Re: your mail

[Jake Spieker <mandebian@gmail.com>]

I would like to do something small if possible, and as I understand
it, there is a way so that I can help someone? I don't think I have
the ability to do a package on my own. Other thoughts?

Jake


On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 11:18:12 +1100, Matthew Palmer <mpalmer@debian.org> wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 25, 2004 at 06:11:30PM -0500, Jake Spieker wrote:
> > 2. What does becoming a debian maintainer entail?
> 
> A fair bit.  Peruse the debian-mentors FAQ at
> http://people.debian.org/~mpalmer/debian-mentors_FAQ.html for a bit of an
> idea of some of the basics (but be warned that what's in there is really
> only the tip of the iceberg).
> 
> > Would I need to know any programming/scripting?
> 
> If you want to maintain packages, you'll almost certainly need some level of
> scripting ability, and (depending on the package) probably some level of
> programming knowledge (unless you maintain only documentation-type
> packages).  There are plenty of things that don't require programming
> skills, though.
> 
> > How much time is involved?
> 
> As much time as you're willing to commit.  As a rough guide, I spend roughly
> 60 hours a month on my involvement with Debian.  That's more than just
> package maintenance, though -- it includes my involvement with mailing
> lists, sponsorship, working as an AM, and package maintenance.  If you add
> the time I've committed to upstream maintenance of software that I also
> package (libapache-mod-auth-mysql and IRM, for the terminally curious), that
> hour count roughly doubles (though I get paid for my work on IRM, so it
> probably doesn't really count).
> 
> - Matt
> 
> 
>