What is Open Source Software(OSS)?
Open Source Software is a computer software whose source code is made publicly available for modification and enhancements. It is released under various licenses like BSD, MIT etc. “What is open source?” is a good read.
I strongly believe that reading few lines of code is worth more than reading 500 pages of a book. When you follow code written by great programmers, you automatically tend to pickup some great practices while coding.
Even before I studied the subject Software Engineering in college, I had practical knowledge of version control systems, debuggers, issue trackers, continuous integration tools and this was all because of contributing to open source projects.
There are many advantages to contributing to open source – You can make a great resume that stands out from the crowd. It helps you in building online presence.
But, these merry words won’t help you get started..
How do I get started?
First and foremost, you must choose a programming language of your choice. Once you are done with selecting a programming language, search for a project that is interesting to you.
Open Hatch is perfect for beginners. The search page of Open Hatch filters out bugs based on- Languages- Projects Mozilla has a wide range of projects filtered based on programming language. What can I do for Mozilla?
How do I filter out a bug?
Honestly, finding a bug for a beginner is really a hard. I faced the same problems. But I will be listing down resources on how to find easy bugs and get started with contributing to a large organization.
Mozilla
Getting started with Mozilla is very simple. Mozilla has multiple gateways for their fellow new contributors.
What can I do for mozilla?
This site suggests you projects based on the programming skill you select. Once you choose your project, it takes you to the respective mozilla project.
Bugs Ahoy!
Bugs Ahoy is a site particularly for the new contributors. The website categorizes the ‘Easy bugs’ and ‘Mentored Bugs’ based on the various projects like JS Engine, Devtools, Firefox OS etc.
Bugs Ahoy also categorizes the easy bugs based on the programming languages too. These are primarily in Python, Java, Shell, JS, C/C++ and HTML/CSS. One can choose a combination of filters to choose the perfect bug to get started.
The mentors who can be contacted
Bugzilla page
IRC channel name
List of mentored bugs
Getting Involved DevTools – https://wiki.mozilla.org/DevTools/GetInvolved
Getting Involved Mozilla.org – https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/mozilla.org
Getting Involved AMO – https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/addons.mozilla.org
Getting Involved SUMO – https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/support.mozilla.org
Getting Involved MDN – https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/developer.mozilla.org
Getting Involved Socorro – https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/crash-stats.mozilla.org
Getting Involved Mozillians – https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/mozillians.org
Getting Involved ReMo – https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/reps.mozilla.org
Getting Involved input.mozilla.org – https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/reps.mozilla.org
Getting Involved careers.mozilla.org –https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/careers.mozilla.org
Getting Involved QMO – https://quality.mozilla.org/docs/webqa/get-involved/
Here is another link for Bugzilla Mentored Bugs list – https://bugzil.la/sw:mentor
KDE
If you want to start contributing to KDE, look out for the Junior Jobs tag. Like each organization, KDE contains a section on how to get started with the KDE projects.
Getting Started – http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute.
Building a KDE Application – http://techbase.kde.org/Getting_Started/Build.
KDE Guide for a new contributor – http://flossmanuals.net/kde-guide/.
IRC – #kde-devel on Freenode.
Mailing List – https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel.
OpenStack
OpenStack is also a great project to start out with. The OpenStack project is divided into various components: Swift, Glance, Nova, Horizon, Keystone etc. Each of these components have their own page. If you head over to the OpenStack Wiki Main page, you can see the components listed seperately.
Each Component page contains the link to repository, bug tracker(Launchpad), Documentation etc. OpenStack call their beginner bugs as “Low Hanging Fruits“.
Getting Started – https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/How_To_Contribute
If you are a developer – https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/How_To_Contribute#If_you.27re_a_developer
Documentation – docs.openstack.org
IRC – #openstack-101, #openstack on Freenode
And to find the low hanging fruits? Click here!
Wikipedia
Most of the people on the planet have heard of the name Wikipedia but how many have ever thought of contributing to it? Wikipedia is supported by Wikimedia Foundation. Mediawiki tag their easy bugs with the easy tag. Click!
Getting Started – http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Gerrit/Getting_started.
How to become a Mediawiki Hacker – http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/How_to_become_a_MediaWiki_hacker.
Installing Mediawiki on local system – http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki-Vagrant.
IRC – #mediawiki. Now this link is important.
Annoying little bugs – http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Annoying_little_bugs.
GNOME
‘Gnome-love‘ is the loving tag for the easy bugs who want to get started with GNOME. If you ever visit the GNOME homepage: the “Getting Involved” link is clearly visible in header’s menubar. Anyways here is the link you don’t want to search for it.
GNOME maintains a guide for newcomers: https://wiki.gnome.org/NewcomersTutorial.
If you want to know on how to submit your first patch, read this: https://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeLove/SubmittingPatches.
If you want to build the code, then just build it from here: https://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeLove/JhbuildIntroduction.
Documentation: https://developer.gnome.org/.
Apache
Apache maintains quite a number of projects. project.apache.org lists a catalog of more than 140 projects in which one can start contributing. The New Comers section is an easy read on how to get started in Apache, http://community.apache.org/newcomers/index.html.
Getting Involved with Apache Software Foundation: http://www.apache.org/foundation/getinvolved.html.