Great!! Thanks for your help - maybe you could find some way to convey
this to others easily? (I'm not going to get involved in this debate any
further other than to say that this was really helpful :)).
/andrew
Asa Dotzler wrote:
> Andrew MacDonald wrote:
>
>> I know C++ (did some OS hacking; network hacking at school last year),
>> I know some javascript, but that was a while ago. I've messed around a
>> bit in XML doing some work for a company last year, but I can't say it
>> was a huge experience. I'm very familiar with HTML - use it often (I'm
>> an old fogey who insists on writing HTML by hand :)) I'm mostly
>> interested in the Mac side, since I use OSX, so I've been reading the
>> Mac newsgroups too.
>>
>> I'll check out IRC when I get a chance - never really learned to use
>> that before (dunno how hard it is or even any good OSX IRC clients?).
>> I'm more interested in working on the backend stuff, but the learning
>> curve looks very steep, and I might be interested in moving into some
>> frontend stuff just to get my feet wet and see how it all works. Right
>> now I'm working on getting my build environment setup... where do you
>> recommend I start?
>
>
>
> Great!! I'm always thrilled to see more Mac folks getting involved
> (definitely a minority in the community of Mozilla developers). The
> first thing I'd recommend is getting to know some of the other Mac
> developers on the project. Check out the netscape.public.mozilla.mac
> newsgroup and maybe introduce yourself there. If you haven't already,
> start downloading daily Fizzilla builds
>
><http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla/nightly/latest-trunk/mozilla-macosX-trunk.sit.bin>
>
> (even before you get your build environment set up) and start looking
> for problems in the builds that bother you (scratching an itch is one of
> the best ways to get started). If you find something that doesn't behave
> as you'd expect it check Bugzilla to see if it's reported (it probably
> is, if you can't find it feel free to poke me on IRC for help locating
> the bug). When you find the bug, or report it if it isn't already
> reported <http://www.mozilla.org/quality/bug-writing-guidelines.html>,
> let the bug's assignee know (comment in the bug) that you're interested
> in helping out and ask for some pointers from that developer about
> getting started. Hopefully the assignee will be able to help you get
> started. Even before you get a build environment and pull the source you
> can read the source in HTML with LXR at
> <http://lxr.mozilla.org/seamonkey/> and you can use Bonsai (the "blame"
> link at the top of an LXR view of a file) to see who has been working on
> that file.
>
> You could also go the rout of looking for bugs to fix in Bugzilla. I'd
> start with a query for New, Assigned and Reopened Status, Mac OS X
> Operating System, and Enhancement, Trivial and Minor Severity. I would
> be glad to help you with any Bugzilla queries if you need it (see IRC
> instructions below). That query yields this list of bugs tonight (this
> is a static list)
>
><http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?bugidtype=include&order=bugs.bug_id&bug_id=,73548,73734,74245,74292,75772,75880,76990,78498,78662,84271,84453,86538,86553,87773,90254,90804,91583,91807,92205,92680,92899,94210>
>
> and can be run with this link for up to date info anytime
>
><http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&op_sys=MacOS+X&bug_severity=minor&bug_severity=trivial&bug_severity=enhancement>
>
> . These are bugs reported against Fizilla and may actually affect other
> Operating Systems or Platforms. Most of Mozilla's code is
> cross-platform (XP) and so are most of our bugs. It might be that the
> bug you decide to work on isn't specific to Mac OS X but if you're not
> going the "scratch an itch" rout (which would most likely turn up bugs
> that are XP since most of our bugs are) you might as well start with a
> smaller list and the OS X reported bugs of low severity is a nice number
> (I think it's usually around 30 bugs).
>
> I'm a good resource for all things Bugzilla but I'm not a developer so I
> won't be able to actually help you with coding. Some good names to know
> and ask help of for Mac specific issues are [EMAIL PROTECTED],
> [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], and [EMAIL PROTECTED] and
> for build stuff [EMAIL PROTECTED] (I've probably left off a good name or two).
>
> If you decide to work on a bug that is not specific to Mac there are
> lots of other people depending on the area of the bug. A good place to
> start asking questions about fixing a particular bug is with the
> Component Assignee
> <http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/describecomponents.cgi?product=Browser> and
> <http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/describecomponents.cgi?product=MailNews>.
> In addition to that there are some especially friendly people in
> particular areas. For mail-news issues [EMAIL PROTECTED] and
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] are good contacts. For Browser front-end stuff
> [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], amybe
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] and the Mac folks listed above. You might also talk
> with [EMAIL PROTECTED] who is a UI design expert and particular to Mac
> (he's always got a great list of problems with our UI that desperately
> need fixing).
>
> For general Quality Assurance, Testing and Bugzilla information you can
> find lots of tips and activities at
> <http://www.mozilla.org/quality/help> and if you need any help in this
> area or in coding please get on IRC. Your Mozilla build has a simple
> IRC client (I recommend going to
> <http://www.hacksrus.com/~ginda/chatzilla> to update to the latest
> version because the one in the tree is a bit behind) that you can use to
> connect to the server irc.mozilla.org and join #mozilla (development
> talk) and #mozillazine (qa, testing, advocacy, other general chat). To
> connect using Chatzilla just select IRC Chat from the Tasks menu and
> then type /attach moznet in the Chatzilla client or click on the link to
> moznet that appears in the content pane of the chat client. When it
> connects type /join #mozillazine or /join #mozilla (or click on any of
> the channel links that appear in the content pane after it connects to
> moznet). It will prompt you for a Nick (type something here or you will
> join the channel with the nick IRCMonkey). I'm sure that there are IRC
> clients for Mac that are more powerful than Chatzilla but I've found
> Chatzilla to be completely sufficient.
>
> If you have any further questions please let me know here or in email or
> IRC. I'm available pretty much 7 days a week and during weekdays I'm
> avilable from about 9am to 8pm (Pacific Daylight Time). Weekends I
> usually check mail a couple times and might be on IRC some.
>
> Hope this help some. I'm sure some others can add useful info that I've
> left off. (I surely left off the names of some very helpful people who
> might chime in [sorry folks] or who you will find as you get to know
> people.)
>
> --Asa
>
