Re: [gentoo-dev] Becoming a Gentoo developer?

[Patrice Clement]

If, by any chance, you happen to like Java, we're looking for fresh blood.

We're kinda short of manpower in the team at the moment: with over 1000 bugs
assigned to java@g.o, any form of help is welcome. Further, you'll get to work
on maintaining some of Chewi's ebuilds, some of which encompass Minecraft. 

(you might wonder: who's interested in playing Minecraft on Gentoo? I asked
myself the same question till I bumped into Chewi..)

Patrice

Monday 13 Apr 2015 14:20:56, Patrice Clement wrote :
> Monday 13 Apr 2015 03:27:19, Daniel Campbell wrote :
> > On 04/12/2015 05:17 AM, Yanestra wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I am long time user of Gentoo and I tinker with the idea of becoming
> > > Gentoo developer.
> > >
> > > I am a software developer by profession, but I am not quite sure if I
> > > should involve with Gentoo ebuild development.
> > >
> > > To be honest, I have not the slightest imagination what becoming a
> > > Gentoo developer might mean. Things seem to be abhorringly complicated.
> > >
> > > As far as I understand, there are developers, proxy developers, then
> > > there is something like Project Sunrise which I don't understand.
> > >
> > > There are apparently several different portage source repositories,
> > > basing on different software, and furthermore, there is layman. As far
> > > as I remember, portage is stored in cvs, where there is also git, and
> > > somewhere subversion seems to linger.
> > >
> > > And there is lots of documentation that appears to be outdated or
> > > strangely unattached to questions concerning organisation and overall
> > > structure.
> > >
> > > Can someone please tell me where to start becoming a developer? Do there
> > > exist something like quality guidelines for ebuilds?
> > >
> > > Why is there such a chaos?
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> >
> > As someone who is undergoing their IRC interview soon, I think I can
> > answer some of these questions:
> >
> > * There are developers, proxy-maintainers, and the Sunrise project.
> > Developers have access to the main Gentoo repository of ebuilds and do
> > their best to maintain a quality tree. Proxy-maintainers are regular
> > Gentoo users who "adopt" packages and pledge to help Gentoo developers
> > in maintaining them until either they become a developer themselves or
> > until another developer adopts the package officially. The Sunrise
> > project is a separate tree where developers and users collaborate in
> > getting new or specialized packages into a semi-official repository.
> > Developers assist users in getting ebuilds up to snuff and help them
> > build practical skills in contributing to Gentoo in a more structured
> > manner.
> >
> > * Documentation, like the rest of Gentoo, is powered by volunteers. If
> > you find any missing, erroneous, or outdated information, please file a
> > bug or, if you have permissions on the Wiki, edit it yourself!
> >
> > * The general structure of Gentoo as an organization is somewhat simple.
> > The Council makes all the big and important decisions, while developers
> > have their own "herds" for specific goals (say, the perl, lisp, java,
> > and games herds), which also correspond to projects with the same goals.
> > The Foundation exists to give Gentoo adequate monetary and legal support
> > in carrying out its goals as a distribution. Everything else is pretty
> > much just a bunch of developers working together.
> >
> > * Gentoo's official tree is in CVS for now, but there is a git migration
> > planned. I don't know the timing or exact plans for the immediate
> > future, but my guess is things will be switching to git over the long
> > term once logistic problems are solved. SVN repositories are available
> > over layman only, as far as I'm aware.
> >
> > * Layman itself is a way to activate other repositories. That method is
> > partially deprecated in favor of /etc/repos.conf/ files, which allow for
> > greater, clearer control over repositories. Current releases of layman
> > will interface with the new way of managing, and there are tools in
> > place to make migration (mostly) painless.
> >
> > * The way to begin your journey to become a developer lies mostly in
> > just helping out Gentoo, studying the Devmanual [0], and contacting
> > recruiters to see if there is a mentor available for you.
> >
> > If you're interested in becoming an ebuild developer, you should try out
> > the ebuild quiz [1]. For the most part it just takes a cautious and
> > attentive eye, some adequate knowledge of bash, and familiarity with
> > common building and admin tools. Since you're a developer by trade, I'm
> > sure it wouldn't be a big problem for you to reach developer status. It
> > takes time and effort, but in my personal opinion it's been worth every
> > moment.
> >
> > I hope this helps!
> >
> > ~Daniel
> >
> > [0] https://devmanual.gentoo.org
> > [1] https://wwwold.gentoo.org/proj/en/devrel/quiz/ebuild-quiz.txt
> >
> Hi Yanestra
>
> Daniel summed it up pretty well: becoming a dev is a long and lengthy process
> but worth it in the end cause you'll get to meet smart and passionate folks
> along the path.
>
> However, I'd like to point out yet another URL nobody has mentioned so far:
> bugzilla [2] aka the Gentoo bug tracking system. There are always tons of bugs
> waiting to get picked up. You're a software developer by profession so I would
> advise you to look for bugs that lie in your field of interest. Gentoo isn't
> one "big" aggregate of developers. We're broken down into small teams of people
> working on a specific topic. You can check out the list of "Projects" here [3].
> For instance do you like Perl? Help out the Perl team package Perl packages. Or
> maybe you're a Pythonista? Give the Python team a hand. And so on and so forth.
>
> Pick something you like and get involved. :)
>
> Patrice
>
> [2] https://bugs.gentoo.org/
> [3] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Gentoo
>
>