Package maintenance with limited technical skill

I've had a question that's bugged me for years: Can non-programmers maintain packages? I love using Linux, I love the distro(s) I use, but don't have much to offer. I'm not much of a coder, I only speak English (no translations for me!), and don't tend to be on the cutting edge of the software I use (even if I prefer rolling distros, I skew somewhat conservative in software selection for most of my system).

The way I see it, I have two options: Help users, which I try to do as much as I can, if mostly through Reddit, and packaging. I don't know, realistically, how far I can take packaging and maintenance with my current skillset, but after a decade, I feel lazy for not giving back as much as I can, even if it's admittedly little.

I'm not *averse* to learning to program, but I haven't been able to force myself to do it, either. I'll pick up some Euler problems with python for a bit, and go on to something else. I'm fairly competent at finding out what I need for more complicated bash noscripts and can sort of figure out how a given piece of code works, but my useful abilities and general willingness seem to stop there. I even like doing it, but can't seem to focus for a long enough period to get a single language well enough down to write seriously useful code outside of bash. I have a feeling I'm not alone in this, as well.

I wouldn't want to be a burden on more competent devs and maintainers in a given distro or upstream, but I want to help where I can. I also understand that patching will be needed on occasion, and as of right now I am unable to extend the functionality of any software.

Is it a good idea for somebody in my position to maintain packages? Would it be too much headache for a project I want to contribute to?

I use Void and Arch mostly, which have simpler packaging systems, but I'm also curious about more more complicated packaging systems like Debian or RPM distros.

https://redd.it/earku4
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Ten Years Past GNOME's 10x10 Goal, The Linux Desktop Is Still Far From Having A 10% Marketshare
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNOME-10x10-After-10

https://redd.it/eao90s
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TouchCursor style keyboard remapping for Linux
https://github.com/donniebreve/touchcursor-linux

https://redd.it/eaqjdm
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An Epiphany regarding Purebrowser – Purism
https://puri.sm/posts/an-epiphany-regarding-purebrowser/

https://redd.it/ea6ynl
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Use a DSLR camera as a webcam/video recording camera in linux?

Hi,

I have a Canon EOS 7D. There are some tutorials for [taking photos](https://www.linux.com/tutorials/how-remote-control-your-camera-darktable-linux/) but there's not much out there for having this camera set up as a webcam, or a video camera that can connect to something like OBS so it can record videos straight to linux. Does anyone have any experience? Thanks

https://redd.it/eaunft
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I am looking for a video editing tool for Linux

Hey, I made a video with my iPhone and downloaded it to my Linux pc. My plan is to cut it a bit (just remove most of the parts), add some transitions between the remaining scenes, remove the audio (or maybe just replace it by a music file) and add some overlay text to it. I have never done anything like that, especially not on Linux... what are some recommendations for a good video editing program for Linux?

https://redd.it/eayffg
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The status of hybrid graphics support in Linux at the end of 2019

I'd like to inquire about how well your distro supports AMD/NVIDIA hybrid graphics on a laptop in 2019.

Please first specify your distro, its release number and your GPU, e.g. *Ubuntu 18.10 64, NVIDIA MX 250*.

* Does everything work out of the box, i.e. you install it automatically and it just works?
* If it doesn't work out of the box, how easy it is to set up? Does it require reading manuals? Editing text files? Etc.
* How easy it's to set up certain applications to run using a discrete GPU? Can it be done using GUI or you need to use CLI and run certain commands (e.g. export env variables)?
* How are power consumption and performance comparable to Windows (in case you have/had it installed)?
* Anything else.

Thank you!

https://redd.it/eayf7s
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LKML: Roman Gushchin: [PATCH RFC 00/14] The new slab memory controller
https://lkml.org/lkml/2019/9/5/1132

https://redd.it/eazh69
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SuperTux 0.6.1 released
https://www.supertux.org/news/2019/12/15/0.6.1

https://redd.it/eb4ol2
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LKML: Guenter Roeck: [PATCH 0/1] Summary: hwmon driver for temperature sensors on SATA drives
https://lkml.org/lkml/2019/12/9/8

https://redd.it/eb4827
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Celebrating 10 years of Tails!
https://tails.boum.org/news/celebrating_10_years/index.en.html

https://redd.it/eb5uk7
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Linux Experiences/Rants or Education/Certifications thread - December 16, 2019

Welcome to r/linux rants and experiences! This megathread is also to hear opinions from anyone just starting out with Linux or those that have used Linux (GNU or otherwise) for a long time.

Let us know what's annoying you, whats making you happy, or something that you want to get out to r/linux but didn't make the cut into a full post of it's own.

For those looking for certifications please use this megathread to ask about how to get certified whether it's for the business world or for your own satisfaction. Be sure to check out r/linuxadmin for more discussion in the SysAdmin world!

_Please keep questions in r/linuxquestions, r/linux4noobs, or the Wednesday automod thread._

https://redd.it/eb9yid
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Google Translate desktop client for Linux using GoldenDict and bash noscript
https://github.com/OPHoperHPO/GT-bash-client/issues/3

https://redd.it/eb9gv0
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The 2 Problems Facing Linux (and Open Source) in 2020 | Bryan Lunduke
https://www.patreon.com/posts/32306856

https://redd.it/ebc7vj
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Devices cant ping each other

So i got a very specific thing Set up. I got a Ubuntu Server running a samba Service as a naa (worked really fine so far, for my purpose) and a raspberry pi with raspbian on the other end. When i tried it out in a controlled seperate network, it worked fine! The two Devices could ping each other, the fstab Edit worked for the Auto Mount, i could view my mountpoint everywhere, where i searched it. I could see the images i put there.

Now, testrollout (its basically a Image viewer with Server side content) and nothing works.
Now i got a Set network with a dedicated IP range. Both are in the same network. Both have the same ip Ranges. Both should be able to see each other, but they dont. Bad thing, the server doesnt have access to a screen, so i cant really check the IP Adress.. Whats the problem here??

https://redd.it/ebddpn
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fre:ac 1.1 beta 1 released
https://github.com/enzo1982/freac/releases/tag/v1.1-beta1

https://redd.it/ebej53
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Deepin presents the most impactful opportunities to open-source developers

Based on some recent news, Deepin is about to hit the big leagues due to what's happening politically in China (they want to encourage home-grown software in a big way), as well as their partnership with Huawei and other massive tech firms. Combine that with their overall project plans and visual design, and it's clear that their goals are nothing less than major, mass market penetration with regular users (i.e. not developers or office workers). Just look at their progress with the upcoming v20 release -- they want to be the Apple of China. And they have a *real* good chance at reaching that goal (at least *in* China).

For this reason, I think Deepin presents major opportunities to Western developers. The project continues to feel buggy and undercooked, so there is a LOT of opportunities to contribute in a very meaningful, noticeable way. It also seems to be understaffed in many important areas.

Of course everyone's biggest issues lie with privacy concerns, so that's the other part of this. I feel like if Deepin attracts a large number of Western developers, the sheer amount of eyes and hands looking at, poking, and tinkering with it will make it nearly impossible for the Chinese government to sabotage this project.

Bottom line, I think it is a good idea to encourage as many Western developers as possible to participate with Deepin, both to keep it in check (i.e privacy) but also because it's uniquely positioned to become *massively* popular, far surpassing Ubuntu (due to sheer population size), which should be deeply satisfying to developers who make contributions that will impact millions of people.

https://redd.it/ebeq8r
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You can now pre-order the popcorn computer
https://pocket.popcorncomputer.com/

https://redd.it/ebgy1h
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Bastillion - Web-Based Bastion Host and SSH Key Management
https://www.bastillion.io/

https://redd.it/ebfe6g
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Rambler takes back the lawsuit against Nginx
https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&nv=1&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ru&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://m.lenta.ru/news/2019/12/16/rm/amp/&xid=17259,15700022,15700186,15700190,15700256,15700259,15700262,15700265,15700271,15700283&usg=ALkJrhi-UgsJ9jMCPhvljXFpJi7IY3aW5w

https://redd.it/ebjuwr
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GitHub - firasuke/awesome: A curated list of awesome projects
https://github.com/firasuke/awesome

https://redd.it/ebl3qq
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