
Ask HN: What is the hottest OSS software I should contribute to - neo2006
I mostly program in Go, Java and C++ (been a while since i used C++). I have a lot of spare time with the lockdown situation and would like to use the time to contribute more to open source. I already contributed some small fixes&#x2F;features to projects like terraform or gogen-avro but would like to do more.
I would like a friendly project where I can learn fast or where the community is able to get you to speed.<p>Any suggestions?
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morceauxdebois
Matrix, there's a very real chance that a FOSS, E2E, federated messaging
service can topple all the proprietary market giants. It's fully featured and
just needs some polish to fully enter mass adoption.

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stakkur
It's awesome that you suggested Matrix to a user named Neo.

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RealStickman
Should've started with "Hello Neo"

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neo2006
I chose the blue pill!!!

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kxh6
Could we create like a hiring thread for floss contribution? I already asked
about this yesterday but since my account is new it got marked as dead.

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Dahoon
Wouldn't it be better to contribute to something totally uncool instead since
those projects are more in need of developers? Something like libraries maybe.
If you are new(ish) there's a helpful site here:

[https://www.firsttimersonly.com/](https://www.firsttimersonly.com/)

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souprock
I think "the hottest" would be "totally uncool" by definition.

Here are a few projects, many unmaintained, which qualify:

[https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/cpuburn/](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/cpuburn/)
[https://core-electronics.com.au/tutorials/stress-testing-
you...](https://core-electronics.com.au/tutorials/stress-testing-your-
raspberry-pi.html)
[https://packages.debian.org/jessie/cpuburn](https://packages.debian.org/jessie/cpuburn)
[https://github.com/patrickmn/cpuburn](https://github.com/patrickmn/cpuburn)
[http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/cpuburn.1.ht...](http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/cpuburn.1.html)
[https://patrickmn.com/projects/cpuburn/](https://patrickmn.com/projects/cpuburn/)

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diehunde
Question for people who contribute: how do you familiarize yourself with the
project at the beginning? I'm talking about the actual source code. Do you
have any strategy to start? Maybe debugging API calls, or study single files?
Thanks.

~~~
throwaway158497
If it is a random project, then you are pretty much lost. So, Do not
contribute to them. Think of a project you use and where you would like to see
a few features. Pick it up, subscribe to the issues for a few days and get
some familiarity. After that, compile it and put a few debug points.

Also, write to the developer(s) of the project that you are looking for
something to work on. If they suggest something, work on it.

That said, I think Apache Foundation projects are pretty well documented. Try
them.

This is all advice from a person who never contributed to OSS.

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notRobot
The Tor project. Millions of users who care about their privacy or live in
oppressed regimes rely on it for unrestricted access to the internet.

[https://www.torproject.org/](https://www.torproject.org/)

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neo2006
I found out this github repo that label first timer issues.
[https://github.com/MunGell/awesome-for-
beginners](https://github.com/MunGell/awesome-for-beginners)

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fullito
I thought about looking for projects which are open source and used very very
often but are totally boring like image libraries, encryption etc.

Then doing performance analysis and optimization.

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itm
I guess your best bet to keep motivation on the long term is to contribute to
projects your are using daily.

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verdverm
I'll post our project here, we have some good open issues they are pretty easy
and help to know the code base.

It's a code generation framework written in Go and uses
[https://cuelang.org](https://cuelang.org) which we believe is an up and
comer.

[https://github.com/hofstadter-io/hof](https://github.com/hofstadter-io/hof)

~~~
neo2006
Thank you, I will try to grab one of the issues and see if I can help. I used
some go code generation while working with gogen-avro

