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 1N1fzI-0005d9-7G for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:44:52 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 910EEE089F; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:44:50 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smtp.gentoo.org (smtp.gentoo.org [140.211.166.183]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 490E0E089F for ; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:44:50 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by smtp.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ED74166E8B for ; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:44:49 +0000 (UTC) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at gentoo.org X-Spam-Score: -2.549 X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.549 required=5.5 tests=[AWL=0.050, 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 pQP2HpliVDTW for ; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:44:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: from lo.gmane.org (lo.gmane.org [80.91.229.12]) (using TLSv1 with cipher AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AF7BF66E9E for ; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:44:41 +0000 (UTC) Received: from list by lo.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.50) id 1N1fz3-0002do-5P for gentoo-dev@gentoo.org; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:44:37 +0200 Received: from ip68-231-21-207.ph.ph.cox.net ([68.231.21.207]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:44:37 +0200 Received: from 1i5t5.duncan by ip68-231-21-207.ph.ph.cox.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:44:37 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org From: Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> Subject: [gentoo-dev] Re: how to become a package maintainer Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:44:13 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: References: <761D5F7F-DA35-4788-B8ED-377AA30E3500@fixe-post.de> 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 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: ip68-231-21-207.ph.ph.cox.net User-Agent: Pan/0.133 (House of Butterflies) Sender: news Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: 36692672-d897-43cf-a5dd-de2fb5ab80a6 X-Archives-Hash: deac22e4da9f42afaf28521f8b2313be 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. >=20 > Are there any links that provide volunteers with the neccessary know ho= w > 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. >=20 > 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= =20 for what's involved at that level. Note that there's both the formal=20 Gentoo dev political process documented and Gentoo technology (ebuilds,=20 eclasses, metadata, common mistakes, etc) guides. Generally, the idea is to start on something small and work with the=20 current devs. Once they know you, the rest more or less comes naturally=20 over time. Know that there are many who ultimately don't make /that/ big= =20 a commitment, but who have time to help with the smaller stuff that's the= =20 first steps toward full developership anyway. The bug-day Saturdays are a great way to get started. Or choose an area=20 (Gentoo project) you're interested in, hang out here and/or on the IRC=20 dev channel and/or the the individual project lists and/or channels,=20 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=20 for the main tree is worked on. Java has a big one, as does KDE, both=20 with a lot of help from non-(gentoo-)dev project testers, many of which=20 have commit rights to they project overlays. There's also the=20 experimental projects, or projects that started that way, that are headed= =20 toward merging into the Gentoo mainstream now. Gentoo-prefix, devoted to= =20 making it possible to install Gentoo packages in a user's home dir or the= =20 like, on Linux or other platforms, is a big one that's headed toward=20 merge at this point. Another way to start if you have specific applications you are interested= =20 in is with proxy maintainership if a package is in the tree, or the=20 Sunrise overlay, for packages not yet in the tree. A proxy maintained=20 package has a non-(gentoo-)dev doing much or all of the real work, bug=20 fixing, etc, working closely with a full Gentoo dev (or project/herd if=20 it's herd maintained) doing the final commits to the tree but often=20 little else, at least once the relationship has been established. The=20 Sunrise overlay is for packages not yet in the tree, but that have=20 various Gentoo community users maintaining them. There's a few Gentoo=20 devs that work with them, helping them get the packages into full Gentoo=20 shape, so ultimately, if a dev finds the package useful, they can bring=20 it into the main Gentoo tree where it may continue to be proxy maintained= =20 by the same community user. Of course, there's more packages than devs=20 to maintain them, so not all packages ultimately make it into the tree,=20 but Sunrise is there for them as long as there's someone in the community= =20 interested in doing the maintaining at that level. The various arch teams have arch-testers (ATs) as well. These guys help=20 the devs on the arch teams test packages for keyword stabilization, etc. Don't forget the Gentoo Documentation Documentation project as well. =20 They could certainly use some help from someone willing to learn the way=20 Gentoo handles its docs and get their hands dirty helping to maintain=20 them. There's always documentation updates that could be done! =3D:^) Many, probably most Gentoo devs come in thru one of these paths, starting= =20 out working with a project in an overlay or with a proxy maintained or=20 sunrise package, or as an AT. Other quite active users at that level are= =20 content to stay active at that level without ever becoming full Gentoo=20 devs for whatever reason (time, politics, whatever). Either way, they=20 can rest well, knowing they're filling a vital role in the Gentoo=20 community, and thru it, the larger free/libre and open source software=20 community. --=20 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