EPEL'er Won't you be, won't you please, please won't you be, my sponsor

[Lee Mitchell]

Hello EPEL:

I would like to become a package maintainer, eventually an EPEL package
maintainer. But first I have to become a fedora package maintainer.

So, I would like to ask any good hearted soul within the EPEL package
maintainer group to be my sponsor.   Do you have time? Are you willing?

Since I eventually want to arrive as an EPEL package maintainer, I thought
maybe someone in EPEL would be more willing to "pull me in".  It seems many
packages languish un-reviewed for a long time.  I understand as part of my
"internship"  I may also need to informally review some of those
non-acted-upon requests for review to demonstrate my (still developing)
knowledge of the packaging standards and guidelines.

I'm looking for someone that is willing to pull me in under their wing for a
wee bit, and I would promise not to be very bothersome.

Here is what I have done:
- joined fedora (username: leemitchell )
- built my first package ( http://gretl.sourceforge.net , selected from the
fedora wish list),
- obtained needed licensee clarification from upstream

Next I need to
- finish my self review of my package, (and optionally check it twice)
- find out how to get some public space to post my package,
- file a request for review at bugzilla

In the mean time, I wanted to throw this request out there.  Will you be my
sponsor?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
    Lee Mitchell

BTW,  I selected gretl because it seems like something that will be very
useful.  I'm hoping a lady I work with will like it and find it useful after
I eventually get it into EPEL (but first fedora)

[Gianluca Sforna]

On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 12:11 AM, Lee Mitchell
 wrote:
> So, I would like to ask any good hearted soul within the EPEL package
> maintainer group to be my sponsor.   Do you have time? Are you willing?

My recommendation to quickly find a sponsor is to submit your first
package and immediately start reviewing other people packages (the
review queue in bugzilla[1] is long enough you will find something of
interest and/or appropriate difficulty level).

Once you have some reviews (at this point, not yet official) in your
belt, ask again for a sponsor, possibly in fedora-devel list where I
guess you will find more.

And when you get sponsored, you can also approve the pre-reviewed
packages so everyone benefits!

Good luck

G.

[1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageMaintainers/ReviewRequests

[Lee Mitchell]

Gianluca,  Thank you for taking your time to reply to my request.

Last night, after I sent my original email below, I was directed to the
fedora page on "how to be sponsored".  I'm glad to say the web page
below agrees with your advice.  Had I known this before, I would not have
sent this email request.

Again,
Thank you,
Lee

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_get_sponsored_into_the_packager_group#R...

On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 2:58 AM, Gianluca Sforna  wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 12:11 AM, Lee Mitchell
>  wrote:
> > So, I would like to ask any good hearted soul within the EPEL package
> > maintainer group to be my sponsor.   Do you have time? Are you willing?
>
> My recommendation to quickly find a sponsor is to submit your first
> package and immediately start reviewing other people packages (the
> review queue in bugzilla[1] is long enough you will find something of
> interest and/or appropriate difficulty level).
>
> Once you have some reviews (at this point, not yet official) in your
> belt, ask again for a sponsor, possibly in fedora-devel list where I
> guess you will find more.
>
> And when you get sponsored, you can also approve the pre-reviewed
> packages so everyone benefits!
>
> Good luck
>
> G.
>
> [1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageMaintainers/ReviewRequests
>
> --
> Gianluca Sforna
>
> http://morefedora.blogspot.com
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/gianlucasforna
>
> epel-devel-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/epel-devel-list

[Kevin Fenzi]

On Thu, 8 Apr 2010 11:35:02 -0400
Lee Mitchell  wrote:
> Gianluca,  Thank you for taking your time to reply to my request.
>
> Last night, after I sent my original email below, I was directed to
> the fedora page on "how to be sponsored".  I'm glad to say the web
> page below agrees with your advice.  Had I known this before, I would
> not have sent this email request.

That page is good info... however, it doesn't hurt to let us know here
that you are interested in EPEL and looking to maintain packages in
EPEL.

Whats the link to your review request(s)?

kevin

[Lee Mitchell]

Kevin, Thank you for your reply.  My first package is taking shape at
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=580319

I need to patch the makefiles to get rid of the rpaths, then it will
completely pass rpmlint.

I am undecided about how much time I want to spend double checking the
package against the guidlines before I post the spec and SRPM and remove
"NotReady" from the whiteboard.   Sometimes I can be a perfectionist.  In
this case, I want my first package to be perfect, but I don't want to take
an inordinate amout of time "perfecting it".  Sometimes I think I should
just do my reasonable best and let others tell me where I missed it.

Anyway, I let you know when I post it.

On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 6:07 PM, Kevin Fenzi  wrote:
> On Thu, 8 Apr 2010 11:35:02 -0400
> Lee Mitchell  wrote:
> > Gianluca,  Thank you for taking your time to reply to my request.
> >
> > Last night, after I sent my original email below, I was directed to
> > the fedora page on "how to be sponsored".  I'm glad to say the web
> > page below agrees with your advice.  Had I known this before, I would
> > not have sent this email request.
>
> That page is good info... however, it doesn't hurt to let us know here
> that you are interested in EPEL and looking to maintain packages in
> EPEL.
>
> Whats the link to your review request(s)?
>
> kevin
>
> epel-devel-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/epel-devel-list

[BJ Dierkes]

On Apr 9, 2010, at 5:24 PM, Lee Mitchell wrote:
> I am undecided about how much time I want to spend double checking the package against the guidlines before I post the spec and SRPM and remove "NotReady" from the whiteboard.   Sometimes I can be a perfectionist.  In this case, I want my first package to be perfect, but I don't want to take an inordinate amout of time "perfecting it".  Sometimes I think I should just do my reasonable best and let others tell me where I missed it.

Just wanted to note that, though going through the guidelines attempting to catch every issue yourself would never hurt (there's a lot of great info in the guidelines)...  it is very common to over look things before submitting to review.  You could self-review yourself until you were blue in the face...  and have a second set of eyes find something just at a quick glance.  For your first package I wouldn't be as concerned with 'perfecting the package' before review as I would be concerned with simply learning the processes involved and 'getting your feet wet'.

Good luck, and thanks for getting involved.

---
derks