Challenges

Patching FOSS in India

Solving the fundamental structural problem of the free software movement in India

A multilog of developers, evangelists and students

The discussion was started in the panel discussion on '10 years of linux in India' on day 2 of FOSS.IN and continued on day 3 with a BoF on 'Patching FOSS in India'.

BoF details

Day 3 (26 Nov 2006) 2:00 pm

Moderators: Thaths/Fred

Background

Bandwidth

Only available in metros? Lack of introuctory materials in an easily accessible (printed) form.

Consumer Mentality

We should encourage people develop a producer culture.

Develop a "Good User" culture. (a) A good user reacts to all glitches by filing a "Good Bug Report" --- (need a link here on how to write good bug reports). (b) A good user reacts to inactivity on her bug by the maintainer by providing a fix :-) (c) A good user does not hesitate. If you fear that you will make a mistake and do not speak that will be a mistake.

Perfectionist attitude

People wait for perfection before release.

No patches and many forks

Hesitation to submit patches upstream.

Lack of awareness about bounties

Google Summer of Code, Redhat scholarship, Novell internship, NRCFOSS projects ...