martin f krafft wrote:
also sprach Martin Schulze <joey@infodrom.org> [2005.03.11.1715 +0100]:As you weren't able to provide a single problem (but only listed a non-problem), I consider you're just a firefeeder.This is part of the problem: you (as well as some others) are in a situation in which you fail to understand how others in the project feel. You know a lot about the project, so it's all obvious
> to you. There are people among us who have not been part of Debian > since 1.1, but who would like to know more about what's happening > behind the curtains. However, those people are often told to RTFM or > go spend time in the code, or just not taken seriously.Well, once upon a time we were in the exact situation you're in; wanting to contribute, not knowing anything about the code. The way we approached it is expressed in the acronyms RTFM, and UTSL. When we tell you to do the same, it's because that's what worked for us.
Seriously; I joined in '98 -- Joey was my "DAM" at the time, and compared to him, I'm a newbie too.
But in any case, you really shouldn't be offended when people suggest you follow the same path they did.
What you fail to see is that there is something daunting about a project of this size and complexity to those who are trying to understand it top-down, rather than having been part of building it bottom-up.
For comparison, the project was pretty big when I joined too; most of the infrastructure was likewise pretty much set in place. There's really no need to be daunted: 1's and 0's don't actually bite back.
ObDPLCampaign: I do think it'd be good to be able to attract people to the project who aren't good at just diving into source files and hacking away; and I think mentoring's the way to go here.
Cheers, aj