James had to spend on NM, he
suddenly had more time to work on katie.
If you're truly interested in fixing problems in Debian and solving
this problem, find ways to *help* our existing delegates. Yes, more
documentation would be helpful and I'll work on this; however, the
lack of documentation has not stopped certain other volunteers from
helping out [*]. So why does it stop you?
[*] It's interesting to note that many people in the current "cabal"
were not in the "cabal" (or even the project) three or four years ago.
How is this possible when the "cabal" doesn't allow new members to
join and doesn't talk to outsiders? Matt Zimmerman joined the
security cabal, Daniel Silverstone joined the ftpmaster cabal, Colin
Watson joined the release cabal, I joined the NM cabal, and there are
many other examples. How did that happen?
--
Martin Michlmayr
leader@debian.org
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