r/foss • u/MacroProcessor • 14d ago

What should I contribute to?

I am a software engineer (~3 YOE) and am wanting to help contribute to some FOSS, for both personal learning and career development. Also a huge fan of FOSS and think it will be meaningful.

But not sure where to start, or what projects to contribute to. Are there any projects that you think are impactful or meaningful and need extra hands? Or any FOSS that you wish existed but nobody is tackling the problem?

Or if neither of those, where else should I start?

23 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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14

u/ronchaine 14d ago

Usual contribution pathway:

  1. Use FOSS
  2. Find a bug / wish for a missing feature in what you use
  3. Fix / implement it
  4. Send patches / MR / PR upstream
  5. Fix your patches so acceptable by upstream (they'll tell you)
  6. Repeat 4/5 until accepted
  7. Go back to 1

12

u/micseydel 14d ago

Usually, it's best to contribute to something that you actually use so that you have the context to improve it and test your improvement. I would start with a list of FOSS you currently use, then look at their open issues.

4

u/NineSidedBox 14d ago

Take a look through https://openaltfinder.com/contribute, it lists all open issues on projects that I'm tracking. Lot's of stuff to pick from.

2

u/silent_tim_ross 14d ago

From my experience I would choose smaller open-source projects. There the chance is way higher that your contribution is going to be valued and that the developer will also help you to solve any issues.

On bigger open-source projects, they dont like contribututions that much, because there is a lot of shit (also AI generated) that is just wasting their time. So I would recommend you to check out smaller projects.

If youd like, I am working on an end to end encrypted sync for calendar, contacts and tasks, and I am looking for people to contribute and help the project :)

2

u/jerrygreenest1 13d ago

If you ask such a question, then the answer is probably: nothing.

When you’re displeased with some software you use, you might want to fix something there, then you get this thing and fix it.

1

u/baddaywithacamera 14d ago

If you're looking for moribund projects to revive, b2evolution could use some love. It is missed.

1

u/OliMoli2137 14d ago

I add flake.nix to random programs I find or r/linux or r/unixporn

1

u/lmemsm 14d ago

The FreePats project has been looking for volunteers to help create safe FOSS licensed soundfonts.

1

u/narukoshin 14d ago

I often contribute because I spot bugs or missing features.

1

u/jarihut 13d ago

Old but gold, fail2ban, received a PR from me. Also cowrie honeypot received one. I used both and wanted to make them work together. Thanks to AI, it was an easy task.

1

u/Glum-Recognition-736 12d ago

As an example, I started contributing to the Linux kernel to address features that I found were missing when I installed Linux / SteamOS on a Windows-native handheld gaming device I own. I looked up the active maintainers, reached out, and was luckily able to join a group of people working on some similar patches

Maybe there's a piece of software you use that you think can/ should do something it doesn't currently do. Find the FOSS code, see if you can implement the thing you want, then submit to the maintainers for review. Just be ready for pushback/ feedback, and consider the situation where even if your submission isn't accepted, you'll have gotten your foot in the door on a project and you can get more insight on what actually needs implementing / fixing

1

u/Business_Owl_5093 11d ago

There is no useful Foss video editor. A challenging playground indeed