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#71
Giving Back
Posted by ajt on Thu 11 Jan 2007 at 22:33
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I use open source software at work and at home. At home I run Debian on three systems, plus a fourth at my fathers. Work runs a number of Red Hat boxes and the Linux Affinity suite (really just GNU stuff) on AIX. Even on Windows boxes I run various free/open software from PuTTY to the Cygwin POSIX suite.

There are days that I feel I should give something back. I've not paid for any of this software. I do my best to give back to the community: writing the odd article; buying geek t-shirts, giving talks at my LUG and writing the odd Perl module.

There are lots of cool things out there and lots of projects that need help. The problem is that I'm not a c/c++ wizard, which seems to be a common requirement.

I think I'll have to write up a short article on running 32-bit apps on 64-bit Debian to pay something back. Which has been what I've been doing the most of recently...
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#1
Re: Giving Back
Posted by Steve (62.30.xx.xx) on Thu 11 Jan 2007 at 23:15
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Giving back usefully doesn't have to be a matter of writing code though - something that often gets forgotten.

Today I spent 30 minutes updating a translation of an XSL stylesheet. Hopefully my patch will be accepted.

A crazy situation where the American version reads:

  <xsl:param name="academics.word">Education</xsl:param>

The UK version reads:

  <xsl:param name="academics.word">TRANSLATION NEEDED</xsl:param>

I didn't actually spot any cases where the American version was incorrect!

Steve

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#2
Re: Giving Back
Posted by ajt (204.193.xx.xx) on Fri 12 Jan 2007 at 08:54
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Documentation and translation is often stated as a prime requirement. I'd have to agree that though some F/OS software is brilliant the documentation does often lack. I suppose that's why I like contributing here and I enjoy giving talks and sharing with my LUG.

It just feels like I'm giving back a lot less than I recieve.

--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam

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#3
Re: Giving Back
Posted by Nilshar (88.191.xx.xx) on Fri 12 Jan 2007 at 08:55
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I think one of the best contribution, is to use these software, and report any bug. a good bug report help a lot the community.

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#4
Re: Giving Back
Posted by ajt (204.193.xx.xx) on Fri 12 Jan 2007 at 10:13
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I've tried doing that once or twice. I can't say it's been that sucessful. Partially due to my poor bug reporting and partially by the complete absence of a response.

Several times, after much digging I have found useful workarounds and/or explanations to problems in the Debian BTS. The most recent being the awful appearance of OpenOffice 2 because of an OpenOffice libfreetype issue that may not get fixed in Etch...

--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam

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#5
Re: Giving Back
Posted by Anonymous (152.78.xx.xx) on Fri 12 Jan 2007 at 10:41
I just donate a bit of money to projects I like now and again. That's the lazy man's way!

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#6
Re: Giving Back
Posted by ajt (204.193.xx.xx) on Fri 12 Jan 2007 at 12:35
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It may be lazy but it seems sensible enough.

Most of the time the projects are not based in my home country, so it's more of a pain when it's an international money transaction. When it's a small donation you know that the banks eat most of it.

I should probably go to DebConf and/or make donation or something.

--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam

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#7
Re: Giving Back
Posted by Steve (80.68.xx.xx) on Fri 12 Jan 2007 at 14:30
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Money/gifts are usually appreciated - but personally I like getting emails of thanks almost more than material rewards.

Steve

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#8
Re: Giving Back
Posted by Anonymous (62.254.xx.xx) on Sat 13 Jan 2007 at 13:12
hey all, I am not much of a coder but i try to give back to the community that gives so much, by helping where i can :)

on quakenet irc i help out in debian and ubuntu channels

sno

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