trunk/faq/contrib.sgml

<chapt id="contributing">Contributing to the Debian project

<p>Donations of time (to develop new packages, maintain existing packages,
or provide user support), resources (to mirror the FTP and WWW archives),
and money (to pay for new testbeds as well as hardware for the archives)
can help the project.

<sect id="contrib">How can I become a Debian software developer?

<p>The development of Debian is open to all, and new users with the right
skills and/or the willingness to learn are needed to maintain existing
packages which have been "orphaned" by their previous maintainers, to
develop new packages, and to provide user support.

<p>All the details about becoming a Debian developer may now be found in the
<package/developers-reference/ package. You should therefore install this
package and read it carefully.

<p>An on-line version of developers-reference is available
<url id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/developers-reference/"
name="here">.

<sect id="contribresources">How can I contribute resources to the Debian
  project?

<p>Since the project aims to make a substantial body of software rapidly
and easily accessible throughout the globe, mirrors are urgently needed.
It is desirable but not absolutely necessary to mirror all of the archive.
The current components amount to just over 12 GBytes, broken down roughly
as follows:

<list>
  <!-- Note: These are figures for *all* the archs. -->
  <!-- XXX update for potato release! -->
  <item>slink/main: &slink-main-size; megabytes.
  <item>slink/contrib and slink/non-free: &slink-contrib-nonfree-size; megabytes.
  <item>potato: &potato-size; megabytes
    (it will surely grow at release time).
  <item>sid: &sid-size; megabytes.
    (could vary a lot between releases)
</list>

<p>Most of the mirroring is accomplished entirely automatically by scripts,
without any human intervention.  However, the occasional glitch or system
change occurs which requires human intervention.

<p>If you have a high-speed connection to the Internet, the resources to
mirror all or part of the distribution, and are willing to take the time
(or find someone) who can provide regular maintenance of the system,
then please contact <tt>debian-admin@debian.org</tt>.

<sect id="supportingorganizations">How can I contribute financially to the
  Debian project?

<p>One can make individual donations to one of two organizations that
are critical to the development of the Debian project.

<sect1 id="SPI">Software in the Public Interest

<p>Software in the Public Interest (SPI) is an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization, formed when FSF withdrew their sponsorship of Debian.
The purpose of the organization is to develop and distribute free software.

<p>Our goals are very much like those of FSF, and we encourage programmers
to use the GNU General Public License on their programs. However, we have
a slightly different focus in that we are building and distributing
a Linux system that diverges in many technical details from the GNU system
planned by FSF. We still communicate with FSF, and we cooperate in sending
them changes to GNU software and in asking our users to donate to FSF and
the GNU project.

<p>SPI can be reached at: <url id="http://www.spi-inc.org/">.

<sect1 id="FSF">Free Software Foundation

<p>At this time there is no formal connection between Debian and the Free
Software Foundation. However, the Free Software Foundation is
responsible for some of the most important software components in
Debian, including the GNU C compiler, GNU Emacs, and much of the C
run-time library that is used by all programs on the system. FSF pioneered
much of what free software is today: they wrote the General Public
License that is used on much of the Debian software, and they invented
the "GNU" project to create an entirely free Unix system. Debian should
be considered a descendent of the GNU system.

<p>FSF can be reached at: <url id="http://www.fsf.org/">.
1	<chapt id="contributing">Contributing to the Debian project
2
3	<p>Donations of time (to develop new packages, maintain existing packages,
4	or provide user support), resources (to mirror the FTP and WWW archives),
5	and money (to pay for new testbeds as well as hardware for the archives)
6	can help the project.
7
8	<sect id="contrib">How can I become a Debian software developer?
9
10	<p>The development of Debian is open to all, and new users with the right
11	skills and/or the willingness to learn are needed to maintain existing
12	packages which have been "orphaned" by their previous maintainers, to
13	develop new packages, and to provide user support.
14
15	<p>All the details about becoming a Debian developer may now be found in the
16	<package/developers-reference/ package. You should therefore install this
17	package and read it carefully.
18
19	<p>An on-line version of developers-reference is available
20	<url id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/developers-reference/"
21	name="here">.
22
23	<sect id="contribresources">How can I contribute resources to the Debian
24	project?
25
26	<p>Since the project aims to make a substantial body of software rapidly
27	and easily accessible throughout the globe, mirrors are urgently needed.
28	It is desirable but not absolutely necessary to mirror all of the archive.
29	The current components amount to just over 12 GBytes, broken down roughly
30	as follows:
31
32	<list>
33	<!-- Note: These are figures for all the archs. -->
34	<!-- XXX update for potato release! -->
35	<item>slink/main: &slink-main-size; megabytes.
36	<item>slink/contrib and slink/non-free: &slink-contrib-nonfree-size; megabytes.
37	<item>potato: &potato-size; megabytes
38	(it will surely grow at release time).
39	<item>sid: &sid-size; megabytes.
40	(could vary a lot between releases)
41	</list>
42
43	<p>Most of the mirroring is accomplished entirely automatically by scripts,
44	without any human intervention. However, the occasional glitch or system
45	change occurs which requires human intervention.
46
47	<p>If you have a high-speed connection to the Internet, the resources to
48	mirror all or part of the distribution, and are willing to take the time
49	(or find someone) who can provide regular maintenance of the system,
50	then please contact <tt>debian-admin@debian.org</tt>.
51
52	<sect id="supportingorganizations">How can I contribute financially to the
53	Debian project?
54
55	<p>One can make individual donations to one of two organizations that
56	are critical to the development of the Debian project.
57
58	<sect1 id="SPI">Software in the Public Interest
59
60	<p>Software in the Public Interest (SPI) is an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit
61	organization, formed when FSF withdrew their sponsorship of Debian.
62	The purpose of the organization is to develop and distribute free software.
63
64	<p>Our goals are very much like those of FSF, and we encourage programmers
65	to use the GNU General Public License on their programs. However, we have
66	a slightly different focus in that we are building and distributing
67	a Linux system that diverges in many technical details from the GNU system
68	planned by FSF. We still communicate with FSF, and we cooperate in sending
69	them changes to GNU software and in asking our users to donate to FSF and
70	the GNU project.
71
72	<p>SPI can be reached at: <url id="http://www.spi-inc.org/">.
73
74	<sect1 id="FSF">Free Software Foundation
75
76	<p>At this time there is no formal connection between Debian and the Free
77	Software Foundation. However, the Free Software Foundation is
78	responsible for some of the most important software components in
79	Debian, including the GNU C compiler, GNU Emacs, and much of the C
80	run-time library that is used by all programs on the system. FSF pioneered
81	much of what free software is today: they wrote the General Public
82	License that is used on much of the Debian software, and they invented
83	the "GNU" project to create an entirely free Unix system. Debian should
84	be considered a descendent of the GNU system.
85
86	<p>FSF can be reached at: <url id="http://www.fsf.org/">.