From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1N1mZH-0000ol-D5 for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:46:27 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 821F5E095C; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:46:25 +0000 (UTC) Received: from Oberon.fixe-post.de (mail.fixe-post.de [195.244.253.185]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 06877E095C for ; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:46:25 +0000 (UTC) Received: from Venus.fixe-post.de (unknown [192.168.1.110]) by Oberon.fixe-post.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4F9CC3F401A for ; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:46:21 +0200 (CEST) Message-Id: <6A10EF10-DF2D-4985-A627-907F2711B9ED@fixe-post.de> From: Robert Welz To: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v936) Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: how to become a package maintainer Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:43:16 +0200 References: <761D5F7F-DA35-4788-B8ED-377AA30E3500@fixe-post.de> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.936) X-Archives-Salt: ec362b1a-67b4-4916-bd4a-38a522ee6cf8 X-Archives-Hash: a6302a52541e8866302a61d4fb867e02 Am 24.10.2009 um 14:44 schrieb Duncan: > Robert Welz posted on Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:42:48 +0200 as excerpted: > >> I am a gentoo user and software developer for a quite a little >> while. I >> found out that I have some spare time and I like to prepare myself to >> become a package maintainer. >> >> Are there any links that provide volunteers with the neccessary >> know how >> of how to maintain a project? I have some money to buy a dedicated >> machine, preferrably an AMD 64. Projects could be something in C++ >> combined with networking or PHP/Perl stuff. >> >> Just in case I decide not to volunteer for private reasons these >> papers >> may be beneficial for others, too. > > http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/devrel/handbook/handbook.xml > > That's the Gentoo developer handbook, which is a good place to get a > feel > for what's involved at that level. Note that there's both the formal > Gentoo dev political process documented and Gentoo technology > (ebuilds, > eclasses, metadata, common mistakes, etc) guides. > > Generally, the idea is to start on something small and work with the > current devs. Once they know you, the rest more or less comes > naturally > over time. Know that there are many who ultimately don't make / > that/ big > a commitment, but who have time to help with the smaller stuff > that's the > first steps toward full developership anyway. > > The bug-day Saturdays are a great way to get started. Or choose an > area > (Gentoo project) you're interested in, hang out here and/or on the IRC > dev channel and/or the the individual project lists and/or channels, > follow the bugs for that project, help comeup with and test patches, > etc. > > Many of the projects have testing overlays where stuff that's not > ready > for the main tree is worked on. Java has a big one, as does KDE, both > with a lot of help from non-(gentoo-)dev project testers, many of > which > have commit rights to they project overlays. There's also the > experimental projects, or projects that started that way, that are > headed > toward merging into the Gentoo mainstream now. Gentoo-prefix, > devoted to > making it possible to install Gentoo packages in a user's home dir > or the > like, on Linux or other platforms, is a big one that's headed toward > merge at this point. > > Another way to start if you have specific applications you are > interested > in is with proxy maintainership if a package is in the tree, or the > Sunrise overlay, for packages not yet in the tree. A proxy maintained > package has a non-(gentoo-)dev doing much or all of the real work, bug > fixing, etc, working closely with a full Gentoo dev (or project/herd > if > it's herd maintained) doing the final commits to the tree but often > little else, at least once the relationship has been established. The > Sunrise overlay is for packages not yet in the tree, but that have > various Gentoo community users maintaining them. There's a few Gentoo > devs that work with them, helping them get the packages into full > Gentoo > shape, so ultimately, if a dev finds the package useful, they can > bring > it into the main Gentoo tree where it may continue to be proxy > maintained > by the same community user. Of course, there's more packages than > devs > to maintain them, so not all packages ultimately make it into the > tree, > but Sunrise is there for them as long as there's someone in the > community > interested in doing the maintaining at that level. > > The various arch teams have arch-testers (ATs) as well. These guys > help > the devs on the arch teams test packages for keyword stabilization, > etc. > > Don't forget the Gentoo Documentation Documentation project as well. > They could certainly use some help from someone willing to learn the > way > Gentoo handles its docs and get their hands dirty helping to maintain > them. There's always documentation updates that could be done! =:^) > > Many, probably most Gentoo devs come in thru one of these paths, > starting > out working with a project in an overlay or with a proxy maintained or > sunrise package, or as an AT. Other quite active users at that > level are > content to stay active at that level without ever becoming full Gentoo > devs for whatever reason (time, politics, whatever). Either way, they > can rest well, knowing they're filling a vital role in the Gentoo > community, and thru it, the larger free/libre and open source software > community. > > -- > Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. > "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- > and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman Thank you very much for the explanation. It is a very very helpful introduction. I will start work now and when winter is over, lets see if I have found a project which fits to me and my work experience. At the moment I work for a Company in Mannheim which does a Linux and C ++ based server which is very intelligent and once configured quite slick. My own preferences, which started as a hobby during studies to become a Mathematc/Physics teacher is web server with a centralized email system but redundant accounting. LDAP was intergrated after a complete study, Postgres is my favourite database. I don't like MySQL (but I don't hate it). I am medium expert in WxWidgets, becourse I started writing C++ software after reading a lot about C++, STL. My favourite computersystems are my MacPro and my 2 Linux server, one hardend gentoo and one vhost. I think I get a little tux@home Mini ITX for development and I am looking forward too see you again here once I finished with my training. regards, Robert