From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from lists.gentoo.org ([140.105.134.102] helo=robin.gentoo.org) by nuthatch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.62) (envelope-from ) id 1H11Ar-0004MX-Mz for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:56:30 +0000 Received: from robin.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.13.8/8.13.8) with SMTP id kBVDtdG3023009; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:55:39 GMT Received: from smtp.gentoo.org (smtp.gentoo.org [140.211.166.183]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id kBVDrbaG031339 for ; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:53:37 GMT Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smtp.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 30919646E7 for ; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:53:37 +0000 (UTC) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at gentoo.org X-Spam-Score: -2.599 X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.599 required=5.5 tests=[AWL=0.000, BAYES_00=-2.599] Received: from smtp.gentoo.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.gentoo.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id JjmyMRl7uKRm for ; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:53:29 +0000 (UTC) Received: from ciao.gmane.org (main.gmane.org [80.91.229.2]) (using TLSv1 with cipher AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0663F64790 for ; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:53:28 +0000 (UTC) Received: from list by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1H117p-0003lp-Dk for gentoo-dev@gentoo.org; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 14:53:21 +0100 Received: from ip68-231-13-122.ph.ph.cox.net ([68.231.13.122]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 14:53:21 +0100 Received: from 1i5t5.duncan by ip68-231-13-122.ph.ph.cox.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sun, 31 Dec 2006 14:53:21 +0100 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org From: Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> Subject: [gentoo-dev] Re: OT - My introduction Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:53:12 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: References: <1167505335.16795.39.camel@camille.espersunited.com> Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: ip68-231-13-122.ph.ph.cox.net User-Agent: pan 0.120 (Plate of Shrimp) Sender: news X-Archives-Salt: fd686303-6544-447a-b672-de9d3c8ab694 X-Archives-Hash: d59f7be0392b154c9ac77166c685ad3a Michael Sullivan posted 1167505335.16795.39.camel@camille.espersunited.com, excerpted below, on Sat, 30 Dec 2006 13:02:15 -0600: > Now I do just about anything to avoid boredom. I'd like to help out; I > love working with code. I'm not sure how qualified I am to work on > large projects; I know the basics of C/C++ and Java, and I've worked a > little bit with perl and python. What would you suggest I use to > further educate myself to be of more use to the community? There are all sorts of projects out there. I'll briefly discuss both the Gentoo approach and something a bit more general. First the general. One of the best ways to find a small project to get involved with is to pick a distribution (of course, we're partial to Gentoo here, but it can be any of them), install it, and find a particular package you are interested in that seems to be pretty small. Most distributions list the package home page for all their packages, so after picking a few, have a look around their home pages and find a project that fits your skills and interests, sign up for their mailing lists, lurk a bit to get a feel for things or ask around, and go from there. If you are already interested in Gentoo as a distribution and would like to do more, the general suggestion is to start with the handbook and ebuild (5) manpage, and then as you work with Gentoo, find and file bugs, supplying patches with them if you can. As you advance, there's the developer's manual and the project pages for each project. You'll likely find some more interesting and matching your resources than others. If you want more to do, there's a whole bugzilla's load of bugs out there you can look at and see about patching as well. Notably, the first Saturday of every month is Bug Day, with a lot of folks both devs and users pitch in and try to fix as many bugs as possible. There's a preselected bug list, generally sorted on difficulty skillset needed, to make it easy. The question of how one becomes a Gentoo dev is usually answered: "By making yourself so helpful fixing bugs and the like that existing devs can't miss you, and decide you'd be an asset to their project." As wit other projects in the free and open source software community, many Gentoo projects have their own mailing list and/or IRC channel as well, and as you find what interests you, you can subscribe as desired. Even if you don't feel like you're up to C/C++, there are all sorts of needs both with Gentoo and with individual projects in general. Nearly all projects can use help with documentation and localization (language translation), and on their user mailing lists and/or forums. Gentoo is certainly no exception. If users can answer questions, that leaves the devs more time to code! =8^) All of these are free, learn as you go, for the most part. All the software you need and most of the documentation is free for the download! All you need is a computer to work with and an Internet connection... and the time and will to learn and to help others. =8^) -- 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 -- gentoo-dev@gentoo.org mailing list