[dgplug-users] Interested in the SMTP Project

[P J P]

   Hello Nikhil,

On Thursday, 6 November 2014 12:08 AM, Nikhil Ramesh wrote:
>     I have never fixed a bug before. So I wanted some help to start with.
> I asked this in the IRC #introduction channel. They first told me to
> build mozilla-central. I am downloading the codebase now. They also
> gave me a beginner bug to solve. ( Involving the Mach tool). I wanted
> to reproduce the bug first. And I didn't message in the list because
> I have no experience in fixing bugs and rather wanted to ask basic
> questions personally.

  This is a very common scenario; And community is well aware of the beginner's questionnaire and difficulties. I'm willing to help you out to get started.

> Am I going the right way?

  No, right way is to converse on the list rather than off it. Because as you have beginner level questions, others on the list could have them too. And by your asking those questions, they get to learn from it too. Private conversations do not have this advantage. Other major advantage of conversing on the list is - archives. You could always point to an age old thread in the list archives which answers some question.

Ex. today you ask one question which is answered and archived on the list. 3 months down, someone else comes up with the same query, you just have to point them to the old archived answer. Private conversations do not facilitate this.

> Should anyone who wants to contribute download
> the whole repository and build it first?

  Yes. The repository here means project's source repository. Unless you download it, compile and build it on your machine, how would write & test a patch for it?

>From here-on, please stick to the mailing list. Don't worry about how easy or difficult your questions are, just ask.

Hope it helps.
---Regards
   -Prasad
http://feedmug.com