On 12/16/12 14:04, Markos Chandras wrote: > On 16 December 2012 16:57, Michael Orlitzky <mich...@orlitzky.com> wrote: >> Inspired by the number of packages being unmaintained -- why not use >> some of that bug bounty money to fix up the recruitment documentation > > Recruitment documentatiob? What does that mean? > >> People still think of Gentoo as a ricer distro that's broken all >> the time, when in reality, it's one of the most stable. > > Well that's not entirely true but that's a different issue >
The first part is definitely true. The stable part is also true in my experience, all things considered. For an example, take the last "what's your favorite distro" post on Reddit (not exactly a representative sample, I know): http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/14tpnt/of_all_the_distros_youve_ever_used_what_do_you/ Top rated comment: "Tie between Arch and Gentoo. These are my "messing around" distros. Fun to install and tweak on older machines, but I don't know enough about them to use them full time. Plus, Gentoo breaks. A lot. Arch breaks much more often than Debian for me but much less than Gentoo." Further down: "Gentoo is not stable. Stop saying that." My experience mirrors Michael Mol's. Perception is bad. Reality not so much. > Note quite. The activity of a distro is measure but the # of devs, > packages in tree, activity on bugzilla and mailing lists etc. The > design of a website does not > really say much. Many foss projects still have static html pages. This > does not mean they are dead. The actual activity, yes. The perceived activity... eh. And that's what gets you new users and developers. > Parts of this docs are outdated but this does not matter. Get > involved, fix bugs, help people and someone will ask you to join. Or > look for a mentor. If your recruitment process is "fix bugs for years and maybe someone will notice you, maybe not," then nobody is going to bother. There needs to be a clear, step-by-step process. This guy posted a graph the other day: http://hwoarang.silverarrow.org/wp-content/uploads/recruitment_stats.png People aren't bothering. It's not because of any fundamental problem -- it's because the process is obscure and potentially a waste of time. > >> >> 3. Get off CVS for Christ's sake. Nobody wants to work with that. I >> don't know how this fits into my bullet list, but it's important. >> > I believe this is Irrelevant > It's the least important of the three probably. The (lack of) recruitment process is the biggest problem. > > I don't like the attitude "pay in order to happen". This is a foss > project, so people are supposed to > see this as a hobby or a learning experience. It is not a job ;) > Things are supposed to happen because they are fun > You would be perfect for training new developers. Feel free to decline your salary =)
