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

A guide to contributing to open source software

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Welcome newbie Open Source contributors!

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

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

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

Contents

• Contributing to Open Source in general
• Direct GitHub searches
• Mozilla's contributor ecosystem
• Useful articles for new Open Source contributors
• Using Version Control
• Open Source books
• Open Source contribution initiatives

Contributing to Open Source in general

• An Intro to Open Source - Tutorials by DigitalOcean to guide you on your way to contribution success here on GitHub.
• SourceSort - searchable collection of open source projects looking for help, complete with metrics like first PR acceptance rate and response time that can make all the difference for new contributors.
• "Browse good first issues to start contributing to open source" - GitHub now helps you find good first issues to start contributing to open source.
• Contributing to Open Source: A Live Walkthrough from Beginning to End - This walkthrough of an open source contribution covers everything from picking a suitable project, working on an issue, to getting the PR merged in.
• A to Z Resources for Students - Curated list of resources and opportunities for college students to learn a new coding language.
• Pull Request Roulette - This site has a list of pull requests submitted for review belonging to Open Source projects hosted on Github.
• CSS Tricks An Open Source Etiquette Guidebook - An Open Source Etiquette Guidebook, written by Kent C. Dodds And Sarah Drasner.
• Open Source Guides - Collection of resources for individuals, communities, and companies who want to learn how to run and contribute to an Open Source project.

Direct GitHub searches

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

• is:issue is:open label:first-timers-only
• is:issue is:open label:good-first-bug
• is:issue is:open label:starter
• is:issue is:open label:beginner
• is:issue is:open label:"good first issue"

Mozilla's contributor ecosystem

• Good First Bugs - bugs that developers have identified as a good introduction to the project.
• What Can I Do For Mozilla - figure out what you can work on by answering a bunch of questions about your skill set and interests.
• Mentored Bugs - bugs that have a mentor assigned who will be there on IRC to help you when you get stuck while working on fix.
• Bugs Ahoy - a site dedicated to finding bugs on Bugzilla.

Useful articles for new Open Source contributors

• How to choose (and contribute to) your first Open Source project by @GitHub
• First Timers Only by @kentcdodds
• A junior developer’s step-by-step guide to contributing to Open Source for the first time by @LetaKeane
• Learn Git and GitHub Step By Step (on Windows) by @ows-ali
• First mission: Contributors page by @forCrowd
• How to Find a Bug in Your Code by @dougbradbury

Using Version Control

• Think Like (a) Git - Git introduction for "advanced beginners," but are still struggling, in order to give you a simple strategy to safely experiment with git.
• A Comprehensive Introduction To Git and GitHub - A guide written by Madhav Bahl, which you should see if you are new to Git or GitHub, it covers GitHub as a service and concepts of Git version control in detail.
• Git Best Practices - Commit Often, Perfect Later, Publish Once: Git Best Practices.
• Pro Git - The entire Pro Git book, written by Scott Chacon and Ben Straub and published by Apress.
• Git Kraken - Visual, cross-platform, and interactive git desktop application for version control.
• Git-it - Step by step Git tutorial desktop app.
• Flight Rules for Git - A guide about what to do when things go wrong.
• Git Guide for Beginners in Spanish - A complete guide of slides about git and GitHub explained in Spanish. Una guía completa de diapositivas sobre git y GitHub explicadas en Español.
• GitHub Flow (42:06) - GitHub talk on how to make a pull request.

Open Source books

• 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.
• 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.

Open Source contribution initiatives

• Up For Grabs - Contains projects with beginner friendly issues
• First Timers Only - A list of bugs that are labelled "first-timers-only".