How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#1

Post by vivaladav » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 5:33 PM UTC

How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub
blog.davidecoppola.com

Re: How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#2

Post by dibanez » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 6:11 PM UTC

I've been doing this without thinking about it for a while and after reading it from a beginner's perspective It seems like quite a few steps. It is the "right" thing to do though, as far as I know.

Re: How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#3

Post by dorianm » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 6:18 PM UTC

Or in a lot of cases you can use github's edit button ;)

Re: How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#4

Post by Whackbat » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 6:24 PM UTC

For anyone that is new to contributing to projects using git for version control I strongly recommend giving this tutorial a read: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/syncing

Additionally, the best way to learn git is to use it so try all the examples.

Re: How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#5

Post by atemerev » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 6:25 PM UTC

Step 1: stumble upon a terrible bug (or that really obvious missing feature that _should_ be there) in your favorite library / framework / app.

Step 2: rant about it on HN / Github issues / whatever.

Step 3 (optional): try to reach developers on GitHub and get the obligatory "pull requests are welcome" response.

Step 4: In frustration, clone the repository, fix the damn bug and submit your pull request.

Steps 5..41: have an angry and emotional discussion with the devs who refuse to accept your PR because broken binary compatibility / regression tests / coding style / your choice of variable names etc. Fix all these issues and resubmit the PR until it's accepted.

Step 42: And this is how you become a contributor to high-profile projects like Docker, Akka, Spark etc, and now free to boast about it in your CV!

Re: How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#6

Post by brobinson » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 6:27 PM UTC

I dislike the idea of using 'origin' for my own remote name.

I keep 'origin' as the canonical remote and my local master branch tracks origin/master. I use people's usernames for their remotes (including for my own).

If I'm pushing a feature branch to my own remote:

    git push -u myusername mybranchname

If I need to checkout someone's PR, it's:

    git remote add theirusername git@github.com:theirusername/repo.git
    git fetch theirusername
    git checkout -t theirusername/repo

I've seen people at work who are new to git/Github struggle a lot with the 'origin'/'upstream' differentiation recently, especially when they're learning branching, and they don't seem to have any problems once I switch them over to using 'origin' + usernames.

Re: How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#7

Post by majelix » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 6:29 PM UTC

Of these, 1: Chose the project you want to contribute to (and 1.5: Choose the issue to work on) and 9: Follow up are the hard ones. Both are primarily social problems.

For 1, it's mostly about knowing yourself. What projects interest you, and where can you contribute?

For 9, it's convincing the owners that your contribution is a net positive. Start with 2: Check out how to contribute, and proactively reach out so your pull request doesn't come out of the blue.

Oh, and be willing to put your ego aside -- it can be tough to defend your work, particularly if you're a new (and thus haven't built up trust) contributor. It gets easier, both as the project learns to trust you and as you learn the work within their practices.

Re: How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#8

Post by aban » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 6:29 PM UTC

If you'd like to avoid switching to the browser in your development workflow, I recommend checking out Git-Repo [0] that was posted to HN a little while ago [1].

Git-Repo basically tries to put as many steps of the contribution workflow in terminal as possible, by using the API of the git hosting services. It currently supports GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket.

[0]: https://github.com/guyzmo/git-repo

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12677870

Re: How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#9

Post by gosubpl » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 6:36 PM UTC

atemerev wrote: post #5

Step 1: stumble upon a terrible bug (or that really obvious missing feature that _should_ be there) in your favorite library / framework / app. Step 2: rant about it on HN / Github issues / whatever. Step 3 (optional): try to reach developers on GitHub and get the obligatory "pull requests are welcome" response. Step 4: In frustration, clone the repository, fix the damn bug and submit your pull request. Steps 5..41:…

https://xkcd.com/386/

Disclaimer: I am an akka and akka-http community contributor. I don't know how this works for other projects.

But I don't think the process is as painful as you describe in the akka world. My experiences are quite to the contrary. The community here is warm and welcoming. But, please look at this from the other side. Would you use the software in your mission critical application if the project was accepting quickly contributions from random strangers on the internets?

Please, find an issue marked as community in https://github.com/akka/akka/issues or https://github.com/akka/akka-http/issues and give it a go. How to solve the "credentialize yourself" problem? Be known to the commiters by first working on a docs issue.

Re: How to contribute to an open source project on GitHub

#10

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 6:36 PM UTC

atemerev wrote: post #5

Step 1: stumble upon a terrible bug (or that really obvious missing feature that _should_ be there) in your favorite library / framework / app. Step 2: rant about it on HN / Github issues / whatever. Step 3 (optional): try to reach developers on GitHub and get the obligatory "pull requests are welcome" response. Step 4: In frustration, clone the repository, fix the damn bug and submit your pull request. Steps 5..41:…

[deleted]