
Ask HN: Who needs contributors? (November 2016) - joshdotsmith
Looking for contributors to your project? Feel free to post any project that may interest HN readers, with a strong preference towards open source. Please follow this general format:
Project name<p>Project description<p>What do you hope to build this month?<p>What kind of skills do you need?<p>Link to your GitHub or somewhere else you&#x27;d like to onboard new contributors, like your project management software or chat room.<p>Your license(s)<p>Consider tagging your project’s relevant issues with “ask hn”. To search these issues, go to https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;q=state%3Aopen+label%3A%22ask+hn%22&amp;type=Issues&amp;ref=searchresults
======
joshdotsmith
Code Corps ([https://www.codecorps.org](https://www.codecorps.org))

We're helping volunteers and donors contribute to software projects for social
good.

Monthly Goals:

\- Finish Stripe integration so projects can start raising monthly
contributions

\- Redesign task UI

\- Rework CSS to use flexbox and be more responsive

\- Minor features in blog

Skills needed: Elixir, Phoenix, PostgreSQL, JavaScript, Ember.js, HTML, CSS,
Sass, flexbox, UI and graphic design (Sketch a plus), dev ops (Docker, AWS)

Slack: [http://slack.codecorps.org/](http://slack.codecorps.org/)

Elixir Phoenix API: [https://github.com/code-corps/code-corps-
api](https://github.com/code-corps/code-corps-api)

Ember front-end: [https://github.com/code-corps/code-corps-
ember](https://github.com/code-corps/code-corps-ember)

WordPress blog: [https://github.com/code-corps/blog.codecorps.org-
site](https://github.com/code-corps/blog.codecorps.org-site)

License: MIT

~~~
sfaf
This looks interesting. Are you a non-profit?

~~~
joshdotsmith
We're a public benefit corporation!

> Benefit Corporations: 1) have an expanded purpose beyond maximizing share
> value to explicitly include general and specific public benefit; 2) are
> required to consider/balance the impact of their decisions not only on
> shareholders but also on their stakeholders; and 3) are required to make
> available to the public, except in Delaware, an annual benefit report that
> assesses their overall social and environmental performance against a third
> party standard. Such report does not need to certified or audited by a third
> party, but use the standard as an assessment tool.

We opted against a non-profit because it's vastly easier to distribute funds
quickly to projects under this structure (think Kickstarter – also a benefit
corp) and because the IRS seems to deny charitable status for organizations
that build open source software.

------
CiPHPerCoder
CMS Airship
([https://github.com/paragonie/airship](https://github.com/paragonie/airship))
is a PHP CMS that aims to be _secure-by-default_. To this end, we pinned our
minimum version to PHP 7 (for type safety and ease of static analysis) and
built our cryptographic security features on top of libsodium. What
cryptographic security features? In addition to the standard fare (e.g.
password hashing), we offer _secure automatic security updates_. We'd like to
set the new gold standard for website security.

To see how Airship differs from other CMS platforms, consult this comparison
chart of out-of-the-box security features:
[https://paragonie.com/project/airship](https://paragonie.com/project/airship)

We'll be releasing version 1.4.0 soon, then shifting gears towards a version 2
(with a minimum PHP version of 7.1) later this month. This means backwards
incompatible changes are on the table for discussion.

Although our team has a lot of great security talent, we're not UI/UX experts.
We're doing the best we can, but we almost certainly need help in this area
first and foremost.

[https://github.com/paragonie/airship/blob/master/.github/CON...](https://github.com/paragonie/airship/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md)

CMS Airship is GPL3 licensed, although we offer commercial licenses (under
terms equivalent to the MIT license).

Any revenue we receive from commercial license agreements will inevitably be
funneled into hiring talented developers to improve the areas we're weak in
and make Airship better.

------
pseudobry
JSData ([http://js-data.io](http://js-data.io))

JSData is an open-source JavaScript ORM for Node.js and the browser. It's
adapter-based, with adapters currently available for HTTP, Firebase,
localStorage, MySql/Postgres/SQLite, RethinkDB, MongoDB, Google Cloud
DataStore, Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, and more.

Currently working on finishing up a 3.0.0 release (currently at 3.0.0-rc.6).
With so many adapters and integrations that need to be written (and current
ones that need maintenance), there are lots of contributing opportunities.

We need help with everything from documentation, tests, and benchmarking, to
taking ownership of a current adapter and building new adapters/integrations.

MIT license

Get started contributing at: [http://www.js-
data.io/v3.0/docs/contributing](http://www.js-data.io/v3.0/docs/contributing)

We're also on Slack: [http://slack.js-data.io](http://slack.js-data.io)

Thanks!

------
zelon88
Project Name: HRCloud2

Project Description: A home-hosted personal Cloud that also converts files,
OCR's images and documents, archives, de-archives, creates playlists, and
more. Also includes a plugin-capable personal assistant named HRAI. Supports
multiple users and includes 4 user-selectable color schemes.

This month: I'd like to wrap up the Javascript for auto-playing and auto-
iterating songs within playlists. Also I would like to implement a Copy/Paste
clipboard (in-process) and a "User Contacts" and "User Notes" sections. Once
all the production features are set with the desktop GUI I'll work on the
mobile GUI.

I Need: Javascript and PHP developers! Passionate ones.

URL:
[https://github.com/zelon88/HRCloud2](https://github.com/zelon88/HRCloud2)

License: GPLv3

------
franzb
appleseed is a modern, open source, physically-based rendering engine designed
to produce photorealistic images, animations and visual effects. It's been
used on TV documentaries and commercials, and it's been integrated in various
packages, among them Autodesk 3ds Max [1] and Image Engine's Gaffer [2]. We've
also made a short film with it, "Fetch":
[https://vimeo.com/92172277](https://vimeo.com/92172277)

This month we're planning on starting the volume rendering subsystem
([https://github.com/appleseedhq/appleseed/projects/1](https://github.com/appleseedhq/appleseed/projects/1))
and, if time allows, investigate switching to Intel's Embree ray tracing
kernels [3].

The code is written in C++ and we have a Python 2/3 API. There is work for
everyone: pure rendering (a good understanding of rendering concepts and
related maths will help), user interface (Qt), samples (Python), system
programming, hardcore optimization...

It all seems rather technical, but don't be afraid, we're a small but
welcoming community and everyone's happy to help!

appleseed is MIT-licensed.

Home: [http://appleseedhq.net/](http://appleseedhq.net/)

GitHub:
[https://github.com/appleseedhq/appleseed](https://github.com/appleseedhq/appleseed)

Vimeo: [https://vimeo.com/appleseedhq](https://vimeo.com/appleseedhq)

[1] [https://github.com/appleseedhq/appleseed-
max](https://github.com/appleseedhq/appleseed-max)

[2] [http://www.gafferhq.org/](http://www.gafferhq.org/)

[3] [https://embree.github.io/](https://embree.github.io/)

------
secfirstmd
Hi there. Our organisation, Security First
([https://www.secfirst.org](https://www.secfirst.org)) has just launched
Umbrella - a free, open source, Android app to help activists, journalists and
travellers manage their digital and physical security in high risk countries.

Built by media, NGO, human rights and technology security professionals. The
lessons give you simple, practical advice on what to do and what tools to do
it with – covering everything from sending a secure email to conducting
physical counter-surveillance. You can choose your level of ability or type of
protection needed and get answers that reflect your needs. Users can mark,
customise and share simple checklists for quick reminders. It also has a
series of security information feeds from places like the UN and Centers for
Disease Control to keep you updated on the move.

It’s free, open source and available to download on Android from Google Play:

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.u...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.umbrella)

Amazon App Store: [https://www.amazon.com/Security-First-Umbrella-made-
easy/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Security-First-Umbrella-made-
easy/dp/B01AKN9M1Y)

F-Droid Repo:
[https://secfirst.org/fdroid/repo](https://secfirst.org/fdroid/repo)

Github Code and Content Repo:
[https://github.com/securityfirst](https://github.com/securityfirst)

-Code audit: [https://secfirst.org/blog.html](https://secfirst.org/blog.html)

Skills needed:

-Android Development

-Copywriting - app content is a bit dense could do we editing down, updating and more graphics etc, but website, documentation etc could be a lot better!

-Translation (80% of Spanish Done, 88% of Mandarin, see [https://www.transifex.com/otf/umbrella-app/dashboard/](https://www.transifex.com/otf/umbrella-app/dashboard/))

-UI/UX improvements and suggestions

-Q&A

~~~
Mz
I do copywriting and I have been a military wife and had annual training in
information security when I worked for a major insurance company for over five
years. That company also talked a lot about its ground-breaking marketing that
made its name a household word and I learned a lot from exposure to their
marketing.

I have gone through some of your links and cannot readily see where or how to
contribute copywriting. So I am leaving a comment here.

I went to your website. I will suggest that instead of saying _Umbrella:
Security made easy_ that you change that to _Umbrella: Security at your
fingertips_. Security is never easy and anyone who has dealt with real risk
will likely have trouble taking you seriously if you position yourself as
making security easy. Plus, the phrasing evokes those push-button little
umbrellas that rapidly pop open while also more literally referring to having
your tablet in your hands.

Edit: I will further add that you should change _Digital and physical security
for people at risk_ in some way. "People at risk" evokes poor people and
abused wives and children born in the wrong country. It implies that this app
is not of potential benefit to anyone and everyone, just certain people that
you would likely think of as _losers._ You need to update that, to something
more along the lines of "Digital and physical security information for an
insecure world."

~~~
secfirstmd
Awesome! This is the interesting type of insight we are looking for. Going to
drop you a mail directly to follow up :)

------
potomak
Tomatoes ([http://tomato.es](http://tomato.es))

Description: Pomodoro technique® time tracker.

Last month we built the public API. This month we want mainly to rebuild
leaderboards using async tasks.

Skills needed: Ruby, Ruby on Rails.

[http://github.com/potomak/tomatoes](http://github.com/potomak/tomatoes)

License: MIT

------
friendly_chap
Borg is a terminal gister/snippet searcher - for now only shell snippets but
in the future we plan to move towards way bigger goals. The thing can be self
hosted to be a knowledge base for your company, something like a cross between
a stacko/wiki etc. We have slack integration, and a bunch others are coming.

We plan to implement private entries and searches this month and also
team/organisation management on the frontend (done on the backend).

Right now the front end is lagging behind in terms of features - we are
migrating from Angular 1 to React. ([https://github.com/ok-
borg/web](https://github.com/ok-borg/web))

[https://github.com/ok-borg/borg](https://github.com/ok-borg/borg)

License is apache 2.

~~~
proaralyst
So you're aware, your name clashes:
[https://github.com/borgbackup/borg](https://github.com/borgbackup/borg)

~~~
friendly_chap
Yes.

------
bendmorris
HaxePunk ([http://www.haxepunk.com](http://www.haxepunk.com),
[https://github.com/haxepunk/haxepunk](https://github.com/haxepunk/haxepunk))
is an open source 2D game engine written in the Haxe programming language.
HaxePunk games can be deployed on a number of platforms from one code base:
Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Flash, and (experimental) HTML5, with
potential console support in the future. If you're interested in or have
experience with game development (and Haxe) I'm working on an aggressive set
of new features for the next version and would love some help.

------
reimertz
Lagom ([https://github.com/reimertz/lagom](https://github.com/reimertz/lagom))
is a presentation generator. It comes with a handy CLI that you use to create,
serve and deploy your presentations.

My aim is to create a tool that is well known, easy to use and comes with
minimalistic themes. I should have more but comes with features with tech-
talkers in mind, like:

    
    
      - presentation mode
      - synced aspect-ratio
      - synced mouse pointer
      - synced highlighting
    

I need help on all fronts, iteration on the css, implementing more themes,
more features, writing tests.

MIT licensed.

------
code_champ1
StreamX is a kafka-connect based connector to copy data from Kafka to Object
Stores like Amazon s3, Google Cloud Storage and Azure Blob Store

Skills : Java, Understanding Kafka, Cloud Object Stores (s3/GCS/Azure blob
store)

[https://github.com/qubole/streamx](https://github.com/qubole/streamx)

License : Apache V2

Currently, this has support only for s3. We want to add support for other
cloud object stores. Also, we would like to support different output
formats(ORC to start with). Feel free to create issues and we can discuss
there.

For any more details, mail praveen.seluka@gmail.com

------
taphangum
WP Content Calendar

A simple drag and drop editorial calendar for WordPress

I'd like to add new features.

[https://github.com/Tapha/WP-Content-Calendar](https://github.com/Tapha/WP-
Content-Calendar)

Licence: [https://github.com/Tapha/WP-Content-
Calendar/blob/master/LIC...](https://github.com/Tapha/WP-Content-
Calendar/blob/master/LICENSE.txt)

------
ljw1001
Tablesaw
([https://github.com/lwhite1/tablesaw](https://github.com/lwhite1/tablesaw))
Tablesaw is a high-performance dataframe in Java, with hooks into plotting and
machine-learning routines. Open-sourced under Apache2. Would be happy to have
help with:

\- Integrating more machine-learning algorithms (preferably using SMILE or
SparkML)

\- Integrating more plot types

\- improved support for table joins

\- misc. improvements.

------
amirouche
Sotoki (by kiwix)
[[https://github.com/kiwix/sotoki/tree/wiredtiger](https://github.com/kiwix/sotoki/tree/wiredtiger)]

The project aims at making stackexchange website available offline.

Fix the memory leak that was found in wiredtiger branch.

Python

GPL3+

------
jrpt
And if you're looking for new maintainers, post your project on
[https://github.com/pickhardt/maintainers-
wanted](https://github.com/pickhardt/maintainers-wanted)

------
fpvracing
fpvracing.tv is an online community for the rapidly growing sport of drone
racing. I'm looking for somebody to help maintain the site, which is a rails
app hosted on Heroku. Email address is admin at the domain.

