The Pragmatic Open Source Contributor
a year ago
- #software-development
- #contribution
- #open-source
- Salaried programmers often avoid contributing to open source due to perceived job scope, legal hurdles, past frustrations, and time concerns.
- The guide aims to encourage contributing to open source for shared knowledge and provides a playbook for successful contributions.
- Pragmatic contributors focus on improving software their business relies on, rather than personal incentives.
- Steps for contributing include legal approval, understanding the project's contribution process, getting maintainer buy-in, doing the work, and following up.
- Key advice includes forking for testing, adding tests, keeping changes atomic, minimizing refactoring, and preserving backwards-compatibility.
- Documentation and examples are crucial for high-quality contributions.
- After submission, proactive communication with maintainers and patience are key.
- Successful contributions require thanking maintainers, reducing bus factor, and integrating changes back internally.
- The guide addresses common barriers to contributing and emphasizes the importance of the process beyond just coding.