Contributing to Open Source Project as a Beginner

Contributing to Open Source Project as a Beginner

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2 min read

As the Hacktober Fest has just begun organizations and individuals are inviting contributors to contribute to their projects for roles. If you want to contribute an Open-Source project you create a role either as:

  • Designer
  • Developer
  • Technical writer
  • Translator
  • User
  • Product Manager
  • Donor
  • Q/A Tester
  • Researcher

To contribute look for the GitHub repository of projects that are calling for contributors. For example vimcolorschemes

  1. Visit their repository and check the issues page:- for them they have 19 issues. Target the Hacktober fest issues

Screenshot_2020-09-24 reobin vimcolorschemes.png

If you're a newbie to open-source projects click on good first issues since they selected specifically those that are good for beginners; Screenshot_2020-09-24 reobin vimcolorschemes.png

  1. If you find an issue you feel comfortable with and can contribute to click on the issue and write a comment on it.

    • This will show the maintainer that you're interested in it. He/she might give you an okay or invite you to join their discord channel or guide you on how to set up a project.
  2. The open-source community is so supportive do not fear trying out making your contributions or asking for help.

once you've chosen to contribute to a given issue:

  1. fork the GitHub repository
  2. you'll have an option to:
git clone 'Link to the forked repo that has your username'
use the GitHub CLI
download as a zip file

I prefer the git clone since I haven't tried the GitHub CLI yet. Then you run the following commands:

  1. git checkout -b branch name
  2. git remote add upstream link-to-the-main repo
  3. git pull upstream master
  4. git commit -m "commit message"
  5. git push -u origin HEAD

then you can create a pull request(PR). The maintainer will either merge the PR or close it if it has conflicts that have to be resolved.

If you have or know of a beginner-friendly open-source project that one can contribute to you can share the link in the comments below.

Here's is few I have come across:

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