Hello everyone,
I'm new to Debian packaging and had some helpful chat with Soren Stoutner (https://nm.debian.org/person/soren/), who is a Debian Maintainer. As suggested, I'm sharing our conversation here in a simple question-and-answer format. This way, other beginners can learn from it too. I'll break it down part by part using bullet points and easy words. Feel free to jump in with advice or corrections!
- Part 1: Recommendation to check out mentors.debian.net:
My question: Where should I start as a new contributor (Unofficial Maintainer)?
Soren's answer: I recommend looking at mentors.debian.net. Here's a guide for new maintainers:
- Part 2: Can packaging work count as an internship?
My question: If I work on packaging, can I count that as an "internship" or project-like work, similar to a student internship?
Soren's answer: Yes, you can.
- Part 3: Getting official documents (official internship letter) for university requirements:
My question: I
need this for my university's undergraduate internship requirement. For
official recognition, I might need an offer letter, certificate, or
both. Would Debian/mentors provide such documents if we agree on a
supervised program or formal mentorship?
Soren's answer:
Debian Mentors isn't a structured internship program, so Debian doesn't
give official letters or certificates. But an individual sponsor might
write and sign one personally. For example, I (Soren) would be willing
to do that. Also, note that Debian joins official internship programs
like Google's Summer of Code, Outreachy, and Open Source Promotion Plan.
These are run by other groups and might have schedules that don't match
your university's, but they're worth checking.
- Part 4: Formal mentorship or support in Debian:
My question: Does
the Debian community provide any formal mentorship or support to
contributors (beyond uploading), like guidance or payment?
Soren's answer: The Debian Mentors mailing list gives guidance. I'm copying the list here, and I recommend subscribing:
Debian
doesn't pay anyone. Sometimes contributors get paid by their employers
for work on Debian that's important to the company, like in other
open-source projects, but Debian doesn't handle that.
- Part 5: Who is my sponsor?
My question: If
I ask someone to sponsor my package on mentors.debian.net, does that
person become my "sponsor"? Or are you (Soren) my sponsor and mentor
too?
Soren's answer: Yes, the person who sponsors your
package (reviews it and uploads it to the Debian archive) will mentor
you through the process. Remember, they're all volunteers, so their time
might be limited.
- Part 6: Career path in Debian:
My question:
If I start as an unofficial maintainer, what could be my future career
path in Debian? How can I become an official Debian Maintainer or even a
full Debian Developer? What are the exact requirements and process?
Soren's answer: There's documentation here:
- Part 7: Starting with a sponsorship request and beginner tips:
My question:
I saw Bug #xxxxxx: RFS: xxxxxx, a sponsorship request. It looks
interesting, but I'm not sure if a beginner like me should start with
it. How should I begin properly? What's the best starting point for
learning Debian packaging? Any specific docs, beginner tasks, or example
repos?
Soren's answer: That RFS (Request For Sponsor) is
from someone already working on a package who needs a sponsor. If you're
really interested, contact him to see if they want to team up. But as a
newbie, it's better not to team with another newbie. Instead, pick an
orphaned package or one requesting adoption that you use yourself or are
interested in—it makes testing easier. Check these:
- Part 8: Distro for development:
Soren's answer: You
can develop for Debian on another OS, but I highly recommend using
Debian itself. There is a huge debate among Debian Developers as to the
relative merits of using stable, testing, or unstable for development.
Personally, I use testing.
My follow-up: I installed Debian Sid in a VM (keeping Pop!_OS on my laptop for stability).
- Part 9: Why should I use debian-mentors@lists.debian.org for my future query:
Soren's suggestion: I recommend copying all our communication to the Debian Mentors mailing list. Benefits:
i) Other newbies can learn from our questions.
ii) From time to time I might get busy and be unable to respond in a timely
manners. In those circumstances, someone else on the list may be able to
answer your questions.
iii) Communicating on the mailing list helps
to assure you get the most accurate information. Sometimes I have given
advice on the list that I believed was correct only to be informed by
someone else of more accurate information. Packaging for Debian is a
large and complicated topic (mostly because different upstream projects
vary so much, and standardizing their software into a Debian package is
not always easy), and having more than one set of eyes when looking at a
problem is always nice.
- Part 10: Personal guidance for first projects:
My question:
Could you personally guide me through my first one or two small
projects? It would help me understand Debian’s workflow and culture.
Soren's answer: Sure.
First, pick a package. Look at ones up for adoption or orphaned,
especially ones you use yourself for easier testing. Links:
Thanks, Soren, for the guidance! If anyone on the list has tips or wants to help with my first package, let me know. I'm excited to start contributing. Soren has been CCing all his responses to mentors, which you can see in the thread that starts here:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-mentors/2025/11/msg00229.html
Best regards,
Md. Asif Hossain