[gentoo-java] Re: Gentoo/Java staffing needs

[Ted Kosan]

Joshua wrote:

> As has been the case for some time, the Java team is still atrociously
> understaffed. Below, I'll outline a few 'positions' I'd like see filled.
> I'm using the term really loosely, and mean it more as in the sense of
> 'these are things I'd like people to be working on'. If current devs are
> interested, that'd be great, but we're also willing to mentor some fresh
> blood.

Two of the difficulties that seem to be contributing to the Java team's
understaffing problem are:

1) A significant number of Java developers do not know very much about Linux
and of those who do, not many of them are familiar with Gentoo.

2) Of those Java developers who are aware of Gentoo and its solid support for
Java, many of them do not have enough Linux skills to successfully install it.


After thinking about the understaffing problem for a few months, I have come up
with an idea that may help solve these difficulties.

I am one of the community leaders on Sun's java.net site ( http://java.net )
and I have put together a "Java Distribution" LiveCD ( called JDOS,
https://jdos.dev.java.net ) which is based on Gentoo.  JDOS is ready for its
initial release and the last thing I am waiting on is for Sun's new
Linux-friendly JDK files to be added to the portage tree.

One advantage that the java.net site has is that thousands of Java developers
visit it each day to read blogs, articles and other news items.

As soon as it is released, my plan is to write some articles and blog entries
on JDOS ( and its Gentoo foundation ) for publication on java.net's front page.
 My hope is that a number of Java developers will find the CD to be useful and
then be interested in having their own Java software, or the latest version of
their favorite Java applications, included on the LiveCD.  

Since this will require that the software be placed in the portage tree, I am
hoping that some of these developers can be convinced to join the Gentoo Java
team and learn how to create and maintain packages.



>* Java generalists
>
>We have tons of Java packages. It was around 400 or so last time I
>checked. As one can imagine, this kind of number
>generates a pretty constant stream of bugs and version bump requests.
>
>So, basically I'm looking for some people to help out with
>general maintence of our packages.

I will volunteer to be part of this group.  I would have done this a number of
months ago but I had my hands full learning python so that I could figure out
how to use Catalyst properly :-)

Thanks,

Ted Kosan
tkosan@××××××××.net
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