EMC World 2016 - code.11 Intimidate me not - How to Contribute to Large Open Source Projects

1© Copyright 2016 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. 1© Copyright 2016 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

INTIMIDATE ME NOT: HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO LARGE OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS

VLADIMIR VIVIENDeveloper Advocate, EMC {code}

2© Copyright 2016 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Developer Advocate | EMC {code}

Programmer in Go, JavaAuthor and OSS contributor

{github | twitter | medium}/@vladimirvivien

VLADIMIR VIVIEN


• Why Open Source• What is a contribution?• Ways to contribute• Why Contribute

AGENDA


WHY OPEN SOURCETHE CASE FOR SUPPORTING OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS


WHO IS USING OPEN SOURCE (OSS) TODAY?


78% OF COMPANIESRUN ON OPEN SOURCE

LESS THAN 3% DON’T USE OSS IN ANY WAY

2015 North Bridge & Black Duck Future of Open Source Study

OVER 66%CONSIDER OSS OPTIONS BEFORE

PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE ALTERNATIVES


• Data center computing• Virtualized/containerized computing• Desktop computing• Mobile computing• Computing tools• Productivity tools• Data and analytics tools

FABRIC OF MODERN COMPUTING


Open Source Everywhere


• Personal• Enterprise• Government• Military• Science• Academia• Manufacturing

PERVASIVE IN ALL SECTORS


• Low barrier of entry (free)• Community driven (many eyeballs on code)• Quality projects• Drive technological innovations• Preferred approach to computing• Allows speed to market• Choices and vendor lock-in averse

ADVANTAGES OPEN SOURCE


Sounds great!

What’s the problem?


• Survives on community participation– Adopters– Champions– Code writers– Maintainers– Document writers– Bug reporters

• Thrives on diversity (backgrounds, opinions, skills)• Requires some level of participation

OPEN SOURCE IS A COMMUNITY EFFORT


• Intimidating culture• Everyone is a rock star (or ninja, black belt, etc)• Thousands to millions lines of code• Little to no guidance sometimes• Talent and ego clashes• Consume precious free time

CONTRIBUTING CAN BE SCARY


No worries

This presentation is all about getting involved in open source.


WHAT IS A CONTRIBUTION?


• Most projects have zero in monetary budgets• Projects welcome any form of constructive help• Most rely on benevolence of volunteers• As we will see, contributions goes way beyond just

submitting code

NOT JUST WRITING CODE


• A contribution is any activity that helps with the success of the project– Promotion – Adoption and usage– Feedback / Bug reporting– Documentation– Coding– Project Maintenance– Monetary / Sponsorship

WHAT IS A CONTRIBUTION ?


PROMOTE THE PROJECT


• Newer/smaller projects have no marketing budget• Projects rely heavily on users to spread the word• Promotion is a great way to contribute to a project• Let the world know about your excitement and

support of your favorite open source project(s)

PROMOTING AN OPEN SOURCE PROJECT


• Tell your manager and fellow peers• Do internal presentations• Convince your architect it is a good project• Create POC’s internally

PROMOTING AT YOUR COMPANY


• Present at your local user group events• Organize a Meetup around the technology• Volunteer to help others adopting the project

PROMOTE IN THE COMMUNITY


• Write a blog – Praise– criticize (constructively)

• A big one: star on GitHub!• Post on your favorite social networks• Answer questions on online forums, chat rooms

PROMOTING ON THE NET


ADOPT AND USE OPEN SOURCE


• Majority of projects have no sponsors or sales team• Projects rely on organic adoption• Adoption fosters mindshare• Mindshare, in turn, helps promote projects

USE OF OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS


• Put org logo on a “Power-by” page (if possible)• Let others know you use the project in your org• Provide testimonials to project maintainers• Help others in your industry adopt the project• Ask questions on mailing-lists• Share experience about project (blog or otherwise)

ADOPTING AND USING YOUR FAVORITE PROJECT


PROVIDE FEEDBACK AND FILE ISSUES


• There is no QA department for most projects– The community is the QA department

• Projects rely on feedback and bug reports• Feedback provides valuable metrics• Bug reports help identify broken code / features• Usage and adoption of project help here

QUALITY DEPENDS ON FEEDBACK


• Once you adopt project, provide feedback• Post praises on Twitter (always welcome)• Post questions, comments, critiques

– forums– mailing lists – Slack, IRC

• Be constructive• Be patient and kind

INFLUENCE PROJECT WITH FEEDBACK


• Most common form of feedback• Primarily to report broken code/features

– Other types (questions, feature request, proposal, etc)– Use an issue tracking system (hopefully)– Structured– Assignable – Traceable– Measurable (pulse of project)

• Help take pulse of projects

FILE AN ISSUE


• Tests are valuable feedback– Test early version of software– Test new features– Test reported bugs from others

• File an issue to report bug• Expect pushback sometimes, but be

– Constructive (follow filing standards)– Patient and kind (your issue may get ignored a while)– Persistent (if issue is critical, it can help others)

• Remember this is mostly volunteering work– Above all be kind

BE A TESTER


• Large projects can have hundreds of active issues• Review and properly

– Validate issue (dup, invalid, etc)– Tag issues– Categorize issue– Initial assignment– Ensure issue follows proper doc standard– Assure consistency

• Triage helps project maintenance

HELP WITH TRIAGE


DOCUMENT


• Successful projects are usually well-documented• Good docs make new users feel welcome

– Helps with getting started– Anticipate readers questions– Helps users adopt project

• Writing good docs is hard– Programmers are usually not good tech writers– They are busy building the product

• Doc neglected, last to be updated

DOCUMENTATION HELPS ADOPTION


• Start with typos• Go through “Getting started” sections

– Follow directions for clarity, consistency– Help with language and clear writing

• Contribute– Project documentation– Tutorials – Design and architecture

DOCUMENT YOUR FAVORITE PROJECT


• Write blogs• Develop tutorials• Write missing manuals• Help explain a hard concepts• Contribute your write-ups back to project

DOCUMENT ON YOUR OWN


CONTRIBUTE CODE


• Code is crucial part of the project• Active codebase means

– Code is maintained and fresh – Code is not rotting over time

• A sign of interest and participation• Attract new adopters and contributors• Features are being added • Issues are not neglected

KEEP CODE FRESH AND RELEVANT


• Ability to code – Know or familiar with the language of the project– Have adequate skills to get started– Great opportunity to sharpen skills

• Rock star status is usually not a requirement• Know/understand SCM tools

– Git, Mercurial, SVN, etc• Familiarize with project workflow

– Fork, branches, tags, code reviews

CODE CONTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS


• Look for issues tagged ‘Low Hanging Fruit’– Code documentation & comments– Fixing typos– Small UI or CLI changes– Minor bug fix– Add minor feature– Etc

• Great way to learn about project code• Low entry point to code

– Helps familiarity with code– Familiarity with project flow

CODE LOW HANGING FRUITS


• Help clean backlog of bugs!• Validate reported bugs

– Replicate bug, close or re-route if necessary– Clarify issue ticket with better documentation

• Fix buggy code– Start with lingering older issues– Fix and close non-critical bugs (low hanging fruits)– Great way to understand codebase– Gain valuable insight into project

FIX BUGS, BUGS, BUGS!


• Implement a planned feature– May require advanced knowledge of project

• If project is extensible– Implement a plugin– Implement an interface to an API

• Improve existing features– Propose improvement– Submit code

CODE NEW OR IMPROVE FEATURES


• Expect a rigorous process to get code accepted– Not a quick– The larger the project, the slower– Large projects have more steps– Again, patience reigns

• Follow project’s workflow (pull requests, patch, etc)• Expect a code review and suggestions

– Don’t take it personal– Code may get rejected until it meets certain criteria– Opportunity learn and get better

SUBMITTING CODE CHANGES


CONTRIBUTE MONETARILY


• Project may accept monetary donations– If it’s valuable to your organization, contribute– If it’s valuable to you personally, contribute

• Sponsor a conference about the project• Buy commercial support license if offered• Hire open source project developers• Contribute with paid employee time

SUPPORT YOUR FAVORITE PROJECT


WHY CONTRIBUTE?


• Open source drives innovation• Influences directions of technology• Participate and donate • Maintain vibrant communities

MANY REASONS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS


• Great opportunity to learn• Expose your talent to the world• Build an accessible portfolio• Companies value/hire open source contributions• Companies hire contributors

SELFISH REASONS FOR CONTRIBUTING


CONCLUSION


• Participate in open source is easy• Many ways to participate• Participation is beyond coding• Find a project you use daily – contribute to it!

CONTRIBUTE NOW


Data Persistence in the New Container WorldWednesday 3PM

Joshua BernsteinVP of Technology for ETD

Tobi Knaup CEO & Co-Founder of Mesosphere

Guru Session


@EMCcode@vladimirvivien

emccode.comcommunity.emccode.com

Come visit us at Booth #1044 or in the vLab

Questions?
