How to Contribute to an Open Source Project Like Postgres | Claire Giordano | PGConf NYC 2022

At PG Conf NYC 2022, Claire Giordano of the Citus and Postgres team at Microsoft presented this talk to shine a light on the different ways can you contribute to the PostgreSQL open source project. From patches to docs to translations to advocacy to demos—as well as sharing what you’ve learned as a Postgres user story—there are many avenues to contribute. And just like sailboat racing—in which every single person in the crew influences the final score, no matter their role—all these different types of contributions to Postgres are valuable.

This talk explores the different ways to contribute to Postgres, with tips on how and where to get started, too. If you are new to Postgres and are trying to figure out how to participate, this talk is for you.

Transcript

1. @clairegiordano
   Claire Giordano
   @clairegiordano • @citusdata • @AzureDBPostgres
   HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO
   AN OPEN SOURCE PROJECT
   LIKE POSTGRES?
   

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2. @clairegiordano
   You use
   Postgres
   Who is this Postgres talk for?
   

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3. @clairegiordano
   You use
   Postgres
   Who is this Postgres talk for?
   New job in a
   Postgres
   company!
   

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4. @clairegiordano
   You use
   Postgres
   Who is this Postgres talk for?
   New job in a
   Postgres
   company!
   Job search,
   looking for a
   “side gig”
   

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5. @clairegiordano
   You use
   Postgres
   Who is this Postgres talk for?
   New job in a
   Postgres
   company!
   Job search,
   looking for a
   “side gig”
   You have a PG
   problem to
   solve, some kind
   of “itch”
   

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6. @clairegiordano
   You use
   Postgres
   Who is this Postgres talk for?
   New job in a
   Postgres
   company!
   Job search,
   looking for a
   “side gig”
   You have a PG
   problem to
   solve, some kind
   of “itch”
   You find
   databases
   interesting,
   want to hack on
   Postgres to
   learn
   

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7. @clairegiordano
   Once Upon A Time...
   5 years ago, I was in
   the “new job in a
   Postgres company”
   group
   

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8. @clairegiordano
   @clairegiordano
   A bit about me
   

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9. @clairegiordano
   Before diving in, things about Postgres culture
   Code of conduct !!
   postgresql.org/about
   /policies/coc/
   Mailing list culture
   postgresql.org/list/
   pgsql-hackers
   pgsql-general
   pgsql-docs
   pgsql-performance
   pgsql-bugs
   pgsql-novice
   

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10. @clairegiordano
    Also: “Mailing List etiquette” is a thing
    Mailing list etiquette is a thing
    Be respectful, avoid personal attacks
    Remove confidentiality notices (all emails are public*)
    Reply-all
    No HTML-enriched email
    Bottom post and inline-reply
    Take extra time to communicate clearly
    Source: wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists
    

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11. @clairegiordano
    Ways to Contribute to Postgres—in today’s talk
    11. Translations
    12. Update docs
    13. Contribute code
    Code
    6. Doc feedback
    7. Report bugs
    8. User Test new releases
    9. Performance testing
    10. Patch review
    Feedback is Gold
    1. User stories
    2. Video Demos
    3. Promote
    4. Meetups
    5. Answer questions &
    share your experience
    Sharing is Caring
    @clairegiordano
    

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12. @clairegiordano
    Just like racing
    sailboats
    All these different ways of
    contributing to Postgres add value
    Source: Livestream of Rolex Big Boats Racing Series, Sep 2021
    (my son was on the crew!)
    

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13. @clairegiordano
    Josh Berkus gave a similar talk in ~2013
    Source: Josh Berkus on GitHub: https://jberkus.github.io/pdf_presos/50_ways.pdf
    

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14. @clairegiordano
    This is how Josh drew ”Contribution Pie” in 2013
    

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15. @clairegiordano
    Ways to Contribute to Postgres—in today’s talk
    11. Translations
    12. Update docs
    13. Contribute code
    Code
    6. Doc feedback
    7. Report bugs
    8. User Test new releases
    9. Performance testing
    10. Patch review
    Feedback is Gold
    1. User stories
    2. Video Demos
    3. Promote
    4. Meetups
    5. Answer questions &
    share your experience
    Sharing is Caring
    @clairegiordano
    

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16. @clairegiordano
    Tell your user stories
    • Blog posts
    • Talks
    • Podcast interviews
    • Twitter threads
    • Official “case studies"
    1
    

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17. @clairegiordano
    TIPS for telling user stories
    • Blog posts
    • Talks
    • Podcast interviews
    • Twitter threads
    • Official “case studies”
    1. Headlines
    2. Scannability
    3. Diagrams
    4. Tables
    5. Bullets
    6. Code blocks
    7. Planet Postgres
    REMEMBER:
    1
    

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18. @clairegiordano
    Interview your users & tell their stories
    Example: Pouria
    Hadjibagheri of UKHSA
    co-authored this on
    implementation of UK
    COVID-19 dashboard
    ~80.2 K views
    Source: aka.ms/blog-ukcovid19-dashboard-citus
    1
    

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19. @clairegiordano
    2
    Use Video to demo how
    you use Postgres
    Some people learn better via
    video
    Source: aka.ms/how-citus-distributes-postgres
    

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20. @clairegiordano
    2
    Good video metadata
    will help your video get
    discovered
    • titles should be compelling
    • frontload w/ most important
    words (YouTube truncates titles
    @ 70 chars)
    Thumbnail
    Description
    3 hashtags
    Bookmarks
    Links
    Chapters
    Title
    

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21. @clairegiordano
    3
    Promoting reaches more ppl, grows ecosystem
    

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22. @clairegiordano
    So many PG things to
    signal boost
    your learnings,
    user stories,
    meetups,
    talks attended,
    TIL, QOTD, OH,
    how-to,
    new releases
    3
    

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23. @clairegiordano
    Where to promote &
    share?
    Twitter
    Slack
    LinkedIn
    Reddit
    Discord
    IRC
    3
    

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24. @clairegiordano
    24
    Source: @PostgreSQLNL, @OptimaDataBV
    z
    Run, host, & support local meetups
    4
    

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25. @clairegiordano
    5
    Answer questions &
    share your experience
    PostgreSQL Slack
    IRC
    Stack Overflow #postgresql
    Mailing Lists: share your real-world
    user experience: “yeah that works”
    

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26. @clairegiordano
    Ways to Contribute to Postgres—in today’s talk
    11. Translations
    12. Update docs
    13. Contribute code
    Code
    6. Doc feedback
    7. Report bugs
    8. User Test new releases
    9. Performance testing
    10. Patch review
    Feedback is Gold
    1. User stories
    2. Video Demos
    3. Promote
    4. Meetups
    5. Answer questions &
    share your experience
    Sharing is Caring
    @clairegiordano
    

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27. @clairegiordano
    Docs feedback is
    a gift too!
    Clarify
    Fix ambiguities
    Help new people understand
    6
    @clairegiordano
    Source: postgresql.org
    

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28. @clairegiordano
    “Submit correction” link
    @ bottom of each docs
    page takes you here
    6
    Source: postgresql.org
    

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29. @clairegiordano
    7
    Report bugs with
    Postgres
    When you find a bug with Postgres
    we want to hear about it.”
    “
    “ Your bug reports play an important
    part in making PostgreSQL more
    reliable.”
    Source: postgresql.org
    

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30. @clairegiordano
    7
    Source: postgresql.org
    WHERE to report bugs
    1. Mailing list, or
    2. Bug report web-form here:
    postgresql.org/account/submitbug/
    3. Unless it’s a security
    issue!
    

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31. @clairegiordano
    7
    Security issues are
    special
    

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32. @clairegiordano
    User testing
    your own applications
    new PG Beta, RC releases
    new features
    –––also, tell the PG community
    when things work
    8
    Imaginary email....
    To: pgsql-hackers
    Lists: pgsql-hackers
    Just tested our
    application FOOBAR with
    the beta 4 release
    candidate for PG 15 and
    wanted to let y’all that it
    worked!
    

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33. @clairegiordano
    Performance
    Regression
    Measuring
    performance on
    new releases of
    Postgres is super
    appreciated
    9
    

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34. @clairegiordano
    Patch Review
    as part of a “Commitfest”
    Commitfest =
    “A periodic break in PostgreSQL
    development that focuses on review
    and committing rather than on new
    development.”
    10
    Source: commitfest.postgresql.org
    

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35. @clairegiordano
    Different types of
    Patch Review
    Usability
    Feature
    Performance
    Code Review
    Architecture (Design) Review
    10
    Source: commitfest.postgresql.org
    

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36. @clairegiordano
    Ways to Help with Patch Review
    from one of Melanie Plageman’s PUG talks
    10
    

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37. @clairegiordano
    Ways to Contribute to Postgres—in today’s talk
    11. Translations
    12. Update docs
    13. Contribute code
    Code
    6. Doc feedback
    7. Report bugs
    8. User Test new releases
    9. Performance testing
    10. Patch review
    Feedback is Gold
    1. User stories
    2. Video Demos
    3. Promote
    4. Meetups
    5. Answer questions &
    share your experience
    Sharing is Caring
    @clairegiordano
    

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38. @clairegiordano
    Help with message
    translations
    Mailing list: pgsql-translators
    More info: babel.postgresql.org
    Instructions in Postgres docs:
    “Native Language support”
    11
    

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39. @clairegiordano
    Translations really
    need help!
    Especially Polish, Brazilian
    Portuguese, & Korean
    Without maintenance these
    translations will go away L
    11
    

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40. @clairegiordano
    • pgsql-docs@
    • /docs top level directory
    • SGML/XML, Docbook
    • Lætitia Avrot’s talk from 2018:
    “De-mystifying contributing
    to Postgres”
    www.postgresql.eu/events/pgdayparis2018/sch
    edule/session/1704-de-mystifying-contributing-
    to-postgresql/
    12
    Update Docs
    

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41. @clairegiordano
    Contribute code
    13
    LOTS of places to
    contribute—not just to core.
    Cycles to get patch review &
    contribute to Postgres core
    are really, really, really long.
    Be prepared & don’t get
    discouraged
    

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42. @clairegiordano
    z
    Also at PGConf NYC, on Fri @ 10:50am EDT
    13
    James Coleman, Braintree Payments
    

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43. @clairegiordano
    Lots of drivers
    JDBC
    ODBC
    Python drivers e.g. psycopg
    Go driver
    ...
    13
    

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44. @clairegiordano
    Contrib modules,
    ecosystem,
    & extensions
    13
    pg_buffercache
    pg_prewarm
    pg_stat_statements
    pg_hint_plan
    PgBouncer
    citus!
    ...
    

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45. @clairegiordano
    So many ways to contribute to Postgres
    11. Translations
    12. Update docs
    13. Contribute code
    Code
    6. Doc feedback
    7. Report bugs
    8. User Test new releases
    9. Performance testing
    10. Patch review
    Feedback is Gold
    1. User stories
    2. Video Demos
    3. Promote
    4. Meetups
    5. Answer questions &
    share your experience
    Sharing is Caring
    @clairegiordano
    

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46. @clairegiordano
    Get your socks if you
    asked a question!
    

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47. @clairegiordano
    Thanks & credits & inspiration go to
    • Josh Berkus
    • Samay Sharma
    • Thomas Munro
    • Rob Treat
    • Melanie Plageman
    • James Coleman
    • Lætitia Avrot
    • Isaac Alves
    • Selena Deckelmann’s great wiki post:
    “So you want to be a developer”
    

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48. @clairegiordano
    Thank you
    @citusdata | @AzureDBPostgres
    @clairegiordano
    github.com/citusdata/citus
    

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