In <[🔎] BAY108-W49459870F714888691BF25E67C0@phx.gbl>, Roger Preston wrote: >I am keen to work for/with a Linux development group, though am not sure > where to start. Are you running Debian on one or more systems? If so, you might want to install the "devscripts" package and then run wnpp-alert and rc-alert. "wnpp" is Debian shorthand for "Work Needed and Prospective Packages". wnpp-alert will give you a list of packages your have on your system that have open bugs indicating the maintainer needs some help. "rc" is Debian shorthand for "Release-Critical". rc-alert will give you a list of package you have on your system that have open bugs of high severity--enough to warrant a fix on the released versions, or to hold up the release of a new version of Debian. All the bugs are visible on the web interface to the Debian BTS (Bug Tracking System). http://www.debian.org/Bugs is the "front page" to that interface. Bugs are updated via email and can also be queried though email. >I would describe myself as a competent C++ programmer, though perhaps not > quite at your levels yet. Qt and KDE are a couple of the high-profile packages that are written in C++, and I know that team needs more help. You might be able to contact Debian Qt/KDE Maintainers <debian-qt-kde@lists.debian.org> and get some tasks. In addition, packages implemented in C++ should have the "implemented- in::c++" debtag applied to them. http://debtags.alioth.debian.org is the starting place for all things related to debtags. http://debtags.alioth.debian.org/cloud/ could be useful to find packages you might need or want to use or help maintain. It tells me there are 7483 packages that are "implemented-in::c++" currently, so your coding skills should not be wasted. :) Modern versions of aptitude can also use the debtags information to perform searches using the '~G<tag>' or '?tag(<tag>)' atom. For example, doing "aptitude search '~i~Gimplemented-in::c\+\+'" should give you a list of packages you have installed that your development skills apply to. (The backslashes are required to prevent "+" from being treated as regular expression special character.) NB: Debtags is still a work in progress, so the information may not be complete and accurate as you like. You can help there, too. A lot of the tasks don't need a lot of development experience, just a bit of time and initiative. Also, it is unlikely that you'll be "assigned" a single task by anyone. Instead, like I did, they will point you are resources where you can find work, and you have to provide direction and initiative. There's also a LOT of documentation to read;[1] asking questions that the documentation answers wastes others' time.[2] The workflow is generally: 1. Pick any task 2. Conference with others that are involved in that task (generally via email) 3. Do as much work as you can on it, hopefully driving toward a resolution. 4. Update others involved in the task (again, generally via email). 5. Take a break, if you want it. [Don't underestimate the importance of this step.] 6. Goto 1. You can be as single-task focused or not as you want. Keep in mind that you will sometimes get criticized or even admonished, but these comments are meant to be constructive. Do not take them as personal attacks but rather recommendations from peers about how to maximize your contribution. That's just how you can help Debian in specific. Most packages also have an "upstream" which might be able to use an additional developer, too. -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. bss@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/ \_/ [1] There's more needed though. Providing a one-page summary of a 5-10 page document might encourage more people to read the documentation, which is always a good thing. Organizing the documentation to is it easier to find serves the same purpose. Adding more details and writing new documentation can be helpful, but make sure it is something that can satisfy an existing need rather than something that might reduce the signal-to-noise ratio further. [2] Yes, you are donating your time, but especially in Debian, the others you interact with are, too.
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