Ohio LinuxFest Keynote: Why you should contribute to Open Source projects

A keynote talk at the Ohio LinuxFest about why, what and how to contribute to an open source project.

Transcript

1. http://AssimilationSystems.com/
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   Contribute to Open Source Projects!
   Contribute to Open Source Projects!
   Alan Robertson
   CTO Assimilation Systems Limited
   AlanR@AssimilationSystems.com
   AlanR@unix.sh
   @OSSAlanR
   Founder: Linux-HA project
   Assimilation Project
   

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2. http://AssimilationSystems.com/
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   ●
   Questions
   ●
   Why?
   ●
   Which?
   ●
   What?
   ●
   Do it!
   

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   Do you?
   Do you?
   ●
   Use open source OSes at $work?
   ●
   Use open source applications at $work?
   ●
   Use open source system management tools
   at $work?
   

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   Have you?
   Have you?
   ●
   made small FOSS contributions?
   ●
   made substantial FOSS contributions?
   ●
   started an OSS project?
   ●
   started a successful OSS project? ;-)
   

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   Rules of the Road
   Rules of the Road
   ●
   Feel free to ask questions during the talk
   ●
   Try not to snore, it'll wake your neighbor up!
   

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   Why?
   Why? –
   – $work
   $work
   ●
   Improve local environment
   ●
   Fix locally critical bugs
   ●
   Get priority help
   ●
   Become local expert
   ●
   Cross-pollination
   ●
   Provide expertise, initiative,
   leadership
   

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7. http://AssimilationSystems.com/
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   Why?
   Why? –
   – You
   You
   ●
   Learn, Grow!
   ●
   Make friends
   ●
   Travel, Conferences
   ●
   Meet cool people
   ●
   Become well-known
   ●
   World-wide Leadership
   ●
   Improve job prospects
   

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   Examples
   Examples
   ●
   Brent Chapman – majordomo, firewall seminar, book
   ●
   Dawn Foster – Puppet community
   ●
   Rusty Russell – ipchains
   ●
   Warner Moore – blog, bug fixes, puppet modules
   ●
   Leam Hall – open source book reviews
   ●
   Chris Lindbergh – docs for Nagios plugin
   ●
   Daniel Velliard – rpmfind.net
   ●
   Paul Morgan – Python3 tito, wormhole
   ●
   Dustin Kirkland - byobu
   ●
   Allan Jude – BSD ports, ZFS docs
   ●
   David Lee – Linux-HA Solaris port
   ●
   Dejan Muhamadagic – Linux-HA resource agents
   ●
   Juan Carlos (JC) Tong – Assimilation continuous integration
   

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9. http://AssimilationSystems.com/
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   My Career
   My Career
   ●
   S/W, SysAdmin
   ●
   Founded Linux-HA
   ●
   Linux-HA for SuSE
   – tech bubble bursts :-(
   ●
   Linux-HA+ for IBM
   ●
   Founded Assimilation
   – IBM Lays off 8000 :-(
   ●
   Assimilation Startup
   

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    Why?
    Why? –
    – The world
    The world
    ●
    Improves computing for
    everyone
    ●
    Sharing and collaboration
    raises the bar for everyone
    ●
    Improves $WORKn
    ●
    Makes projects viable
    ●
    Give as you've received
    

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    Which?
    Which?
    ●
    Relevant to Work
    ●
    “Open community”
    ●
    Viable, Active
    ●
    Friendly to newbies
    ●
    Any/All of
    – Cool and Exciting
    – Important
    

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    What?
    What?
    ●
    Documentation!
    ●
    Answer Questions
    ●
    Great Bug Reports
    ●
    Suggestions
    ●
    Reference Site
    ●
    Promotion / Talks
    ●
    Blog / Write Books
    

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13. http://AssimilationSystems.com/
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    What?
    What?
    ●
    Build, Packaging
    ●
    Continuous Integration
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    Write Tests / Testing
    ●
    Fix Bugs
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    Write plugins
    ●
    Write code
    ●
    Encouragement, Thanks
    ●
    Purchase Developer Support
    

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14. http://AssimilationSystems.com/
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    Do It!
    Do It!
    Choose a project!
    I suggest the Assimilation Project :-D
    http://assimilationsystems.com/download
    But choose a project!
    

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