becoming a developper for linux mint

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thibault02

becoming a developper for linux mint

Post by thibault02 »

Hello everybody,

I would like to know few thing about becoming a developper for Linux Mint cause I haven't been able to find them neither in the forums nor on the differents Linux Mint Websites :

- Do we need any previous entreprise software developper experience to join the developper team in Linux Mint ?

- Can we become a full-time developper for Linux Mint ?

- What are the criterias to become a developper for Linux Mint ?

- Are Linux Mint still in need of new developpers ? If yes : which are the developpers profiles wanted ?

- Are the developpers of Linux Mint get paid ? If there's any pay : what is the average paid of a developper ? What are the paid criterias ?

- What are the software tools use by the developper team of Linux Mint ?
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xenopeek
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Re: becoming a developper for linux mint

Post by xenopeek »

New contributors are always welcome :) To be clear you can't apply for a job at Linux Mint. It's not a company but an free software project. Anybody can start contributing; there aren't any requirements other than you must be comfortable reading and writing English as all development is done in English (code comments, issues, discussions with other contributors etc.).

Linux Mint's software is collaboratively developed on GitHub. You can find all our projects here: https://github.com/linuxmint. There is some information for people that want to contribute here: http://projects.linuxmint.com/. A developer guide covering more topics is planned but not available yet. January's monthly news post will be interesting to read as it covers recent changes to our development process: https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3509.

If you're not familiar yet with GitHub or Git workflows, they have a lot of help (https://help.github.com/) and guides (https://guides.github.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/githubguides) available to get you up to speed. Basically the workflow is you fork a project, create a new branch for the improvement you want to develop, develop and test it and finally do a pull request to submit your improvements back to Linux Mint's project. As a general rule you should implement only one improvement per pull request. Keep them small when starting out so they are easier to review, there is less risk of developing something that conflicts with what somebody else is doing and you don't spend a lot of time on something that might not get accepted. If a pull request doesn't get accepted you'll get feedback, either from automated testing reporting some error to you to fix or from one of the core developers sharing what needs to change for it to be accepted.

As for your question about payment, you should direct that to Clem if you want more information about that. The "other queries" contact email address here https://linuxmint.com/contactus.php.
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JosephM
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Re: becoming a developper for linux mint

Post by JosephM »

I think xenopeek pretty much hit everything on the head. Clem wants devs who are doing it for the enjoyment, not just to get paid. That's part of what makes open source development enjoyable. People work on what they want to work on, not what someone tells them to. You don't need any real qualifications to get started. Just find an area that interests you. Look at it fixing a bug/improving a feature. Become a part of the core team just takes time. You have to do some work and become a familiar contributor.

If you are looking at putting time into anything that is not fairly simple, visit #linuxmint-dev on IRC and talk about it. Get feedback. Just be patient because it can sometimes take awhile to get a response.

You also have to realize that sometimes things will be rejected for one reason or another. You have to be able to deal with getting feedback or being told that something doesn't fit the overall plan. Sometimes you can be told flat out "no". Other times it can be more like, "that's cool if maybe it worked like so". If you are willing to accept feedback, you can learn as you go.
When I give opinions, they are my own. Not necessarily those of any other Linux Mint developer or the Linux Mint project as a whole.
Hoser Rob
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Re: becoming a developper for linux mint

Post by Hoser Rob »

thibault02 wrote: Sat Mar 10, 2018 1:01 pm...- Are the developpers of Linux Mint get paid ? ...
That's the real first question you have, isn't it? And, as mentioned, the answer is no. Devs have other (paying) IT jobs. That's just the nature of open source projects.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
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