Hello everyone! I am an enthusiast developer, looking to help develop kdenlive. I have experience writing console applications in C++, though not so much GUI's. However, that will change over the next few months. I want to start developing useful applications. In my opinion, Linux lacks a really good video editor. So, I decided to do something about it. I want to help develop kdenlive. I will probably have to start small, like debugging or providing ideas, and work my way up to adding patches/features/code/etc along those lines. I am currently installing the source as I am writing this. Now, I have some questions I hope you guys can answer:

-Where would be a good place to start developing?
-How hard is it to develop for kdenlive? What sorts of skills/programming knowledge will I need?
-Do you guys have an IRC network?
-Do you guys have a list of bugs that need worked on?
-Does my distribution of Linux affect anything? (Using mint 17 XFCE because it's fast and light and LTS).

I look forward to joining this community of fellow developers/users. I hope to start contributing something useful soon!

Welcome John,

Enthusiasm is one of the primary qualities of a programmer/analyst !!! I don't think you have to call yourself an 'enthusiast developer' - maybe 'enthusiastic developer'....

My first suggestion is to re-post your inquiry to the Kdenlive developer's list: kdenlive-devel@lists.sourceforge.net

-Where would be a good place to start developing?

Depends upon your skill level. The bug list needs some attention. I've got some degree of familiarity with Kdenlive and enough experience to find my way around. Therefore, if you find a bug on the list that seems enticing to you, feel free to hit me up w/ questions and I'll give you a heading to steer by....

-How hard is it to develop for kdenlive? What sorts of skills/programming knowledge will I need?

Kdenlive is a very complex piece of software that requires the mastery of many concepts and abilities. That said, the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first steps so don't let the complexity daunt you. You'll need to understand things like multithreading, asynchronous processing, frameworks, GUI programming, compile-systems (i.e. CMake) etc. etc.

-Do you guys have a list of bugs that need worked on?

http://www.kdenlive.org/mantis/view_all_bug_page.php?page_number=1

-Does my distribution of Linux affect anything? (Using mint 17 XFCE because it's fast and light and LTS).

If mint is working for you then you're probably OK. I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I'm also using Kdevelop as the IDE. It's not my fav but it is adequate.

A good place to start is getting the code from projects.kde.org using git and start digging around.
kdenlive has an IRC channel, #kdenlive on irc.freenode.net. There's also a KDE development channel in #kde-devel for general discussions, and #qt for Qt-related stuff. There are also various useful mailing lists.

Your distribution doesn't matter, as long as you have reasonably new versions of the libaries the stuff you develop depends on. It can get annoying if you have to compile those yourself.

Greetings!

@Steve Guilford
Hello,
I tried using the link you mentioned (kdenlive-devel@lists.sourceforge.net) and I get a page asking me to create some sort of account, and it requires email server information and such. Needless to say I dont have the information and am thoroughly confused... If thats an email adress, I dont know what I'm supposed to send/inquire about. Sorry for sounding like a complete idiot, but I really don't know how to do what you asked.

@scummos
Thanks for the information. I will pop on the IRC today at some point.

JohnBobSmith wrote:@Steve Guilford
Hello,
I tried using the link you mentioned (kdenlive-devel@lists.sourceforge.net) and I get a page asking me to create some sort of account, and it requires email server information and such. Needless to say I dont have the information and am thoroughly confused... If thats an email adress, I dont know what I'm supposed to send/inquire about. Sorry for sounding like a complete idiot, but I really don't know how to do what you asked.

It's asking you to create a SourceForge account. An account is required in order to post to the mail list. You will also be able to subscribe to the kdenlive developer's list - and others. You're apt to get a quicker and more comprehensive response to any development questions if you post them to the developer's list. You can also go to sourceforge.net and click on the join button in the upper-right corner.

Hello again,

I succesfully created the sourceforge account. How do I join th developers list you mentioned? I will be in the IRC today starting at about 20:30 (8:30) PM Mountain Standard Time. I will be sure to have a look around sourceforge and see if I can figure it out.

(Unrelated: Why is the list on sourceforge and not kde.org?)