Some of you know that BitWise uses the wxWidgets library to work some its cross-platform magic on Windows, Linux and OS X. We first started using wxWidgets for BitWise when BitWise was rewritten (that major effort began May 2003 and ended March 2004). One of the advantages of using an open-source collaborative library like wxWidgets is that when you find a small bug that affects you, you can take the initiative to fix it yourself, and then submit a patch to the wxWidgets team so that everyone else can benefit from your work.
Naturally, since BitWise is a rather far-reaching application, it uses many of the features and functions in wxWidgets. I've certainly found some bugs and do my best to fix them if I can (about half the time), or to make a bug report so someone with more expertise in that area can fix what's broken. However, the bug / patch system itself has some drawbacks in that the bug reports and patches can be badly written, hard to understand, not really bugs, etc and can get out of date or fixed in another way. What takes a lot of time is managing all the bugs and patches, and one problem with the whole wxWidgets development cycle is that the bug reports and patches have piled up in some places due to the lack of time to process them.
I'm no wxWidgets "expert," but I definitely know my way around after using it for a year and a half. Sometimes I'm looking for a little side task as a distraction, and I decided that working through and closing old, outdated, non-applicable, etc patches and bugs would be a great way to give back to the community that has given us so much. I applied for bug/patch tracker admin access and I got it, which is quite an honor.
Why would I want more work you may ask? I don't view it so much as work but as a way to give back to the community that has allowed us to create BitWise on Windows, Linux and OS X with a clean, solid development API. Plus it meas that when other people take a look at the bugs and patches to either fix bugs or apply patches, they can find useful items, which makes wxWidgets better for everyone. A better wxWidgets means a better BitWise, and who doesn't want a better BitWise? :)
That's great! As someone who is starting the Sams 21-Day C++ Diet, is a bit over-eager to see something graphical, and chose wxWidgets as a place to start, I thank you! :)