"still learning maybe if i get good enough I can make a short term support
version of debian or work with fedora... either way though I have a long way
to go."
It might not take as long as you think, depending on the method of learning
that you choose. Richard Stallman recommends making small changes to large
programs (as opposed to building small programs from scratch). The advantage
of his method is that you get to experience all facets of the programming
process in a realistic way. Stallman answers the question "how do you learn
to program" by saying, "By reading lots of code and writing lots of code" and
"make small changes to large programs". In your case you are lucky since you
know exactly what you want to do. Get a hold of some scripts that those
projects use and study them to understand them. Then, find a feature you
would like to add or change and change it. See what the leaders of the
project are looking for, make the change, and then, maintain your part of the
code by handling bug reports.
Don't think of it as being so far away. Start by studying real programs, not
the academic exercises found in courses and books. Everybody learns
differently, but try and see if you can learn in the above manner as it
should be very effective for what you are trying to accomplish.
