/how-to-contribute-to-open-source

A guide to contributing to open source

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Welcome Newbie Open Source Contributors!

Pull Requests Welcome first-timers-only Friendly Check Resources

This is a list of resources for people who are new to contributing to Open Source.

If you find additional resources, please create a pull request.

If you have questions or comments, please create an issue.

Table of Contents

Contributing to Open Source in general

Articles and resources that discuss the world and culture of Open Source.

Direct GitHub searches

Search links that point directly to suitable issues to contribute to on GitHub.

Mozilla's contributor ecosystem

Mozilla pledges for a healthy internet and with it, has opportunities to contribute to its open-source projects.

  • Good First Bugs - bugs that developers have identified as a good introduction to the project.
  • MDN Web Docs - help the MDN Web Docs team in documenting the web platform by fixing content issues and platform bugs.
  • Mentored Bugs - bugs that have a mentor assigned who will be there on IRC to help you when you get stuck while working on a fix.
  • Bugs Ahoy - a site dedicated to finding bugs on Bugzilla.
  • Firefox DevTools - a site dedicated to bugs filed for the developer tools in the Firefox browser.
  • Start Mozilla - a Twitter account that tweets about issues fit for contributors new to the Mozilla ecosystem.

Useful articles for new Open Source contributors

Helpful articles and blogs directed at new contributors on how to get started.

Using Version Control

Tutorials and resources of varying levels on using version control, typically Git and GitHub.

Open Source books

Books on all things Open Source: The Culture, History, Best Practices, etc.

  • Producing Open Source Software - Producing Open Source Software is a book about the human side of Open Source development. It describes how successful projects operate, the expectations of users and developers, and the culture of free software.
  • The Architecture of Open Source Applications - The authors of twenty-four open source applications explain how their software is structured, and why. From web servers and compilers to health record management systems, they are covered here to help you become a better developer.
  • Open Source Book Series - Learn more about Open Source and the growing Open Source movement with a comprehensive list of free eBooks from https://opensource.com.
  • Software Release Practice HOWTO - This HOWTO describes good release practices for Linux and other Open-Source projects. By following these practices, you will make it as easy as possible for users to build your code and use it, and for other developers to understand your code and cooperate with you to improve it.
  • Open Sources 2.0 : The Continuing Evolution (2005) - Open Sources 2.0 is a collection of insightful and thought-provoking essays from today's technology leaders that continues painting the evolutionary picture that developed in the 1999 book, Open Sources: Voices from the Revolution.
  • Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution - Essays from open-source pioneers such as Linus Torvalds (Linux), Larry Wall (Perl), and Richard Stallman (GNU).

Open Source contribution initiatives

List of initiatives that aggregate beginner friendly issues to work on or seasonal events.

  • Up For Grabs - Contains projects with beginner-friendly issues.
  • First Contributions - Make your first Open Source contribution in 5 minutes. A tool and tutorial to help beginners get started with contributions. Here is the GitHub source code for the site and opportunity to make a contribution to the repository itself.
  • First Timers Only - A list of bugs that are labelled "first-timers-only".
  • Hacktoberfest - A program to encourage Open Source contributions. Earn gifts like t-shirts and stickers by making at least 4 pull requests in the month of October.
  • 24 Pull Requests - 24 Pull Requests is a project to promote Open Source collaboration during the month of December.
  • Ovio - A platform with a curated selection of contributor-friendly projects. It has a powerful issue search tool and let's you save projects and issues for later.
  • Contribute-To-This-Project - This is a tutorial to help first-time contributors to participate in a simple and easy project and get comfortable in using GitHub.
  • Open Source Welcome Committee - The Open Source Welcome Committee (OSWC) helps newcomers join the extraordinary world of Open Source. Come submit your open-source projects with us!

Open Source programs to participate in

A program, internship, or fellowship hosted by a community to help match beginning contributors with mentors and resources to contribute to open source software projects.

License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.