I finally made my first contribution to a Open Source Project at GitHub. I had thought about the contribution to the Open Source Projects for a while but didn’t have a chance to check it out deeply. However, the time has come. I was so inspired by GitHub Universe that I attended early this month and couldn’t help researching how to find and start my first Open Source Project. I love to be a part of a community and develop something meaningful together.
How to find the project.
There are a bunch of great websites about how to find the project which is right for you. Here is one of the links that are helpful.
What is Open Source?
Open Source software is developed to use freely in public. If you are already coding, you probably already use one of the open source software like jQuery, React.js, Vue.js… Yes, you can contribute to the project, not only use them.
Why contributes to an Open Source Project?
Connecting with other engineers makes me feel great and I am so happy to be a part of the community. They are passionate to create the awesome projects and I love that process and energy. It is also a great practice to understand the workflow such as how to fork, clone, make a branch and pull a request.
Learn from others
We can learn a lot of things from others. It is not only how to write a code but also the structures of the application. For beginners, it is definitely valuable.
Quick basic guide of git commands
The reason I was away from open source contribution was I was afraid to break a code that other people already build. By forking and making changes in your own place, that kind of things would not happen. It is a bit scary for the biginners if you don’t know how to use git commands so here is the basic commands!
After you found your favorite project, fork the project.
- Fork the project to your own place
Clickfork
- After forking, the screen changes to your repository
Clickclone or downloadand copy the web URL.
-
In your terminal, paste the URL you have clip copied
git clone GITHUB ADDRESS -
Move to the project directly
cd YOUR PROJECT NAME -
Create a branch (this command create branch and then move the newely created branch)
git checkout -b BRANCH NAME -
Open your text editor and make some changes. After changes and if all looks good,
git add .
git commit -m SOME COMMENTS
git push -u origin BRANCH NAME
Go back to your gitHub page and you will notice there is a pull request button.
Click Compare & Pull request
Write some comments and create a pull request.
Wait, wait, wait..
Once your submission was confirmed and if all looks good, it is going to be merged and your fist contribution is all done!
You can safely delete the branch now.
git branch -d YOUR BRNACH NAME
I am so happy for the moment when my change was finally merged. Hope it helps and you feel the same - happy for your contribution!!