Get involved: where Rocky Linux needs you right now

Earlier this year, we ran a short community survey and received 30 responses, a handful of direct questions, and no fluff. The results were candid in the best way: people told us what they love about this project, where things have fallen short, and where they want to see things go.

One thing stood out clearly: a meaningful chunk of people want to contribute but haven't found the right entry point yet. Thirty-one percent of respondents said they're interested in getting involved but aren't currently active. That's a lot of potential sitting on the sidelines.

If you've been waiting for a clear signal of where to start, this is for you.

How to connect

Mattermost is home base. Here are the relevant channels to jump into based on what interests you:

~General: good starting point if you're not sure where you fit yet
~Testing: introduce yourself and tag Stack directly if you have questions about the testing team
~Documentation: for contributor-facing docs and guides
~SIG/AltArch: for AltArch SIG work and coordination
~Community: good starting point if you'd like to help with moderation

The forums are also active and well-maintained. If you find yourself answering Rocky Linux questions on Reddit, consider pointing people toward Mattermost or the forums where the broader community can see the conversation and contribute to it.

Testing and QA

The testing team is the most active contributor group in the survey data, and for good reason. Stack and the team around openQA have built something genuinely welcoming, and survey respondents called them out by name.

There are several ways to plug in, depending on what you enjoy:

Run hardware probe tests. No special setup required. Run the test, share the results back through whatever communication channel you prefer. Here's how to get started.
Proofread docs and write some Bash. The Rocky Sparky project has open work waiting. Take a look.
Build kickstarts. The Rocky Kickstart project has open issues and room for contributors. See what's there.
Go deep on openQA. If you want to get into the test automation itself, start here.
Cloud infrastructure. This is the team's most pressing need right now. If you have cloud expertise and want to help design and build better testing tools, this project is for you.

Documentation

Contributor-facing documentation is a gap we know exists. There's a shortage of guides for specific areas: testing workflows, packaging, infrastructure. If you understand how things work and can explain them clearly to someone who doesn't yet, this work is yours to own.

Good docs lower the barrier for everyone who comes after you.

Community coordination

Survey feedback pointed to onboarding as a friction point. People don't always know what's available to work on, and when they do find something, coordination can break down. Someone needs to own this: curating good first issues, following up with new contributors, and making sure people don't get lost in the process. Other opportunities exist around event coordination, Mattermost and IRC moderation, and active community engagement, including reaching out to communicate project needs as they arise.

If organizing and supporting people sounds more interesting to you than writing code, this role matters just as much.

AltArch SIG

The AltArch SIG has a solid backlog and a core group of longtime contributors who know the work well. What it needs is someone willing to help lead and provide direction. Existing expertise in the area is a bonus, not a prerequisite. Willingness to learn and show up consistently is what counts.

A note of thanks

If you filled out the survey, thank you. Your feedback is shaping what happens next, including some structural changes around transparency and decision-making that we'll have more to say about soon.