The best way to start contributing is to checkout the
software from sourceforge using CVS repository. If you have
never used CVS before, you may just want to download the
tar.gz or the RPM file, whichever method you
prefer. Eventually, however, you must learn to use CVS so
that you can make serious code changes and keep up with the
development branch. NCO-specific instructions on how to
check out the code are posted to the Developer's forum on
Sourceforge http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=9831 in the
message dated June 21, 2000.
Once you have NCO, build it! If you must make non-trivial
modifications to the Makefile in order to build on your
platform, then please submit those modifications as your
first patch. Once you have built NCO, peruse the user's
guide and try a few examples.
Read the contents of the Developer's forum! Subscribe to all
the NCO forums so that you are automatically CC'd when new
messages arrive. Post your questions and progress and ideas
to the developer's forum (frequently!) so that others may
learn about your work. The Developer's forum will help
prevent duplication of effort and is the key communication
point for everyone involved in the project.
Once you have done all this, you are ready to choose an item
on the TODO list to tackle. For C hackers, I suggest you
dive right in to the source code. Yes, the source code in
nc_utl.c and csz.c should be better organized and split into
smaller files. If hacking 5000 line files which contains 50
C functions each is to intimidating, then consider
re-organizing the files themselves. This is TODO item #181.
In an open source project, YOU decide what needs to be done.
There are also plenty of non-C ways to contribute, if that's
more your bag (HTML, Make, RPM). The important thing is to
start learning NCO so you can decide for yourself how best
you can contribute. Then, as mentioned above, post your
questions and progress to the developer's forum where
different implementation strategies and technical details
are to be discussed.
Thanks,
Charlie
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
How to help develop NCO:
The best way to start contributing is to checkout the
software from sourceforge using CVS repository. If you have
never used CVS before, you may just want to download the
tar.gz or the RPM file, whichever method you
prefer. Eventually, however, you must learn to use CVS so
that you can make serious code changes and keep up with the
development branch. NCO-specific instructions on how to
check out the code are posted to the Developer's forum on
Sourceforge
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=9831 in the
message dated June 21, 2000.
Once you have NCO, build it! If you must make non-trivial
modifications to the Makefile in order to build on your
platform, then please submit those modifications as your
first patch. Once you have built NCO, peruse the user's
guide and try a few examples.
Read the contents of the Developer's forum! Subscribe to all
the NCO forums so that you are automatically CC'd when new
messages arrive. Post your questions and progress and ideas
to the developer's forum (frequently!) so that others may
learn about your work. The Developer's forum will help
prevent duplication of effort and is the key communication
point for everyone involved in the project.
Once you have done all this, you are ready to choose an item
on the TODO list to tackle. For C hackers, I suggest you
dive right in to the source code. Yes, the source code in
nc_utl.c and csz.c should be better organized and split into
smaller files. If hacking 5000 line files which contains 50
C functions each is to intimidating, then consider
re-organizing the files themselves. This is TODO item #181.
In an open source project, YOU decide what needs to be done.
There are also plenty of non-C ways to contribute, if that's
more your bag (HTML, Make, RPM). The important thing is to
start learning NCO so you can decide for yourself how best
you can contribute. Then, as mentioned above, post your
questions and progress to the developer's forum where
different implementation strategies and technical details
are to be discussed.
Thanks,
Charlie