[Zev]

Because I don't want to add memory leaks trying to add features to mongrel2

You won't. Just send that patch in that fixes a bug/adds a feature. If its less than perfect, well, thats why code gets reviewed before committed. Other people look at the code and tell you whats wrong. And then you fix it! If you're not sure how to fix it, you ask, and someone will help.

I'm not enough of a ruby wizard to hack on Rails or Sinatra yet..

So what? You don't have to understand the entire system to be able to fix one small part of it. You don't need to understand minutiae of actionmailer to improve active record.

And how big do you think Sinatra is? I'm willing to bet its significantly smaller and less complicated than you seem to think it is :) *

I had more typed up, but, it can basically be summed up as:

  1. Find a project you like.
  2. Don't make any excuses and send in a patch.
  3. ???
  4. Profit! (aka: Goal reached)

* Sinatra is small; about 2k LOC, with ~400 LOC being html templates.