~registry/cambria/trunk : revision 11

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Why do we need these tools?

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===========================

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Project cambria is about wrapping the existing tools for Debian/Ubuntu

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development to allow a more task-based workflow. Depending on the task the

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developer is doing there may be several things that must be done, but they

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must currently work each one out individually. We have documentation to help

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with this, but it's much simpler if your tools can take care of it for you.

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Project cambria aims to make Ubuntu development easier to get started with.

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There are several ways that it will help. Providing a task-based workflow

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where you are prompted for the information that is needed to complete the

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task, and other things are done automatically, or defaults chosen helps as

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it means you can concentrate on completing the task, rather than learning

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about all the possible changes you could make and deciding which applies.

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Project cambria aims to make Ubuntu development easier for everyone by

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automating common tasks, and alleviating some of the tool tax that we pay.

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It won't just be a beginner tool, but will provide tools and APIs that

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experienced developers can use, or can build upon to build tools that suit

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them.

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Project cambria will help to take people from novice to experienced

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developer by providing documentation that allows you to learn about the

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issues related to your current task. This provides an easier way in to the

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documentation than a large individual document (but it can still be read

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that way if you like).

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Project cambria will make Ubuntu development more pleasurable by focusing

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on the user experience. It will aim to pull together disparate interfaces

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in to a single pleasing one. Where it needs to defer to a different interface

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it should provide the user with an explanation of what they will be seeing

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to lessen the jarring effect.

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That's all well and good, but what do you mean?

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===============================================

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See the mockups/ directory for some ideas about what could be done to

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achieve this.

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Great, how can I try it?

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========================

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There isn't a lot to try yet. The following projects are ongoing to

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work towards this

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* cambria (this project) - http://launchpad.net/cambria

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* ubuild (a library for building packages) - https://launchpad.net/ubuild

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* gedit-ubudev (a GEdit plugin for doing Ubuntu development)

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- https://edge.launchpad.net/gedit-ubudev

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First create a new directory to contain all of the branches related

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to cambria.

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mkdir ~/project-cambria

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cd ~/project-cambria

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The first thing to get is ubuild:

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bzr branch lp:ubuild

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cd ubuild

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# This installs the D-Bus configuration files that are neccesary

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# for it to work.

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./install-dbus

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cd ..

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Then you can get cambria:

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bzr branch lp:cambria

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Then the gedit plugin:

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bzr branch lp:gedit-ubudev

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cd gedit-ubudev

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./install-gedit-plugin

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cd ..

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Now if you run

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./gedit-ubudev/run-gedit

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you should get gedit with the Ubuntu Packaging plugin available,

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but before you can use it you have to enable it. To do this

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go to Edit->Preferences, to the Plugins tab, and scroll down to

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find "Ubuntu Packaging" and check the box next to it. If it is

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greyed-out then there was a problem loading the plugin, in which

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case look at the console output and file a bug with the messages.

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Sounds like a great idea, but it clearly needs work, how do I help?

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===================================================================

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You are right, there is a lot of work needed, from a lot of people. In fact,

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there's probably a job for anyone. Here's an incomplete list of what we

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need, feel free to help in other ways or ask for ideas.

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UI design

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---------

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We need good UI design, especially for the GUI tools. It needs to take

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in to account the needs of developers, either for Ubutnu, or for e.g. PPAs

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and combine them in a user interface that is a pleasure to use and helps

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more than it gets in the way. This will often be tricky, but it doesn't

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mean we shouldn't try.

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If you have some ideas then please draw some mockups of them and we can

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discuss them. They will need to be extended from mockups in to

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specifications of how the elements should work after that.

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UI implementors

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---------------

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Once we have these fantastic mockups then they need to be converted to code

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so that they can be used. This requires UI implementors, either writing code

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or using a GUI tool such as glade.

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At this stage the UIs don't have to do anything, we can worry about that part

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later, once the next group have something to use.

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API/library coders

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------------------

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We need libraries for the tasks we want to allow people to perform. These

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libraries need to have APIs that are flexible enough to allow different

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implementations (command line, gtk, qt, etc.), but are as pleasurable

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to use as the tools we wish to create.

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That's the goal though, the first aim would be to have working code.

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There's many many things we need libraries writing for, and we don't

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need UI mockups to get started with the coding, so start hacking on the

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existing libraries, or ask about other things that need coding.

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Documenters

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-----------

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Documentation is going to be incredibly important to this project, and

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so documenters will be too. We need to document both the tools themselves

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and Ubuntu development together so that the developer can seamlessly learn

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that something needs to be done and how to go about doing it.

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This is a very large topic, but we can get a lot of benefit from having

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something small to start with. Feel free to ask about things that neeed

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documentation.

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Translations

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------------

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To make this tool pleasurable for the widest audience we should ensure that

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it is well-localised. We should make sure that code we write is localised,

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and also encourage other projects to do the same.

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Unfortunately we are lagging on this aspect, and so the first step will be

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to add in the basic infrastructure to allow localisation.

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Packagers

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We need to package up all the results of the above, otherwise no-one

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will be able to easily use them.

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In addition though, we need packagers to be the users of the tools we

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create, so that we know how well they fit the purpose. This means

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that packagers are our users and testers too. You don't have to be

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an Ubuntu developer to do this though. Whether you are, you are

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working towards it, or just have some things you want to put in to

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a PPA you can help.

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More

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----

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There is loads more to be done. There should be more sections added

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here, but we will never be able to list everything. If you have an

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idea for what could be done then talk to us and we will help you

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work out the best way to achieve it.

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How do I actually go about submitting my work?

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==============================================

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UI design

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When you have an idea or a mockup that you would like to discuss

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go to

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/cambria/+filebug

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and fill in a summary of your idea. It will suggest some possible

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matches, but it's always fine to submit a new bug that we can

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mark as a duplicate later if necessary. Then on the next page explain

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it in more detail, don't worry about trying to explain everything,

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just include all you can at that point. Once you are done click

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"Submit Bug Report."

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If you have mockups or other files that you want other people to see

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you can attach them to the bug report when you have created it.

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Once you have submitted the bug we can discuss the idea and take

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it from there.

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UI Implementation

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-----------------

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If you want to work external to the existing code then you can

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do the same as for UI design and attach the files to a bug report,

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otherwise you can submit the changes in a Bazaar branch if you

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are comfortable with that. See the API/library code section for

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information on doing that.

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API/Library code

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Earlier it was explained how to get the code and run it, so that

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is most of the way to being able to work on it.

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One tricky part is working out which component you should be

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changing to work on something. Feel free to ask for guidance.

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As you will no doubt see, getting and running the code isn't

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as slick as it could be, so contributions there would be very

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valuable at this stage.

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Documentation

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-------------

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We don't have a documentation structure at all yet, so the first

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step will be to define that. If you want to tackle this then file

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a bug so that we can discuss what the best method is.

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Translations

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As said above, we don't have any infrastructure. If you want to take

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on this job then you can file a bug to get some guidance, or you

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can dive straight in to code changes if you know how.

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Packagers

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For packaging the code itself we want packaging branches made for

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each project. If you are interested in this but need some help

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file a bug where we can dicsuss it.

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If you want to use the tools then see above for how to go about

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doing that. As you are doing so please file bug reports and

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feature requests (though bear in mind that the project is in

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its infancy, and so there will be many many known issues.) A

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good way to contribute at this stage would be explaining what

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task you want to accomplish and what steps are needed. This can

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be done in a bug report.

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More

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----

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If you have an idea and want to discuss it then file a bug report.

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If you want a suggestion of something to work on then file a bug,

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send an email, or grab someone on IRC. You can also look at the open

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bug reports at

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/cambria/+bugs

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to see if there is anything you would like to work on.

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