Ask HN: Which open source needs contributors badly? I am a beginner

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5293232

by sanspace • 13 years ago

17 13 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

lutusp• 13 years ago

> ... Which opensource needs contributors badly?

All of them. You might be better off choosing an open-source project based on your interests and background rather than looking for a project that's particularly desperate.

sanspace3• 13 years ago

Thought of doing both. What would you suggest? Any favorites?

gopalv• 13 years ago

Well, then go on - list your interests (or skills).

And please don't pick a project that's desperate for people - It's a classic case of the mythical man month.

Most of the time the core folks will find bringing up a new member up-to speed as a distraction, particularly when there's no commitment from either side to keep working on it (compared something like google summer of code).

PS: if all else fails, pick up a new programming language & write examples/cookbook-recipes for it

Jeremy1026• 13 years ago

What language(s) would you want to work with?

sanspace3• 13 years ago

I am a C developer and I work personally on PHP and have written some utility scripts using python. I don't stick to a language. I am a quick learner and I am flexible.

I would like to start with a small tasks / modules as of now until I get a hold on things.

tnorthcutt• 13 years ago

WordPress is run by ~17% of the web and is quite welcoming to people new to the community. These two links may be helpful:

http://wp.tutsplus.com/articles/general/learning-how-to-cont...

http://codex.wordpress.org/Contributing_to_WordPress

eb0la• 13 years ago

All opensource projects need good documentation. That's not a small task ;-) but it's needed to get adoption.

Pick something interesting but hard to start/learn/understand and WRITE. This will sharpen your communication skills, which is crucial when explaining stuff to non-technical people (like your manager).

The installer / upgrade part of any project is also equally important; but it's better covered because it's part of the build process (the only exceptions is that you're selling enterprise software to a multi-million $$$ company: in that case your software must be as hard to install as posible in order to justify selling professional services).

cjbprime• 13 years ago

http://openhatch.org/

Gilly_LDN• 13 years ago

http://projects.apache.org/indexes/category.html

Take a look here.

hoggle• 13 years ago

If you don't have a GitHub account yet then get one and find projects that interest you ("explore").

This tool here helps you to stay on course by sending you emails regularly:

http://www.codetriage.com

mgallivan• 13 years ago

I tried to sign up (because it's a fantastic idea) but I got:

"We're sorry, but something went wrong."

when I tried to authorize the application in GitHub. If this is your project I'd love to try it out if there's another way for me to sign up (or another date I can try).

sanspace3• 13 years ago

The site doesn't seem to work. I am unable to sign up. It takes me to github auth. But, while returning from github it says something went wrong.

runarb• 13 years ago

Portable-VirtualBox needs more developers: http://www.vbox.me/blog/portable-virtualbox-needs-a-new-main...

HN post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5219170

Ask HN: Which open source needs contributors badly? I am a beginner

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