Getting Involved

Why do you want to be a member of the GNOME sysadmin team?

  • You help your favorite desktop out
  • You get to learn new technologies
  • Resume padding (You have the opportunity to write things like "Designed and implemented user database for worldwide network of 500 developers"). Lots of action verb potential.
  • Small amounts of glory.
  • You think system administration is fun.

What does being a member of the GNOME sysadmin team mean?

  • You get a subscription to the private gnome-sysadmin@gnome.org mailing list.
  • You get access to the private gnome-sysadmin web pages.
  • You are eligible to volunteer for such exciting tasks as cleaning spam out of the request tracker.

What are the responsibilities of being a member of the GNOME sysadmin team?

  • If you volunteer to work on something, and things change and you don't have time, let us know.
  • Document what you do
  • Ask first, rather than later in case of uncertainty.

What sort of stuff needs doing in gnome-sysadmin?

  • Handling account requests
  • Version upgrades to systems like Bugzilla and Mailman.
  • Implementation of new systems (LDAP user directory, better CVS mirroring system, ssh based CVS access are some of the current projects.)
  • General system maintenance (errata, old account cleanup, etc.)

What sort of skills are useful?

  • Knowledge of MySQL/Apache/CVS/OpenLDAP/bugzilla/mailman/LXR/etc.
  • Knowledge of shell/perl/python/etc.
  • Willingness to document and communicate.

How do I join the gnome-sysadmin team?

  • Read gnome-infrastructure@gnome.org for a while; this is a public list for discussing the big picture of gnome system administration. (Should we switch from LXR/Bonsai to viewcvs, that sort of thing.)
  • Send mail to gnome-sysadmin@gnome.org, including:
    1. Your name and contact email
    2. What areas of system administration and operating systems you have experience with.
    3. What you are interested in working on for gnome.org.
    4. Email addresses (or phone numbers) of 2 or 3 people we can ask about you. Current sysadmin team members, long time GNOME contributors, or at least GNOME foundation members are preferred. People that have met you in person and know that you actually exist are preferred.
  • Read our other 'helping sysadmin' page.