Date: Tue, 29 Aug 1995 22:44:50 -0500 From: Jon Loeliger <jdl@chrome.onramp.net> To: Computer Annex <annex2@viking.emcmt.edu> Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD Developement Message-ID: <199508300344.WAA07462@chrome.onramp.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 29 Aug 1995 20:41:51 MDT." <Pine.ULT.3.91.950829203822.11264A-100000@viking.emcmt.edu>
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Apparently, Computer Annex scribbled: > There are a group of students at Montana State University Billings that > are interested in joining the team for developement of the FreeBSD > system. Jordan -- maybe we need to *underline* that part, you know, the one that says "If you post mail to hackers you automatically sign up." :-) > Although we are not Unix gurus I feel that our group could > contribute to the developement of FreeBSD. Any info and guidance would > be greatly appreciated. Hmmm... I'll take a stab at Round 0 here.... First things first. Absorb the entire contents of the basics as found on http://www.freebsd.org/. I'd assume you've at least gotten that far as you've mailed to hackers. :-) Absorb the FAQs and the Handbook. Convince yourself you're serious by investing in PC hardware (!) and installing FreeBSD. That's what I did. This step alone is quite enlightening in many ways and can often point out, er, opportunities for contributions. If you haven't done this step yet, take careful note of the deficiencies in the documentation as you proceed and need answers. (There's been some effort to clean up some of the docs and having a fresh insight towards the "problem" areas might be useful.) Try and determine what areas you are interested in. Try and determine an area that needs improvement. Hopefully the intersection of these two sets is non-empty. :-) Become an expert on this area. Jump right in and help! Me? I've got a useless IDE CDROM for which a driver *just* became available. I'd like to believe I'm helping to shake it down and make it more solid. (OK, so I'd like to get the drive recognized first too. :-) You probably know all these already, but I'm not afraid to offer some obvious high level hints anyways: - send questions to the questions list - send technical mumbo-jumbo to the hackers list - pick one list; no need to spam 'em all - help will be freely given, appreciate it when it is given and due - do all the courtesy of at least attempting to RTFM first - if questions are asked, an answer is NOT guaranteed as this is strictly a voluntary proposition - the mail load for freebsd lists can be high - contribute as you're willing and able - usually when asking a question, provide as much concise detail as you can; people here have a, er, nasty habit of pressing for detail - don't ever say the L word :-) If you can be any more specific about your interests, desires or expectations, I'm sure we can be even more helpful here... (See!) Are we starting this whole FreeBSD thing cold? Have you done the install excercise yet? Given that you're self-described non-UNIX-gurus (NUGs?), you might read an off the shelf BSD-flavor UNIX book or two. There are a few references mentioned in the FAQ/Handbook. Oh, and, this should be moved to the "questions" list, not hackers... :-) jdl
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