How hard to get into Ubuntu

I am not writing this topic to show off my small achievements, although for me this is a real victory, considering my programming and life experience.



The victory is that my program is officially included in the Ubuntu 8.10 release. It all started with the fact that on LinuxForum I created a theme in which I suggested a way to make Linux OS more accessible for beginners. Many Linux users are against the so-called “GUI for editing configuration files,” but I believe that it is not necessary for a new Linux user to understand the OS device to get the result he needs. Perhaps this attitude to GUI programs of this kind is caused by the state of the majority of such programs, because they are truly “inhuman”. It comes to the fact that to get the result it is easier to understand the configuration file seen for the first time than the GUI program. That is why I decided to try to create such a tool for ordinary users, which would be understandable and convenient for everyone. At the moment, the result is MountManager 0.2.4, which was included in the most popular distribution of the world.





You can understand what I mean by comparing the interfaces of these two programs, which essentially do the same thing:



')

I published my program on kde-apps.org and after about two months I received the following message on my e-mail:



Hi Sergey,



Ubuntu release, (I can see it at revu.ubuntuwire.com/details.py?package=mountmanager ) and I have several problems:

- Source file should have a license and copyright header. Without, that, I won't be able to upload it.

- The directories are not correct. I have patched my file (file standarise_configure.patch).

- Also, I had to patch the gksu command (gnome su)

- it is not working for me (mm). I had to change it to su_to_root -c "/ usr / bin / mountmanager". This is the second file (correct_su_in_desktop_file.patch).



I’m not going to follow up on the packaging tasks.



Thanks,



Fabrice



After that, we had a chain of 64 messages with Ubuntu's packer, in which we tried to bring the program to a decent look.



Below I will describe the criteria for what the program should consist of so that it can be included in a good distribution. Perhaps someone will be interested in what requirements they expose to developers:

1. Each source file must contain a license header with copyright
2. Required manual pages
3. All non-executable files should be stored in the prefix / share directory, but not in prefix / lib.
4. All executable files must be stored either in prefix / bin or in prefix / lib (for example, extensions)
5. In the configure file, all quotes that separate text must be single
6. There should not be a single binary file in the source file archive.
7. Source files must pass the lintian test.

Perhaps all these conditions are well known to you, but for me, for example, this was new.



During the finalization of the program, I learned a little about the Ubuntu development system. For example, they have their own website and their own hierarchy of packers and developers. How they contact each other can be found here: UbuntuWire.com . And after finalizing the program, it goes here: Launchpad.net .



I am still too small to give advice in this area, but nevertheless I can say with confidence that every gui program developer should devote a good deal of time to developing the interface, and not just developing the functionality, in order for the program to achieve success. Oh yes, and most importantly: never back away from your ideas, even if others say that it is delusional - I know it for myself, because I have repeatedly laid out the news about the release of a new version of the program on LOR. ;)



Thanks for attention.