Andrey Rakhmatullin <w...@debian.org> writes: > On Thu, Jun 05, 2025 at 09:48:47PM +0100, Richard Lewis wrote: >>>>> Consider this random new contributor's experience: >>>>> >>>>> 1. Go to https://www.debian.org/, click on "Get Involved, Contribute" >>>>> 2. Read https://www.debian.org/devel/join/, points you to "WNPP" >>>> >>>>> >>>>> Of course, this is my opinion, but it's debian's primary journey from >>>>> the homepage. >>>> >>>>agree, it's pretty bad journey. Steps 1 and 2 should point to a wiki >>>>page, the package tracker and/or the bts as ways to contribute for >>>>newcomers. >>> >>> What wiki page? >> >>https://wiki.debian.org/HelpDebian is the closest i have found so >>far. it is lacking in specific suggestions, but seems to tick some of >>the right boxes, what do you think? > > Is it really better than https://www.debian.org/intro/help which I > usually use and which it already links to?
no i think https://www.debian.org/intro/help is even better than the wiki page. but that is not listed on https://www.debian.org/devel/join/ i dont think either are particularly clear for newcomers. i really struggle to understand how i can help from either to be honest. but both are better than directing people to a WNPP which is where we started. >>> The package tracker and/or the bts for which package? >> >>for any package that the newcomer is interested in helping > > This suggestion makes no sense to me. my "suggestion", if you can call it that, is that historitically debian has tried to direct people to "package something new", but this doesnt seem to work very well any more - most things are already packages or are not suitable. I think a better way for newcomers who want to do "development" to get involved in debian is to pick an existing package (or team?) that they use and help make it better. The package tracker and in the bts which have a large number of "things that could be better" that no-one has fixed but someone thought should be. By helping fix these issues it's quite easy to get drawn into debian, and you can learn as you go. And - i would suggest - this actually helps debian more than yet another package. Obviously this still depends on existing maintainers accepting contributions, but i tihnk it's a better experience to discuss how to fix a bug than to try and learn an esoteric packaging workflow.
