Re: [Gimp-developer] Easy access for contributors

[gfxuser <gfx user online de>]

Hi,
> Based on the thread title "[Gimp-developer] Easy access for 
> contributors" and the initial message I was under the impression that 
> we are talking about an idea of offering a /"pre-built developer 
> virtual machine, created with say SUSE factory and downloadable from 
> the GIMP developers page"/ or similarly fashioned dev 'shortcut' and 
> not GSoC. Did I get the context wrong?
No, you just got it right. My initial posting did not address developers 
only, but also other potential contributors, like testers, bug 
reporters, artists etc. IMO it's not their business to first learn 
Linux, to package, to set up an environment, meanwhile see gray hair 
growing on their heads and - weeks or months later - eventually start 
trying out Gimp. Judging from my own painful experiences when making my 
first steps with Linux I see very few chances, that they will be still 
in the biz then.
> If not... With that context in mind, it seemed like a worthy idea to 
> provide such a thing to the public.
I'm glad that somebody else sees these chances. As Alexandre stated 
here, Gimp developers currently have no capacities for packaging. 
Presently I'm also not able to do it, but if the idea is good, don't get 
it lost! Maybe I can return in a few months and see this idea has 
matured and put more energy into it.

Secondly, in Gimps download area I saw binaries only for the stable 
branch, if current at all. For version 2.7.5. there are only sources 
available. The aforementioned people need something do start and go. So 
I made the proposal (oh no, a proposal... ;-) ) to put a link to 
graphicall.org at the links page (http://graphicall.org/?keywords=gimp). 
They have pre-built Gimp packages (without dev environment I suppose, 
but this would be enough). This seems do be doable and Gimps website 
maintainers are currently working on a site redesign. It could bring 
more supporting people into this project without much effort. Maybe you 
have capabilities to support the team there.

Best regards,

grafxuser