Want to report on findings since I last emailed: (1) IRC debian-mentors is NOT for mentees to ask question, and is invite-only (2) WHEREAS the mailing list debian-mentors (of the same name, ;p) is open and explicitly described as a place for mentees to seek help. I have just subscribed. (3) https://wiki.debian.org/DebianMentorsFaq has information for BOTH mentors and mentees (with a section "for sponsors", as well as FAQ entries on "where to FIND a sponsor").
Unless I have missed some other documents (debian has plenty), I do think the community can use one single document that makes new comers onboarding a bit easier. I offer my time to help, if someone can use me, point me in the right directions, and give me a slap on my hand when I need it. Cheerio, Ken ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ On June 1, 2018 3:31 AM, Ken <k...@negative.plus> wrote: > > > Dear all, > > Sorry to butt in, but I am exactly a newcomer who has been looking for a spot > to contribute. I have packaged RPMs for university projects and used cvs, > svn, git, etc in various projects, so I am not exactly totally clueless. But > I did have some learning curve for debian. I have been reading debian-devel > for a bit, watching WNPP, watching how-can-I-help on my system, and read the > QA page and BTS for things I am interested in. Oh of course, I worked a bit > following the new maintainer's guide, etc.. > > Bear with me as I haven't got to hanging out on the IRC channels and spoke > with mentors (which I feel is the better way), until this email thread > appeared. I got to say, I have not yet succeeded in making any contributions. > > Allow me to explain my own experience: > > (1) I want to find a spot I will be engaged in for a longer period of time. > This will of course depend on my own interests, things that will overlap with > my own paid work as a system administrator. So possibly debian security > tracker, ntp, apt*, etc.. Or starting with smaller packages such as ed. > > (2) I did not want to touch packaging "ed" YET because there is no urgency > and it has just one lintian warning due to a new debian policy, and did not > want to butt in before I learnt the ropes of debian packaging. > > (3) So I next tried to look for things where a package needs a patch; then I > can work it out and if a sponsor finds the patch satisfactory, it will be > more worth his time to walk me through the processes (or he can simply accept > my patch for merging without teaching me to run deb packaging), so > 'how-can-i-help --old' yields a lot of interesting stuff, but reading the > actual BTS log reveals quite a number that has an adverse comment or question > that has been left unanswered and dangling for YEARS. > > one example - security-tracker - https://bugs.debian.org/818250 - > security-tracker: use bug report based URLs in preference to TEMP-- based URLs > > https://bugs.debian.org/818250 was last commented on in 2016, with these > comments > > """ > > > Thus I'm not convinced the issue is as trivial as you believe > > > and I'm not sure that the newcomer tag makes much sense. > > > It doesn't resolve the issue of not being able to reference TEMP-- > > from DSA or DLA either. So I think a temporary solution if anything, not > > a long term solution. > > """ > > So as a newbie, by definition I don't expect to know better than a veteran > debian developer who says "not sure that the newcomer tag makes much sense", > and another who says the suggested change "doesn't resolve the issue". > > So I decided a newbie likes me need to lurk in the dark and do more listening > to what is going on. > > (4) Then I decided, working on www is even less mission critical than > changing code, right? Then I found this on "how-can-I-help --old" > > https://bugs.debian.org/766923 - www.debian.org: Who's using Debian page - > 2014 update > > It has one comment and ends thus - "We have authored a set of procedures and > a template for email outreach. Comments, suggestions, and interested parties > are welcome." > > Silly me, I cannot find the "set of procedures for email outreach" posted on > the bug. And there has been no activity on this bug since 2014. > > (5) Tut tut tut, please understand I am not trying to stub on toes here. We > all work on higher priority stuff first, and only things that don't matter > that much are assigned "newcomer" tags. So I am perfectly okay these low > hanging fruits are still left hanging. And I actually expect this condition > to persist. > > If you ask me what I feel about all this? I think I feel fine except > logically my next step should be to hang out on IRC (I believe there is a > place where mentors do their mentoring). I just haven't yet found the time to > do the lurking and starting a conversation. > > Hope the above gives you the perspective of ONE and ONLY ONE potential new > comer. > > Cheerio, > > Ken > > ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ > > On May 31, 2018 9:21 PM, Chris Lamb la...@debian.org wrote: > > > Chris Lamb wrote: > > > > > > So I wonder if we couldn't do something similar in Debian: a > > > > > > > > low-hanging-fruit usertag (of course, another name is fine to me...) > > > > > > Good idea. How about the pre-existing "newcomer" tag: > > > > > > https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Developer#tags > > > > My reply was far too abrupt; sorry about that. I fully endorse this > > > > idea. :) > > > > I think what's missing to make this a reality is some sort of > > > > newcomer-friendly aggregated view of such issues and — naturally — for > > > > them to be kept up-to-date with enough details needed to implement > > > > them. > > > > Hm, there was an initiative a few years ago ("Gnome Love" IIRC?) - was > > > > anyone part of that? It would be interesting to discover what they > > > > learnt from it. > > > > Best wishes, > > > > ,''`. > > : :' : Chris Lamb > > `. `'` la...@debian.org / chris-lamb.co.uk > > `- > >
