

How I've started to contribute to open source - gaelian
http://blog.binarybalance.com.au/2011/05/25/how-i%27ve-started-to-contribute-to-open-source

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Derbasti
It's funny. It really took me committing something to some open project to
realize that all those programmers out there are actually all people like me.

When I first committed something to an OSS project, I got an amazing response
full of gratitude and warmth. For me, this took a lot of anxiety out of the
whole experience! Since then, I have contributed several small things to
several projects. That is the way it should be!

Funny enough, my first commit to an OSS project felt very similar to my first
post to a message board, my first post to a foreign message board, my first
post to Hacker News, hell, in some ways even to all those first awkward
sentences you exchange with any human being!

Which just proves that the Internet as a whole is actually just a bunch of
people. And most of the active contributors are really nice, too!

~~~
joshfinnie
>my first post to Hacker News

You mean you were downvoted because you said "I agree!" and had to start with
a karma of -19?

Doesn't sound fun!

~~~
Derbasti
Not at all. But in contrast to most forums and message boards, people seem to
be pretty intelligent around here.

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ecaron
One of the most rewarding ways I've found to contribute to open source is to
connect communities and developers. Like if someone posts a fork on github,
put the original developer in contact with them and make sure there's an
effort to collaborate rather than differentiate.

It seems trivial and obvious, but for the dozens of times that I've been able
to make a connection it really seems to pay off. As other commenters have
noted, it isn't until you're developing that you realize that other developers
are just like you - the same goes with assumptions of the original project
creators. "He works at Facebook, he'd never respond to me" or "She is from
Germany, surely there's a language barrier", etc. are all excuses that cause
forking.

As we all know, it is easier to download the source, fix your bug, and not
submit a bugfix - as open source projects continue to increase exponentially,
I think we'll see more of the successful projects being the ones that have
people actively creating & seeking collaboration rather than assuming it will
occur in the wild.

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metastew
Thanks for your article. I've been trying to jump into contributing to OSS
projects for some times but I've been unable to figure out where to start.
"Scratch your own itch" is probably the best way to start for someone like me.

~~~
ecaron
Another great way is to find a project you use, look at the bug reports, and
start fixing them. Go after the small ones, or the fun ones, whatever seems
appealing. Odds are that if the bug is still open but not critical, you'll be
the first one to submit the fix and start to become loved by the community!

------
HamletDRC3
I run an open source programming group that meets once a month in my area and
also self-assembles a few times a year at programming conferences I attend.
The idea is that we meet for a few hours on Friday night and the meeting is
over when there is at least one patch to a project. It's fun and I've made
some friends, but there is nothing as rewarding as taking a first-timer and
leading them through the process of build/fix/send-patch. It a trivial process
as long as someone is in the room to help you through it.

There are a lot of groups like this around the world. Search for "bug mash",
"hackerspace", or "hackergarten" in your area. I highly recommend attending
something like this. (And if you're in the Basel or Baden-Württemberg area
then come out to my group. I'm grilling American hamburgers for everyone
tomorrow night).

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Yoric
I believe that most open-source developers started by scratching one of their
itches. Probably quite a few, too, by just open-sourcing academic work.

Now, I wonder: how many coders did start by being ordered by their boss to
open-source their code and/or to contribute to an existing open-source
project?

~~~
leon_
I don't know if such bosses exist. Many of my programmer friends would like to
make their stuff opensource but their bosses (companies) forbid it. Though
it's mostly really useful but not "trade secret" stuff.

------
JeremyS
nice article, I was ever searching for something like that!

~~~
mtogo
Generally, the etiquette on HN is to use the upvote button to register that
you like something, rather than to post a comment.

~~~
galois17
I don't see any problem with someone expressing verbally that they like
something instead of just up voting. Though, I do see a problem when someone
tells people how to express themselves.

~~~
BrandonM
I think you're mostly being downvoted for your second sentence:

\- It's ironically hypocritical in that you're implying mtogo shouldn't tell
someone how to comment while simultaneously doing it yourself.

\- It's misplaced because mtogo's comment was informative and neutral while
yours was opinion-based and snarky.

Aside from those issues, you're a new member weighing in on proper HN
etiquette. Does that seem sensible?

~~~
galois17
I have no problem getting downvoted. To clarify though, I expressed my opinion
disagreeing with mtogo's comment. I did not tell him/imply what/how he should
comment. In any case, I did't know that opinion-based comments are discouraged
in an opinion-based comment thread. I guess I am missing something here...

~~~
BrandonM
Your comment criticized mtogo for criticizing someone's comment. That is
irony.

Presumably, mtogo voted JeremyS down because his comment lacked substance.
Because JeremyS is a new member, he then informed him of why he voted him down
and what is generally proper HN etiquette.

You then weighed in for no apparent reason. If you were speaking from
expertise, experience, or authority, (e.g., if it had been pg instead of you)
your opinion would carry more weight and therefore be worth stating. Instead,
it just added more noise to a comment subthread lacking substance.

The point of both my comments and mtogo's are to emphasize one of the things
that HN users value most: a high signal-to-noise ratio in comment threads.
Pull up threads from a few years ago and you will notice a major difference in
the tone and the information density. We are both trying to help new users
understand how to make Hacker News a better place for everyone.

~~~
mtogo
Just to clarify; I actually didn't vote JeremyS down, but rather up, because
he was receiving downvotes and didn't know the etiquette. I thought i'd let
him know the etiquette so he doesn't get downvoted in the future.

------
kahawe
My own first experience in trying to contribute where far from that pleasant
and successful.

This was some years ago; I was working on one of those (back then) much
beloved projects of integrating Linux file servers into an existing Active
Directory domain.

This works pretty neat and well with samba, kerberos and samba's "winbind"
daemon. Now, that winbind daemon can store its users/user-mappings on an LDAP
server thus several Linux file servers would share a common user database.
Typically this was done by setting up or using a separate OpenLDAP but with a
few tricks, one could actually use the Active Directory itself to store all
that along-side the user and not have the hassle of having to set up yet
another directory server or tree.

I tried contacting the samba team but never really got a reply other than
"they will look at it" and after months of not hearing from them, I asked
again and that was it; haven't heard from them since.

------
leon_
Hmm, I went the other route. Instead of contributing to other projects I
opensourced mine. Maybe someone might find them useful. :)

