So, you want to help out writing the Perl 5.8.9 release notes, but you don't
have much time, or have never poked around the guts of Perl? That's okay, we
still need you! Firstly, the full instructions can be found at the
bottom of:
http://github.com/pfenwick/perl589delta/
However if you just want a quick test to see if your knowledge is a good
fit for the project, then I'd recommend looking over one of the split files
(which isn't marked as done), which can be found at:
http://github.com/pfenwick/perl589delta/tree/master/splits/
At this point I know what you're thinking... It's filled with all sorts of
things about Perl's internals that don't make any sense. Don't worry, I
don't know what a lot of them mean either, and to help out you don't need to
either!
The big thing is that you can look through the changes and spot something
that *does* make sense. Even if it's something as simple as "upgraded
Module::Example to 1.23". That belongs in the release notes (many of the
internal changes don't), so you can add it. Easy!
The trick then becomes making sure that nobody goes and repeats the work of
trying to add that information a second time. Luckily, this is easy as
well. When you make your change, simply delete the relevant change from the
splits file. If you progress in this way, we'll know everything left in the
splits file is still remaining for review, and there's no chance of doubling
up on work.
If this looks achievable, and you'd still like to help out, then I'd suggest
you follow the instructions at the bottom of:
http://github.com/pfenwick/perl589delta/tree/master
Volunteer for a chunk as usual, but just drop a note to the list that you'll
be using it to document easy changes before handing it back. We'll all love
you for it.
If nothing else, consider joining the mailing list at:
http://groups.google.com/group/perl589delta
If there's any small tasks that need doing, that's the first place
they'll be posted.
If you have any questions, mail them to the list at
perl589delta@googlegroups.com .
) is private.
