I've been a Unix admin for many years and I've recently decided I'd like to get into C (and later C++) software development. I have a solid understanding of the C language itself and a modest knowledge of software development principles, data structures, design patterns and Unix interprocess communications. I have collected and read quite a bit of programming literature; however, I have yet to actually write or read any programs longer than about 5 pages of code.
Can anyone suggest some small, yet real-world opensource programs to start out reading and/or possibly contributing to? The program should employ as few special libraries as possible, so that I don't get bogged down in and discouraged by the amount of new libraries to learn. Ideally, it would also be a perfect model of good programming style, with the proper amount of code comments, and few "clever tricks" to confuse me. It would be a nice bonus if the program is well known and is a standard part of linux/unix distros.
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. Thank you for your time!
CornedBee