Considering joining the open-source movement but don't know where to start?
Learn some tips on this post.
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| Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash |
FOSS
is awesome! Millions of people around the world dedicate their time working and
free/open-source software benefiting the world around us. Most likely the tools use
love and use are probably backed by open-source software one way or another. For
example, the internet you're using now runs on Linux.
SmartTVs, drones,
cars,
super computers, your
android
phone and yes, even your
iOS device is also based on
BSD, a FOSS project.
There are hundreds thousands of projects
you probably use that available for free. Projects like like Mozilla Firefox,
OpenOffice, git, Bootstrap, React, FontAwesome, OpenSSH, internet servers,
just to name a few. On this post let's learn ways you too can help free/open-source communities
around the world.
Tips for programmers
If you know how to program and would like to contribute that way, here's a couple of ways you could help the community:- Writing code;
- Submitting pull requests;
- Reviewing code;
Tips for non-programmers
Do not have programming skills? Don't give up! There are lots
of other ways you can help. Check the list below.Writing
Like writing? There's definitely gaps in documentation on free/open-source software. Consider supporting your favourite project on:
- Documentation;
- Tutorials;
- Translations;
Designing
You're a designer? There are lots of opportunities to contribute with your artistic skills on
free/open-source software. For example:
- Logos;
- UI mockups;
- Event banners;
- Fonts;
- User Experience
- TShirts;
Participating / Organizing Events
Social events? You can always participate in:
- Meetups;
- Install fests;
- Volunteering in bigger events
Using the software
Know well some specific software? Why not help people:
- installing free software;
- on Q/A sites around the internet
- on Slack/IRC/Discuss channels;
- helping someone else installing/troubleshooting someone else's computer;
Helping with Infrastructure
Know systems and infrastructure? What about:
- supporting servers;
- donating servers;
- maintaining the build systems;
- packaging;
Donating
None of the previous? What about donating to organizations you like / admire / support other FOSS projects like:- the Linux Foundation
- the Free Software Foundation
- the Document Foundation
- the Gnu project;
- Patreon FOSS projects;
- the Mozilla Foundation;
- and more, way more;
Supporting other Users
You can always support other users by answering their questions on StackOverflow, AskFedora or AskUbuntu for example.
Divulging
On your school, university or company? What about educating people on how to use free/open-source software?
Writing posts
What about blog posts? Even those as simple as as this one help people around the world! 😊
References
- How to Contribute to Open Source
- Curated list of awesome lists
- GitHub Explore - search your open source project;
- What can I do for Fedora - has a nice yes/no tool to guide you to what/how you could help. Note that you don't necessarily need to do that for fedora but for a project of your interest.