Seek fame(*) & fortune(**) as a Python developer

[Skip Montanaro]

As the Python user base grows, the number of bug reports and submitted
patches that need to be handled grows as well.  The size of the developer
pool (people with checkin capability to the project) hasn't grown enough to
meet the added demand, so we're looking for new developers to help.  There
are roughly 150 open patch submissions and about 250 open bug reports that
need attention.  While the work might not be glamorous, it is vital to keep
the code base improving to meet new requirements.

Python 2.3 is likely to be much more of a stability release than the
previous versions in the 2.x series, which have each added significant new
functionality to the language itself.  For quality to improve, we need a
major push to get existing bug reports and patches addressed.  You can help
in a number of different areas, so don't worry too much if you're not up on
the implementation of nested scopes and their relation to new-style classes.
Here are some things you might easily be able to help with:

    * More than 50 of the currently open bugs are in the documentation
      category.  I suspect many of them may need fairly small additions to
      existing documents.

    * If you have access to a minority platform, you might well be able to
      help check that submitted bug fixes or patches work on your platform.
      Since most Windows users don't have MSVC++, Windows/MSVC++ may well
      count as a minority platform for the purposes of this work.

    * Most bug reports and patches are currently not assigned to anyone
      (probably two-thirds of the bug reports and half the patches).
      Performing some initial triage on them (deciding if they are
      duplicates, providing initial feedback, or developing initial fixes)
      would be a huge help.

    * Many bug fixes and patches simply need some feedback so the
      responsible people can move through their currently assigned items
      more easily.

For much of this stuff you don't need checkin privileges to the CVS
repository.  For example, you could write a bit of documentation to address
a doc bug, then attach a patch file to the current bug report.  All you need
for that is a SourceForge user id.  You could also apply proposed bugfixes
to your own CVS tree, see how they work, tweak them if necessary, and attach
a comment to the bug report.

If you're unfamiliar with the mechanisms currently in place to support
Python development, I strongly urge you to read Andrew Kuchling's "Becoming
a Python Developer":

    http://www.amk.ca/python/writing/python-dev.html

I think it has just about everything you'll need to get started.

Whether or not you want to be able to check files into the CVS repository,
if you want to contribute, you should probably subscribe to the python-dev
mailing list.  You can subscribe here:

    http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev

If you'd like checkin privileges, send me (skip at pobox.com) an email with
"Python developer" in the subject.  Don't simply reply to this message.
Your note may well get lost (I get tons of email) among followups that are
just feedback about this message.  Let me know where your Python interests
and experience are, and maybe point to some stuff you've done.  I'll do a
little filtering (probably not a lot), then pass it along to another group
of people who will decide about granting CVS checkin privileges.

-- 
Skip Montanaro (skip at pobox.com - http://www.mojam.com/)

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(*)  Fame within a small group of like-minded geeks.
(**) Your intangible wealth (e.g. "goodwill") will grow.  Your wallet will
     almost certainly not get thicker.