Hello,

I have been thinking about making the jump towards Open Source, not just using OSS but also contributing to it.

First, some OSS projects/apps I know of are Peertube, Lemmy (right now using Voyager app), Mastodon, Matrix (used to use the Element app, gave up because I realized it was too hard for those around me who got used to Whatsapp), OpenStreetMap (through OrganicMaps), Jellyfin, and Actual Budget, Godot Engine, Luanti, GrapheneOS… I might know more, but those are the ones I remember right now.

Second, I have some basic experience with programming (mainly Java [haven’t learnt GUI yet tho], SQL, and C# for Unity videogames), but no experience entering an already created codebase yet, let alone making changes and sending them (and I admit I might need to get some practice with Git), so it is pretty intimidating. Do you have any advice about it?

Third, I’d like to hear about projects you find interesting or useful. Not neccesarily to contribute or even use them myself, but I’m interested in which other projects there are out there.

Edit: Thank you for the responses, what I got was basically find OSS to replace not-OSS I currently use, and contribute either fixing issues myself, helping with other stuff (making issues, writting or translating documentation, helping newer users), or giving feedback on the project.

  • Dingaling@lemmy.mlEnglish
    13·
    11 hours ago

    A lot of the replies so far focus on fixing the problem yourself, which is awesome if you’re a coder.

    But even reporting problems is a big help to all projects. Found a bug? Report it - give the right information and be cordial.

    Also, contribute sensible suggestions. Some smaller projects suffer from a single owner not understanding how others might use their work because they don’t have that perspective (certainly an issue for me). Plus, getting involved and contributing this way can be a huge motivator to these small projects. It can be pretty disheartening to work hard on a passion project and not hear anything back from users.