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29 ways to get started in open source

29 ways to get started in open source

From YAPC::NA 2012, Madison, WI 6/13/2012

Andy Lester

June 13, 2012
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  1. 29 ways to get started
    in open source
    Andy Lester, http://petdance.com/
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  2. Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  3. Rule 1
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  4. You are worthy
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  5. What’s a good project
    to help out with?
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  6. Best project to help on:
    one you use.
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  7. 2nd best:
    one you want to use.
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  8. Listen & learn
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  9. Listen & learn
    • How does project work flow?
    • Who are leaders? Dictator or committee?
    • What’s being worked on?
    • What does the project value?
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  10. Listen & learn
    • Join a mailing list.
    • Read blogs of leaders.
    • Join IRC channel.
    • Attend a user group meeting.
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  11. Every project is
    different.
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  12. Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  13. Bug management
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  14. Report a bug.
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  15. Enhance a bug report.
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  16. A bug ticket is not a
    static document!
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  17. Enhance a bug report.
    • “I recreated this on Ubuntu with the 1.6
    release per the ticket. On Mac OS X, it
    also failed, but with a different error
    message and with a stack trace.”
    • (And give the message and contents of the
    stack trace!)
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  18. Isolate a bug.
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  19. Isolate a bug.
    • “I was not able to recreate this under
    Firefox 11.0, but it does happen on Firefox
    9.1 and Safari 2.4.”
    • If you have a theory, provide it.
    • “I remember reading that Firefox 11 was
    more forgiving in handling JavaScript that
    does X.”
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  20. Isolate a bug.
    • Be careful you are clear what is theory and
    guessing, and what is fact you’ve proven.
    • Avoid sweeping guesses.
    • Bad: “This happens with every template.”
    • Good: “I tried this on these seven
    templates: A, B, C, M, N, P and X”.
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  21. Write a test
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  22. Silence a compiler
    warning.
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  23. Close a ticket
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  24. Document an API:
    Examples!
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  25. Document a process
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  26. Fix the website
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  27. Translate something.
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  28. Tweet some news
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  29. Write a blog post
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  30. How did you use the
    project?
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  31. What worked?
    What didn’t?
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  32. Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  33. Go to a user group
    meeting
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  34. Test a beta or RC
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  35. Answer a question
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  36. Draw a logo
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  37. Welcome a newcomer
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  38. Talk at a user group
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  39. Do what needs
    to get done
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  40. Thank someone.
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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  41. Thank you for listening.
    http://speakerdeck.com/u/petdance/
    Wednesday, June 13, 12

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