Contributing to Ubuntu

Introductions

Ubuntu - popular Linux distro based on Debian, sponsored by Canonical
Local contributors:
Lamont Jones - one of the first Ubuntu Core Team members starting in 2004
Joey Stanford (blog) - started the Colorado Ubuntu Linux Team
Jim Hutchinson, a strong advocate for Ubuntu in education - see his Ubuntu Kids blog
Over 150 members of the Colorado Ubuntu Linux Team, including about 5 folks recognized by the Community Council as "Ubuntu Members" (Lamont, Joey, Jim, David Overcash and me).
Our new CULT leader, Mitch Mahan
Carl Richell - founder of System 76, a leading vendor of Ubuntu-based hardware (like my new laptop).

Great, friendly community, based on the Code of Conduct
Diverse: from 14-year old students to retired computing pioneers, reaches out to ubuntu women, etc.
Low barriers to entry, good tools for contributors
Multi-lingual
Worldwide network of Local Teams
Meritocracy via open processes
- Community Council
- Technical Board
- Core Developers (~50) with "commit" rights on "main" (supported packages). Perhaps half of the core team works for Canonical.
- Masters of the Universe (~100) with "commit" rights on "universe". "universe" is the category of Ubuntu packages which is available but not supported by Canonical.
- Ubuntu Members (~336)
- Ubunteros (~6000) - signed the Code of Conduct
- Also 1 "SABDFL" (Self-Appointed Benevolent Dictator For Life), Mark Shuttleworth, but he leaves nearly all decisions to the community.

Try it out, and share it with your friends and colleagues
Give feedback via bug reports, forum posts, irc input
Bug day - confirm bugs, "triage", work on them, etc.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek/ (Feb 2008) and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek (Oct 2007) - see the transcripts of IRC sessions in #ubuntu-classroom
Hang out with the Colorado Ubuntu Linux Team in #ubuntu-us-co on freenode
Polish documentation pages via the wiki in a topic of your interest
Find a team that appeals to you: Server team, Laptop Testing, Marketing team, etc.
Translate apps into a language you know
Package applications as a "Master of the Universe". To get started, see PPA and Ubuntu Packaging 101
Plan an event like Software Freedom Day, Ubucon Boulder, Colorado Technology in Education Conference
Write specification ("blueprints") for future versions. Every 6 months there is an Ubuntu Developer Summit - a week-long multi-track set of meetings to decide on and document the roadmap for the next 6 months and beyond. Free for all to attend. Not a "conference". Some "sponsored" attendees. Great people. Great food :-)
See also: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ContributeToUbuntu

Tools focused on collaborative development: with other distros like Debian, with the many derivatives of Ubuntu, and with upstream projects
Next-generation distributed code development: bzr - easy to manage and publish your own code versions/branches of a package, easy to merge in changes from others.
Launchpad - sort of like sourceforge. Ties together much of the development of Ubuntu and other derivatives and projects like Zope. Tracking projects, people, teams, code, bugs, specifications, translations, support queries, etc. Proprietary, for now, unfortunately.
Personal Package Archives (PPA) - build, upload, deploy a package in your own apt-based repository that others can subscribe to and get updates from. Provide packages for preview, testing, or roll-your-own distribution.... See also the Falcon repository builder - a similar tool that is open source