The information on this page, while public, will primarily be of interest to future Debian Developers.
Step 4: Tasks and Skills
Most of the current members of the Debian Project maintain one or more packages for the distribution. However there are many other jobs that need to be done that do not involve package management.
The Application Manager will work out with the Applicant which tasks the Applicant volunteers to perform. After that, the Applicant will need to demonstrate their skills in this area.
The following tasks are obvious examples of the various jobs available to the Applicant, but they don't necessarily include everything an Applicant may find interesting and productive for the group. Additional tasks may be defined by the AM and the Applicant.
Some example tasks are:
Package Management
By maintaining a package, a prospective Developer can show their understanding of the Debian Policy and how they work with Debian users and bug submitters.Documentation
The Applicant can demonstrate their skills in this area by writing man pages for executables that don't have one, by updating an outdated document and by creating new documentation that is required by users, but still missing from the distribution.Debugging, Testing and Patching
The Applicant can show skills in this area either by working on fixing bugs with the QA team, or by testing installation process or individual packages working with the testing team. The Applicant can fix bugs in existing Debian packages or file bug reports in the Debian BTS describing problems and enclosing patches.
Alternative demonstration tasks can be worked out between the Applicant and the Application Manager. Such alternative tasks need to be coordinated with the Front Desk and the Debian Account Manager.
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