Developers spread thin...

[mdevour]

Interesting thread on debian developer list:

http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/20 ... 00643.html

Totally apart from the pros and cons of the proposal by the original poster, the glimpse into the state of the developer teams for some major packages is revealing.

Boy, if I were some kind of billionaire and wanted to help the project, maybe I could hire a few dozen programmers to dive in and help... Or has that already been tried?

Also worth noting, in the very last handful of posts (in thread view) a potentially useful idea emerges. So the thread may have a payoff.

Mike D.

[shoof]

The big issue here seems to be manpower, I think they still need to take a good look at the new maintainer process and revamp it, make it a little more friendly, maybe also some pages detailing how people can help with bug hunting and maintaining packages, sort of an apprenticeship to becoming a DD.

[benuski]

I agree. I would love to do as much as possible to help Debian out, but I don't really know how to code(yet), so there is no way I could be a package maintainer.

Thats one thing I think Debian could take from Ubuntu, is that they have gotten people to get really excited about helping with bug tracking, or editing the wikis, or posting help to the forums, or doing lots of other things. Then people can become a "Master of the Universe", which, as far as I can tell, just involves packing up programs into a .deb. Now, that last part can't really happen in Debian, because every package is tested a lot more than Ubuntu's, but its something to keep in mind.

[Lavene]

HERE is a great howto on bug triage that was posted to the Debian Women mail list a while back. It's fun and rewarding and really takes no special skills, just some dedication.
Make sure to read the instructions and howtos for the BTS

Enjoy

Tina