2:57 p.m.
Hello all,
I've been thinking about a few different ways we might want to try
finding new users and contributors, so that our community can continue
to grow.
These three suggestions can be done right now:
1. GitHub
We already have gcompat and libucontext mirrored to GitHub. If we make
a clear note that we don't accept pull requests on GitHub, it may
provide us more exposure if we have a mirror of our package repository
there. This is used by projects like LLVM and Gentoo already.
Since we are not using GitHub as a development platform, but instead
only for exposure, I think it would not be too harmful. Additionally,
we can disable the issue tracker and wiki tabs so that nobody
accidentally tries to put information on GitHub; instead, we can
redirect them to our actual infrastructure.
2. Better documentation
Back in the 1.0-BETA1 release cycle, we had a real focus on writing
documentation. However, with all of the important fixes and updates and
changes we had to handle, including migrating our infrastructure at
least twice, our documentation focus has waned somewhat. I believe we
may be able to gain more exposure with better documentation. It would
definitely differentiate us from a lot of other distros. Plus, now that
we are using GitLab 12, we can have GitLab automatically build a
documentation site from Git. This could allow us to accept external
contributions for documentation much easier than the system we have now.
3. Relaunch Web site
I feel like our current Web site, while it has served its purpose, is
underserving us right now. The design could use some help, and the
content flow doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If we could launch a
better site, and one that talks about what our strengths are, we might
be able to have more traffic.
The following suggestions are for after 1.0 is released with Horizon:
4. LUGs
We are a geographically diverse team, so we could each go to our
respective Linux User Group (or similar meet-up) and give a talk about
Adélie. LUGs are usually more than happy to accept talk proposals, and
being able to have a developer of a real distro talk would be a real
treat for them - and would let us help even more people.
5. Meet-ups and Conferences
If one of us is going to go to, for instance, FOSDEM or OSCON, we could
talk to others there about Adélie. There is also a yearly festival held
in Oklahoma every year that focuses on projects that promote
sustainability, and I would like to see if they'd be interested in
having us there next year.
6. Reaching out to the press
Linux Format. Phoronix. LWN. There are lots of open-source focused
media organisations, and I'm sure a few of them would be happy to print
a story about us. This could have a lot of impact.
7. Reddit AMA
The /r/linux subreddit holds weekly AMAs with developers of Linux
technologies. They have no "popularity" requirements, and they even
featured AMAs with other distro devs before. We could hold an AMA with
a few of us answering questions from the community about Adélie.
8. Certification
The OpenPOWER Foundation has an "OpenPOWER Ready" mark and certified
products list; the only requirement for an operating system to be listed
is to support hardware that is "OpenPOWER Ready". This would include
the Raptor Talos and Blackbird systems, so we've already met that
requirement.
We could continue focusing on our POSIX work. There are also vendor
certifications (like HP, Dell, AMD).
9. Contacting hosting providers
We could help people do more serving with less hassle and less cost by
bringing Adélie to hosting providers. Amazon has community-built AMI
support; Azure has a simple process for being listed.
In addition, there are smaller providers, like Vultr, that already have
a nice variety of distros and are welcoming of suggestions for more to
provide. There is also an interesting hosting provider called GekkoFyre
(https://gekkofyre.io/) that focuses specifically on running hosting for
furries - and they specifically have a focus on helping furry-run
technology projects. Since a number of our contributors (including me)
are furry, we may be able to interest them.
10. More!
I'd love to hear ideas from all of you. This community is so creative
in everything we do, and I'm sure we could come up with creative ideas
for promotion together as well.
Let's discuss these ideas and others, and start putting our distro in
front of more people! :)
Best to you and yours,
--arw
--
A. Wilcox (awilfox)
Project Lead, Adélie Linux
https://www.adelielinux.org