On Monday, April 19, "Adam M. Dutko" wrote: > > 1) Are there areas that are easier for "relative newbies" to start in versus > other areas? I know this depends on a lot of things, to include experience. > Hypothetically, someone that has some C experience, but not a lot of kernel > (and subsystem) experience. Is it better to start from the bottom up like > bootstrap to init? or is it better to start with memory management? network > drivers? What is usually the best area from a learning and future utility > perspective?
Many a kernel hacker was suckered into the fold by writing a network driver. In general, drivers are fairly "easy", in that there are lots to copy from, and they tend to be fairly self-contained. > 2) Is there something like an "openbsd janitors" project where newbies can > start contributing small patches? similar to the Linux janitors project? Well, there is the bug database. In general, people pick what they don't like, or otherwise causes them to itch in uncomfortable places, and they then scratch that itch until... well, you know, they're satisfied. :) Seriously, pick something, and start in. If it's too much, move to another area. Don't get discouraged, just keep trying. --Toby.
