Re: Why not contribute? (to GCC)

[Joel Sherrill <joel dot sherrill at oarcorp dot com>]

Hi,

Taking a slightly different tack on this.  One of the things
we at RTEMS have taken away from Google Summer of Code
is that your project has to be approachable to new users
from your target audiences.  You want to minimize the
barrier to entry for each type of users. For us, this
was experienced embedded developers, students with
no cross development experience, students with no
Linux computer, instructors wanting to use RTEMS in
a class, etc.

I think many of the ideas which have been suggested
are great and needed.  Can we identify different types
of users and what might present them hurdles?  Then
we can identify what would be required to lower those
hurdles.

Then work to give each type of user a roadmap, howto,
getting started, resources, etc. on the wiki.

One thing I like to do periodically with RTEMS is
only answer questions with URLs.  This means that
there was an answer in our knowledge base.  If new
info has to be added, it is a hint.  If the user couldn't
find it, it indicates a problem in the way the information
is presented. This is often just due to language barriers
and not thinking like someone unfamiliar to the project.

This is all under the general umbrella of "making
your project approachable".

--joel