How can I help Debian best?
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Hi list!
I've the wish to contribute to Debian. However, from all the stuff
needed to be done I would be best at coding, I guess. Although Debian's
Social Contract doesn't prevent people from writing Debian-specific
software, it IMHO propagates not to do so (c.f. "We will give back to
the free software community") but rather, whenever possible, "only" free
software which than can be converted into Debian (-specific) packages.
On the other hand, the free software community, including quite some
distributions based on the Debian project, can (and actually do) derive
programs from rather Debian specific sources, while uploads of free
software often remain unused because they are considered amateures work
which is to buggy to include in a distro and to work intensive to audit.
Thus, the free software community would benefit more from an already
distributed (and thus considered rather stable) program.
Now I'm completely unsure what to do in order to help Debian as good as
I can:
(a) "Just" writing free software and hope that it is good and attractive
enouth to be included in Debian when it is needed and ready.
(b) Write free software according to the Debian guidelines and (try to)
find a Debian Maintainer who is willing (and has the time) to audit and
upload the software.
(c) (Trying to) become a Debian Maintainer, building and packaging the
software on my own on basis of the ideals, needs and policy of the
Debian project (and thus *for* Debian and only implicitly for the free
software community).
Being aware that you can't give me the absolute answer to my question,
and because I really would like the idea to (try to) become a Debian
Developer (guessing that my dedication would increase quite a bit), I
would especially be interested in the answer to the question how much
time it takes to work really "Debian conform", that is, how much time
(the average) developers spend reading new guidelines etc., or better:
how much time is left for the actual development if you stay informed
about all the policy changes etc.?
Kind regards and many thanks for your answers and/or suggestions
Christian Huetter
P.S.: To help you answering my question here some information about me:
I'm a student of "Computational Visualistics" with special interests in
software engineering (and, of course, everything that has to do with
images, especially image synthesis). I like experimenting with computer
technology in general and security-specific topics in particular.
Reading a request on a not-yet-existing program on a german Debian board
about a month ago I started to seriously consider contributing to Debian
after I've written the program for only one person due to the lack of
reliable, trustworthy posibillities to test and share the program.
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