On 24 October 2010 17:43, Dale Huckeby <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, 24 Oct 2010, Michael Scherer wrote: > >> But I think that if people knew that there is collaboration between >> employee and non-employee, they would have feel more welcome. And from >> what I read, you didn't know, so you were cautious, which seemed >> natural. That's our fault, and that's something we tried to fix with >> assembly ( without much sucess on the first try ), something I tried to >> fix by being present at every possible free software fair ( without much >> success too ) > > I know and suspect many others know that Mandriva is created/maintained > by employees plus volunteers. Not knowing that isn't what makes potential > volunteers hesitate (in my opinion). It's not a matter of feeling > UNwelcome. It's an ABSENSE of the existing team going out of their way > to invite in potential contributors, holding their hand, showing them > where to go, who to talk to, what process to follow, etc.
That's exactly what happened to me, how I became a packager, so maybe it's not all people on the inside not reaching out. > As you imply > above, it's lack of effective communication. Perhaps it's hard for > people on the "inside" to realize how lost potential contributors on the > "outside" feel unless there's a concerted effort to include them in and > guide them through the process. Maybe there should be a person dedicated > to bringing in and guiding new contributors, someone with really good > communication skills. Ideally it's a two way process, a user wanna contribute and a mentor doesn't mind to mentor/tutor him. It was Jerome Quelin who started the "So, you wanna be a packager?" thread on the cooker ML, that's what encouraged me, and other new contributors, to come forward. So yeah, such "campaigns" are needed. > Also, is there a list anywhere of packages that > need a maintainer, so new contributors would have a better idea of where > help is needed? > > Dale Huckeby > There is: http://maintainers.mandriva.com/listpkgs.php?owner=1 and of course, there'll be a packages/maintainers database in Mageia too. (Note that not every package in that list is current, i.e. it could be a dead package (upstream stopped developing it.. etc); also there're packages that have nomaintainer but get updated regularly). -- Ahmad Samir
