We think that having issues labeled Starter on GitLab is a great tool to help new contributors getting into Tails. Here are a few criteria to help us determine which issues to put in this category.

We want to allow people with very different skills to contribute to Tails for the first time. Programmers, web designers, documentation writers, or translators should be able to find tasks that they can complete without having to acquire a deep knowledge of Tails or to learn how to use tools that are outside of their field of expertise.

Creating a Starter task

When creating an Starter task, try to write a description that is as helpful as possible to someone who is new to the project:

  • Describe precisely what to achieve and the skills needed.
  • Explicitly link to useful resources (eg. code), information (eg. threads), etc.

General

  • Not Starter:
    • Is blocked by other issues.
    • Needs to be split to be actionable.

Audit & Research

  • Not Starter:
    • Interacts with several subsystems of Tails.

Code

  • Starter:
    • Write a patch that doesn't need to rebuild Tails.
  • Not Starter:
    • The first solution that comes to your mind is not the right one.
    • Interact with several subsystems of Tails.
    • Rework on a first attempt to code that failed because things were more difficult that they seemed at first glance.
    • Have specific hardware for the task.

Discuss

  • Not applicable.

Documentation

  • Starter:
    • Write user documentation.
  • Not Starter:
    • Use Git or send patches.

Promote

  • Starter:
    • Explain how to use Tails as described in the documentation.
  • Not Starter:
    • Explain how Tails work based on the design document.
    • Speak on behalf of Tails.

Sysadmin

  • Not Starter:
    • Have privileges on Tails infrastructure.
  • Starter:
    • Work that can be tested locally, for example using a virtual machine.
    • Work on programs that achieve one-time goals.
    • Write Puppet patches.

Test

  • Starter:
    • Test behaviour of Tails using the GUI.
  • Not Starter:
    • Code or build a dedicated testing infrastructure.

Translate & Website

  • Not Starter:
    • Use Git or send patches.

Wait & Communicate

  • Starter:
    • Send nice emails to ask for updates.