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$bigScaryOpenSourceProjects are very picky about how contributions are made and are unfriendly to newbies. Most of your time will be spent arguing over one or t

by jbob2000 10y ago

$bigScaryOpenSourceProjects are very picky about how contributions are made and are unfriendly to newbies. Most of your time will be spent arguing over one or two lines of code. If you haven't contributed to open source before, your best bet is to start on smaller open source projects who have forgiving maintainers.

moosingin3space 10y ago
For instance, Rust. They're the friendliest community around.
- JoshTriplett 10y ago
  Seconded. Try reading the last couple of issues of This Week in Rust, and then look at the most recent "Call for Participation" section.
guidovranken 10y ago
Over the years I've communicated many security bug reports privately to project maintainers and security teams of projects such as OpenSSL, Tor, Python, MITRE. Very pleasant experiences, very kind and thankful and helpful people, so I can't really corroborate this.
- olalonde 10y ago
  Given that you found security bugs in all those project, I'd say you are not a newbie in the sense that parent meant.
superuser2 10y ago
How would you compare it to code review at a medium to large tech company? At work there's certainly a lot of back and forth but it never feels hostile, and I usually learn something.
- hoistbypetard 10y ago
  I'd say there's more review on m.o projects than at any medium-large company I've worked at. It's not hostile at all, and I've learned something the times I've cared enough to shepherd a patch through that process. I don't think it's unfriendly to newbies at all, other than the size of the codebase being so large that it takes considerable time/effort to understand well enough to make a patch you're willing to work through getting integrated.
hoistbypetard 10y ago
"picky about contributions" doesn't mean unfriendly to newbies. For instance, with Firefox, you need to be able to build the project, open bugs, use diff/patch, and that's about it. You open a bug or pick up someone's open bug for an issue you care about. You attach a patch to the bug, possibly discussing it in IRC or on a mailing list. When you think the patch is ready, you ask for a review. The review is a picky but not unfriendly process. That will help you get your patch up to the project's standards. Then you get a super-review. And your patch gets in once that passes. Newbies can and do meet the standards for contributing, and it's not painful IME.
davidgerard 10y ago
Some projects do better than others. LibreOffice bends over backwards to welcome new contributors and point them at something useful they can get done easily - everything marked "Easy Hacks". And of course, "I am a LibreOffice contributor" (or other $bigScaryOpenSourceProject) is always a nice thing for one's resume and reputation.

moosingin3space 10y ago

For instance, Rust. They're the friendliest community around.

JoshTriplett 10y ago
Seconded. Try reading the last couple of issues of This Week in Rust, and then look at the most recent "Call for Participation" section.

guidovranken 10y ago

Over the years I've communicated many security bug reports privately to project maintainers and security teams of projects such as OpenSSL, Tor, Python, MITRE. Very pleasant experiences, very kind and thankful and helpful people, so I can't really corroborate this.

olalonde 10y ago
Given that you found security bugs in all those project, I'd say you are not a newbie in the sense that parent meant.

superuser2 10y ago

How would you compare it to code review at a medium to large tech company? At work there's certainly a lot of back and forth but it never feels hostile, and I usually learn something.

hoistbypetard 10y ago
I'd say there's more review on m.o projects than at any medium-large company I've worked at. It's not hostile at all, and I've learned something the times I've cared enough to shepherd a patch through that process. I don't think it's unfriendly to newbies at all, other than the size of the codebase being so large that it takes considerable time/effort to understand well enough to make a patch you're willing to work through getting integrated.

hoistbypetard 10y ago

"picky about contributions" doesn't mean unfriendly to newbies. For instance, with Firefox, you need to be able to build the project, open bugs, use diff/patch, and that's about it. You open a bug or pick up someone's open bug for an issue you care about. You attach a patch to the bug, possibly discussing it in IRC or on a mailing list. When you think the patch is ready, you ask for a review. The review is a picky but not unfriendly process. That will help you get your patch up to the project's standards. Then you get a super-review. And your patch gets in once that passes. Newbies can and do meet the standards for contributing, and it's not painful IME.

davidgerard 10y ago

Some projects do better than others. LibreOffice bends over backwards to welcome new contributors and point them at something useful they can get done easily - everything marked "Easy Hacks". And of course, "I am a LibreOffice contributor" (or other $bigScaryOpenSourceProject) is always a nice thing for one's resume and reputation.