I've updated my local version of the nm_assigned.txt template (which has been a little different from Joerg's for a while now), and I've decided to share in case anyone else is interested. The overall content is not much different. Mostly, I've just rephrased some stuff to sound like something I would write, and reformatted it a bit to my liking. In particular, I changed the section: Finally, please tell me about yourself and what you intend to do for Debian (and how this fits in with The Social Contract). Also, how you came to Linux and free software, and why you want to volunteer your time. to: Finally, please tell me about yourself, how you came to GNU/Linux and free software, and why you want to volunteer your time. Please describe the contributions you have made to Debian, your primary areas of interest within Debian, and any goals you plan to accomplish. My intention is to try to get applicants to talk more about what they plan to do for Debian. With the previous working, I found that most applicants would write plenty of biographical stuff, but would provide very little about their Debian work. Also, I removed the "If you have packaged an application for Debian already..." section since I prefer to just leave that until the T&S test. Finally, I moved the big sections of links from the end of P&P to the end of this document. The reasons for this are that I prefer to always keep a copy of the original questions I sent in the mail log (since I tend to tinker with the questions) and this section bloats the log. Also, some applicants tend to not trim it out of their response, which further bloats the log... Joerg, if you think that any of these changes are appropriate for your templates, feel free to integrate as you see fit. -- For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you!
I'm glad to inform you that I have been appointed as your Application Manager. As such, I will go through the New Maintainer process with you and then send full report to the Developer Account Managers (DAM) and a brief summary to the debian-newmaint mailing list. Please read the emails I send very carefully and fully answer each question I ask. Failure to do so will prolong the application process. The list of steps in NM you must pass through is documented at: http://www.debian.org/devel/join/nm-checklist If you have any questions along the way, feel free to ask. I'm here to help you join the Debian project project, and I'm glad to assist you in any way. The first step was to apply for the New Maintainer process and have an Application Manager (AM) assigned to you. You have completed the first step. Now it's time to check your identity. Since many people trust Debian, we have to make sure that new volunteers are who they claim to be. The most dependable method of verification to meet a Debian developer in person and have him or her confirm your identify and sign your GPG key. If you are not very familiar with GnuPG, please read http://www.dewinter.com/gnupg_howto/ http://www.herrons.com/kb2nsx/keysign.html to learn more about the web of trust and key signing. Please send me the key ID of your GPG public key so I can fetch it from a key server. If your GPG key has been signed by a Debian developer, the ID check is complete; otherwise, we will have to discuss alternative ways to verify your identity. Although it is sufficient that you have just one signature from an existing Debian developer, it is strongly advised to get multiple signatures on your key so that your key becomes "strongly connected." You may check the status of your key at: http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/henkp/henkp/pgp/pathfinder/ by entering your key ID in the statistic box. If it complains it can't find your key, and you are sure you have entered the correct key ID, it means that you are not in the strong set of keys. Please tell me your preferred account name for the Debian machines and the email address to which mail should be forwarded. Please make sure that the account name is still free at: http://db.debian.org/ Finally, please tell me about yourself, how you came to GNU/Linux and free software, and why you want to volunteer your time. Please describe the contributions you have made to Debian, your primary areas of interest within Debian, and any goals you plan to accomplish. After I have verified your identity and motives, we will move on to the "Philosophy and Procedures (P&P)" check in which I will email more questions for you to answer. If you need more than 2 weeks for an answer of a mail, please inform me of the delay. It is important to remain responsive throughout the NM process; otherwise, your application could be delayed significantly. IMPORTANT: Please sign every mail you send to me with your GPG key. You must sign the mail in which you agree to the Social Contract or I cannot accept it, and I prefer that you sign every mail for the application process. Sincerely, Brian Nelson ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here is some additional information that you will find helpful for the NM application process: A word on mailing lists: there are quite a lot of Debian mailing lists now and packaging-related packages, and I'd just like to check with you whether you know about the key ones. debian-announce: Major public announcements debian-devel-announce: Major announcements to the developer community These two lists are must-subscribes. Everything else is optional. I abbreviate 'debian-' to '-' from now on! -security-announce: security updates to stable -private: you'll be subscribed automatically when your new-maintainer application is accepted; sensitive discussions, flame wars etc. You can unsubscribe if you wish. -devel: general mailing list for developer issues -policy: where possible changes to debian-policy are discussed -mentors: helping newbie Developers. There are many others; check the mailing list page on the web site for details. Now lets take a look at some important packages for a (upcoming) Debian Developer. There are many of them, I will try to list the more important ones. build-essential A package that depends on all the packages in the build essential list. It's useful to make sure everything in the list is installed on the system when building and testing your own packages. dpkg-dev All of the primary tools needed to put a Debian package together: dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-source, etc. debhelper A very useful set of scripts designed to make debian/rules files more readable and uniform. But you should be able to build a package without it. debian-policy Describes the policy relating to packages and details of the packaging mechanism. Covers everything from required gcc options to the way the maintainer scripts (postinst etc.) work, package sections and priorities, etc. An absolute must-read. Also useful is the file /usr/share/doc/debian-policy/upgrading-checklist.txt.gz, which lists changes between versions of policy. You must read and understand it. doc-debian Lots of useful Debian-specific documentation: the constitution and DFSG, explanation of the Bug Tracking System (BTS), etc. maint-guide The New Maintainer's Guide to making Debian packages. devscripts Lots of useful (and not-so-useful) scripts to help build packages. developers-reference Lots of information on procedures and suchlike. dupload or dput Automatically upload packages to the archive once they are built. fakeroot Build packages without having to be root. reportbug Tool to report bugs. debootstrap Allows you to "install" Debian's base on a given directory anywhere on the filesystem. Combined with a chroot and build-essential, this makes for a nice way to have a clean environment where you can build your packages. pbuilder Gives you an easy way to use debootstrap to test your packages in a sane environment sbuild Tool to build your packages in a chroot (useful for verifying build-deps) lintian linda Two packages to check your package for commonly made errors. You should never upload a package which is not checked by one of these tools. Finally talk about some important websites: http://www.debian.org/devel/ The Developer's Corner. Contains links and on-line versions of the stuff I mentioned before. http://db.debian.org/ Queries about developers and machines http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/ The Work Needing and Prospective Packages list. Sort of a big TODO list for Debian packaging stuff: what's orphaned, what needs new maintainers, what's being adopted, what's being packaged and what would be nice to have packaged. http://qa.debian.org/ The Debian Quality Assurance headquarters. Help is appreciated! http://bugs.debian.org/ Bug related info http://www.debian.org/security/ Security related info. Please, read the FAQ, as it will save you (and others) a lot of headaches http://packages.debian.org/ Package related info http://buildd.debian.org/ Build status of Debian packages http://lists.debian.org/ Mailing list subscription and archives http://qa.debian.org/developer.php An interesting place to keep track of your packages. http://lintian.debian.org/ Automated lintian tests on all packages in the Debian Archive. http://www.netfort.gr.jp/~dancer/column/libpkg-guide/ Debian Library Packaging guide http://packages.qa.debian.org/ The Package Tracking System http://people.debian.org/~walters/descriptions.html A small Guide "Writing Debian package descriptions"
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