I'm curious about the best path to take when it comes to contributing to major open source software projects, like the Linux kernel or big Python libraries. Beyond just learning programming languages and data structures, what other skills or knowledge should I focus on to truly understand their codebases and make effective contributions?
3 Answers
If you already know how to code, check out Mozilla's mentored bugs for new contributors. I helped mentor many newcomers during my time as a Firefox developer, and I remember Gnome and LibreOffice offering similar programs. It's a great way to get involved!
The first thing you should do is dive into the codebase itself. Just start exploring! If you hit parts that don’t make sense, look them up. Keep doing this until it all clicks for you. It might sound simple, but it really works!
For the kernel, that's definitely going to take a while, haha.
You should definitely research and familiarize yourself with the contribution guidelines specific to the Linux kernel. Working with large and complex codebases is crucial, as well as having a much deeper understanding of development concepts than just what's taught in a typical university course. For example, can you grasp CPU alignment requirements or the peculiarities of certain compiler flags when building the kernel? Also, reading through commit histories can be enlightening too!
Thanks for the detailed response. This gives a lot of clarity on the low-level stuff I must focus on.
Thanks for answering!