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1.3.4. Ubuntu Development and the Community
Ubuntu is a joint collaboration project comprised of Ubuntu community members all around the world. Since its inception in 2004, thousands of contributors have joined the Ubuntu community. These users contribute towards Ubuntu development through writing code, advocacy, artwork, translations, testing and documentation (to name just a few). The development process of Ubuntu is open and transparent to all, whether you are a novice Ubuntu user or an experienced Ubuntu developer - everyone is welcome to get involved with and improve Ubuntu. Canonical also employs developers to contribute to Ubuntu.
How you can get involved. The Ubuntu community is made of many individuals and teams who work on different aspects of Ubuntu. If you are a developer, you can participate in the core development, write new applications, package additional software and fix bugs. If you are an artist, you can add value to the look and feel and functionality of Ubuntu. You can also provide online support, write documentation, assist with training material, join Web forums and the mailing lists of Ubuntu. There are lots of ways to get involved!
Developer Zone. The developer zone is comprised of developers who create and package software, fix bugs and maintain Ubuntu. They are responsible for ensuring that Ubuntu has a wide catalogue of software and it operates reliably and smoothly. A great way to get started as a packager is to join MOTU - see https:// wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/GettingStarted.
Idea Pool. If you have ideas for projects, proposals and enhancements but do not necessarily want to imple- ment them, you can add the ideas into the idea pool available at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IdeaPool.
Technical Users. If you have the requisite technical skills, you can contribute to the Ubuntu community in the following ways:
• Test the pre-release versions of Ubuntu to help find bugs before the final release.
• Report bugs and help the development team analyse them.
• Triage (edit and categorise) bugs to read, assess and sort them before they can be fixed.
• Join an e-mail support list or discussion list on the Ubuntu mailing lists.
• Join Web forums and respond to requests.
• Join the Ubuntu support and discussion Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel, which is a form of real-time Internet chat.
Non-Technical Users. Even if you do not have technical knowledge of Ubuntu, you can help Ubuntu users through the following projects:
• Artwork and design
• Translation and localisation
• Writing and updating documentation and training materials
• Advocacy
Ubuntu Desktop Course Development. Part of Canonical's mission is to enable the widest deployment of Ubuntu on as many computers and servers, in as many corners of the world as possible. Training is seen as a core enabler for the adoption of Ubuntu and as such courses are designed to certify Ubuntu professionals, assist partners to deploy Ubuntu and show desktop users (such as yourselves) how to use and get the most out of it. For more information on Ubuntu course availability and certifications, please refer to http://www.ubuntu.com/ training.
As with software development, the community contributes towards the development and enhancement of this desktop course. As Ubuntu experts, the community defines the scope and structure of the training by identify- ing requirements from the users' perspective; they also assist the Canonical and third-party content writers in developing content and reviewing it. More information on the Ubuntu Training community effort can be found at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Training.
The entire content development process is in the true spirit of Ubuntu's philosophy and the open source tradition.