A few weeks ago, I had an idea for a book. I've no idea if it's been done before, but I feel that the concept could be adapted to Ubuntu even if it has. The basic idea for the book is to provide an almost one stop resource for people wanting to start contributing to open source. Written from the point of view of a ficticious guy wanting to start a new project, the book would see him; <ul><li>Planning out his ideas</li><ul><li>Talking to community about needs</li><li>Planning time and structure</li><li>Looking for projects to build from</li></ul><li>Choosing a language to code in based on it's merits</li> <ul><li>Comparisons of different languages / methods</li><li>Rapid Application Development</li></ul><li>Registering and using Launchpad properly</li><ul><li>What are all the options in LP?</li><li>Releases/Milestone usage </li><li>Setting it all up</li></ul><li>Writing the code</li><ul><li>Structuring your work environment</li><li>Bazaar, how to use effectively</li><li>Presentation</li><li>Commenting</li></ul><li>Packaging the code</li><ul> <li>Ubuntu Packaging Guide - Nuff said</li></ul><li>Bug triaging</li><ul><li>Getting started on bug triaging</li><li>gdb and the like</li><li>Effective use of LP</li></ul><li>Managing teams</li><ul><li>Teams in LP</li><li> Assigning tasks to team members</li><li>Evaluating team members strong points</li></ul><li>Effective communication</li><ul><li>Keeping people in touch</li><li>Communication email/blog/mailing list</li></ul><li>Continual management </li><ul><li>Keeping things fresh</li><li>Holding events</li></ul></ul> Going into nothing in huge detail, but giving enough information to get started in every area. The book is intended to give anyone wanting to start in contributing, the information they need. I believe that this is something that many people starting in Ubuntu need. I personally was dwarfed by all these procedures and doctrines when I first joined the team. I want to make it as easy as possible for others to join up and start helping out. I'm hoping that the book will largely be written by community members. I would love to get a team together to discuss what they feel should be in the book. After that we can split it up and get people working on it. It may be that there are some docs that will fulfill the needs of some chapters even with a small rewrite. I'm hoping to also get it published on <a href="http://lulu.com">lulu.com</a> or something similar, unless a publisher gets interested in it. Much like the Official Ubuntu Book is written by several authors, I'm hoping this book will fill a gap and become a reference not just for Ubuntu, but for anyone wanting to start in open source. It should be seperated cleanly, so people can dip in to get the help they need. It could be that this crazy idea is a load of old shoes. In which case leave a comment to that effect <img src="http://www.progbox.co.uk/wordpress/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class="wp-smiley"> However if you feel that this could be an important document, please please get in touch, if only to register a wish for a certain section. Something perhaps you found missing when you started in Ubuntu/OSS. <a href="http://www.progbox.co.uk/wordpress/?p=260">http://www.progbox.co.uk/wordpress/?p=260</a> -- Pete Savage - cbx33::silentk <a href="http://wiki.ubuntu.com/PeteSavage">wiki.ubuntu.com/PeteSavage</a>