the Design Experience Weblog Archive

Since then OpenACS 4.x has grown. I started out with really no understanding of this very complex system. I just started hacking, and reading source code. A lot of source code. I experimented and even convinced some people that I had a clue. Now about two years later I feel that I actually have a good idea what is going on and can make some excellent contributions.

I encourage everyone who thinks they might want to be a hacker to try the things you think will be too hard. In porting my first package from oracle to davebql for OpenACS 4.5 I had to dive right into the acs-kernel and acs-content-repository, two of the more complex, and key packages in OpenACS 4.x. Taking that jump, and quite a bit of trial and error was a great learning experience.

Similarly, I recently stuck my toe into the water of Linux kernel programming. The two readers I have already know I purchased a laptop. I wanted to get ACPI working to report battery status, control the fan, adjust processor speed and al those fun features that "just work" under other operating systems. Unfortunately there were some bugs in the ACPI definitions built into the BIOS (I have no idea how it works under other OSs, they must just ignore bugs and depatures from the spec). There is some information about fixing this on the net. I really had to poke around in quite a few places and look at the same thing 10 or 15 times, but eventually I gained enough understanding to fix a few of the problems. After finding someone with a similar laptop I was able to be ACPI for all the devices working. In addition to getting ACPI working, I can now recompile my kernel with one eye tied behind my back. I recommend Debian and the make-kpkg process.

So, I think besides an interest in hacking, you also need a strong intolerance for things that don't work. I really don't like it when things aren't working, and it gets me motivated to fix it. I definitely appreciate the people working on the Linux kernel who are figuring out these things for all of us.