Participating in the open source community: Giving back

Ok. So you are using open source software, and you find it very useful. Perhaps you are starting to experience desires to give back to the community that provided you with this great software. If that is true, then I commend you on your giving spirit.

Here are five steps that you can follow to give back to the open source community. I have listed them in order of increasing commitment.

1. Use open source

It is not just the URL of this blog, it is what I recommend to everyone. Use it at home, and use it at work. Use it on your desktops, laptops, servers, hand-held devices, cell-phones, consumer devices, space ships, etc.

2. Share the love

Get other people excited about open source. Show them what it is all about, how they can benefit from it, and why it makes the world a better place. Show them how to get FREE Ubuntu disks shipped to them. We should encourage our governments to take advantage of the benefits of open source. Use your vote to support open source initiatives and projects.

3. Documentation and support

Create wiki pages to document how to install, configure, and use the various aspects of open source. Answer user questions on the Ubuntu forum, Ubuntu IRC channel, or Ubuntu mailing lists.

4. Simple development

Find and report bugs to Launchpad. Look at existing bugs, check for duplicate bug reports, verify that the bugs are repeatable, and then assign them a priority (also known as "bug triage").

5. Advanced development

Create Ubuntu/Debian packages of your favorite applications, fix bugs and submit patches to upstream developers. Join the Masters of the Universe.

Comments

  1. Anonymous9/12/2006 7:07 PM

    Nice article Tristan. I don't think many people have thought about those charity contributions.

    Hope to see ya at the next meet {hint hint}

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Using the Cisco console in Linux

Image
Introduction People who work with Cisco network equipment need to be able to connect to the console port on their devices. In Windows, you can simply fire up HyperTerminal to get basic access to your devices. If you are using Linux, then you need to know how this can be done with an application called Minicom . Hardware First, you are going to need a Cisco console cable , a Cisco device, and a computer. If your computer has a serial port , then you can use the standard console cable that comes with every Cisco device. If you do not have a serial port (like most new laptops), then you need to purchase a USB to Serial adapter that supports Linux. This device will allow you to use the standard Cisco cable, which has a serial port on one end. Install Minicom You can easily install Minicom by using "System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager". Search for "minicom" and choose to install the package. Click "Apply" and Minicom should be insta...
Read more

Linux NIC teaming recommendations

Image
Introduction In my job as a network engineer, I am constantly looking for ways to increase the availability of the network. This is especially true in the data center, where services are expected to always be available. One of the ways to increase the network availability of a server is by using multiple network interfaces. This technique has many different names, but I am just going to call it NIC teaming. Purpose of NIC Teaming NIC teaming increases network availability by removing single-points-of-failure (SPOF). These SPOFs are components that will cause a service outage if they become unavailable. If we consider a single network connection from your server to your switch, we can identify quite a few SPOFs: Server NIC failure Network cable failure (such as being cut or unplugged) Network switch failure (such as a planned firmware upgrade or unplanned outage) Methods of NIC Teaming The reason I am writing this blog is to help people understand the different options for NIC team...
Read more

What it takes to make Ubuntu ready for use

I recently installed Ubuntu 6.10 on a new PC at work. In this post I will document all the steps I had to perform to get it ready for everyday use. Each step is assigned a level of difficulty, which I define below: Very Easy Step can be completed without using the command prompt Intuitive to complete Easy Step can be completed without using the command prompt May require searching to find the right place to make the change Medium Requires a single command to be entered at the command prompt Requires searching internet resources to find the solution Hard Requires multiple commands to be entered at the command prompt Requires searching internet resources to find the solution Very Hard Requires multiple commands to be entered at the command prompt Requires searching internet resources to find the solution Requires the user to manually edit a configuration file These criteria are quite strict, because I believe that using an operating system should be intuitive, and not require any spec...
Read more