Hitchhikers Guide to Participating in Open Source talk prepared for PyCon 2014. This is the extended version that was cropped down to make the final talk.

1. HITCHHIKERS GUIDE
TO
FREE AND OPEN
SOURCE
PARTICIPATION

2. @elequ github.com/elena
Elena Williams
Django Web Developer
Django News Podcast
Canberra Python UG
Perth Django UG
DjangoCon AU
International Person of Mystery
No time!

3. ANDREW
TRIDGELL
rsync
"TRIDGE"
Author of and
Thank you!

4. COMP8440
ANU
Australian National
University
COMP8440
YOUTUBE
Lectures

5. WHAT IS
"OPEN SOURCE",
ANYWAY?

6. LIBRE GRATUIT
"FREE" SOFTWARE
#englishfail

7. friː/
Able to act or be done as one wishes;
not under the control of another“ ”

8. "INVENTED" IN A
BOARDROOM
IN 1998
Term "Free" implicitly threatening to them.
"OPEN SOURCE"
Public, "open" source, such as a newspaper/phone book

9. FREE
LIBRE
OPEN
SOURCE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT
Free Software, Open Source, FOSS, FLOSS

10. Copy or Transmit
Display or Perform
Sell
Change!
(Remix/make Derivative works)
COPY "RIGHTS"
Assumed to apply automatically.

11. "TO EVERY COW ITS CALF
TO EVERY BOOK ITS COPY"
Jurisdictions similar, enforcement varies.

12. fixed
in any
tangible medium
“
”
creator of a
creative
expression
“
”
Jurisdictions: rules same, enforcement varies.
17 USC §102 Frank Siler "Copyright and You" PyCon 2013

13. COPYRIGHT EXCEPTIONS
Stifled!
Repressed!

14. COPYRIGHT EXCEPTIONS

15. In the beginning there was the
command line.
BEGINNING OF SOFTWARE
> _

17. 1969: ANTITRUST
"THE UNBUNDLING"
First major proprietary software.

18. RICHARD STALLMAN
"large volumes bug free code": GCC, emacs

19. Richard Stallman
FATHER OF FREE SOFTWARE
Freak genius, MIT AI labs

20. FOSSLicensing isa Hack on Copyright
Copyleft doesn't exist without Copyright.
"PROMISE" NOT TO SUE

21. Offsets Copy"rights" as"Freedoms
(and other stuff)
63 Recognised Licenses
GPL and LGPL; Apache License; BSD;
MIT License; Mozilla Public License 2.0;
OPEN SOFTWARE INITIATIVE
+28 rejected licenses.

22. If you're not sure:
Assume your work is Derived
Inherit the original license.
or
Don't copy/use the software.
DERIVED WORKS

23. Do you understand the difference?
FREE SOFTWARE
V.
OPEN SOURCE

24. kernel source "open"
.. but don't copy, change, derive, resell, etc

25. Wait: AmI theCopyright Holder?
At what point could you re-license Windows?
Your own script?: Yes!
A framework specific plugin?: .. maybe
DERIVED WORKS
"COMP8440: FOSS and the Law"

26. 15% of all repositories had license files
(ie: 85% arenotFOSS)
GITHUB PROJECTS
WITH LICENSES
"all the fruits in the forest are poisonous"

27. Mustreturn changes.
Muststay open.
Only price of admission for business.
Also called "viral" licensing.
Never has the little guy lost.
COPY LEFT

28. .. depends on the project.
What Licensedo I pick?
THIS WAS
MEANT TO BE FUN ...
Very complicated.

29. Would you remember to consider everything?
LimitationofLiability
Disclaim Warranty
(or you can still be sued)
USE AN OSI LICENSE
Carl will be talking which licence to choose after me.

30. Copyright (C) Andrew Tridgell 1992.
“Permission to use, copy and distribute
this software is given to anyone who
wants to, for NON-PROFIT only. You
may not charge for this software or any
derivatives of it without first contacting
the Author.
” Don't write your own:
"COMP8440: Licensing" (3min) 18 years later.

31. Open source to open source,
corporation to corporation.
If you do open source,
you’re my hero and I support you.
If you’re a corporation,
let’s talk business
MODERN CASE STUDY
“
”The term "exploited" is being used a bit lately.

32. 54%GPLv2/LGPLv2 and GPLv3/LGPLv3
13%Apache License 2.0
11%MIT License
8%BSD 2.0 License (3 and 2-clause)
6%Artistic (Perl) License
<8%rest

33. Feel strongly about being
exploited by the man
(pick copyleft: eg GPL).
Believing the
community will conquer all
(pick permissive: MIT, BSD, etc).
I am so not a lawyer.

34. Every last major tech company is FOSS now.
QuestionCopyright.org
"SOCIAL WASTE
TRANSACTION COST"
quote Daniel B. Ravicher (famous lawyer)

35. Don't have to enforce.
Breach? Ask politely
.
If you have a good license
can ask FOSS lawyer for help.
(probably unintended)
USING YOUR LICENSE
With GPL never has the little guy lost (groklaw).

36. Outside the Scope of this Talk:
Changing your License
Copyright Assignment/("Contributor Agreements")
Re-licensing
(issuing a license specifically)
Multi-licensing
USING YOUR LICENSE

37. Software Freedom Law Centre
Software Freedom Conservancy
Free Software Foundation (FSF)
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Creative Commons, QuestionCopyright, GrokLaw
MODERN HEROES
We need more technical lawyers.

38. //WHY
CONTRIBUTE?

39. YOU!

40. AUTONOMY
MASTERY
PURPOSE
WHAT WE REALLY WANT
(not money)

41. Pretty much anything
anyone ever does is for this,
our brains are wired this way.
Recognition
TO FEEL A SENSE OF
CONNECTION
Meet like-minded people.

42. "SKILLUP"
HOW TO BE THE "BEST"
Trythings don't do "during theday"
PursuePerfection
BEST SCHOOL
Do cool things with people better than you.

43. Exposurefor Your Projects/Work
Exposurefor You
Employerswant:
Proof of your Capability
BEST CV
Want jobs?

44. "Make the
world a better place."
Moral values
Democracy/Meritocracy
But not everyone!
ETHICS AND ALTRUISM
Not cool to talk about in old-skool projects.

45. Studying?
Bored with work?
Do something fun and productive.
CONSTRUCTIVE
PROCRASTINATION
Some of the best FOSS projects in history.

46. Compelling and challenging
Chaotic, Anarchic
and Opinionated
Serendipitous:
Don't know where it will go.
We'd do it anyway.(probably)
FUN

47. ALL PROJECTS
ARE DIFFERENT

48. How big is the project?
How technical and serious is the project?
What is its scope?
KINDS OF PROJECTS
Can't independently derive this stuff.

49. How old is the project?
Where in its lifecycle is it?
~ New project
~ Active progression
~ Mature, maintenance phase
~ Dead
KINDS OF PROJECTS

50. How many people are involved?
What clear roles are defined?
~ BDFL/s
~ Release Manager
~ Core Developers
~ Governance Structure/Software Foundation
KINDS OF PROJECTS

51. Cathedral v. Bazaar
Recent research:
~ Foundation
~ Community driven
~ Monarchy
KINDS OF PROJECTS

52. 2%
~335K projects
(maybe) 1500 active
WE ARE
PYTHON

53. For thePurposeof Contribution
2 TYPES
OF PROJECT
WE ARE PYTHON

54. MEDIAN: 1 CONTRIBUTOR
"When Free Software Isn't Better" Benjamin Mako Hill

55. Very tiny number of famous projects need:
highly skilled, specific help.
Vast majority of projects need:
all the help in the world.
VERY BIG AND VERY SMALL

56. HAVE A BASIC IDEA
OF THE PROJECT
BEFORE DIVING IN.
For your own sake.
Can have diametrically opposing experiences.

57. TREAD CAREFULLY
Some projects
have very high
expectations.
SOME PROJECTS ARE FUNNY
Linux kernel I'm looking at you.

58. Start where you are
Use what you've got
Do what you can
“
”
Alex "Skud" Bayley

59. //WHERE DO I
FIND PROJECTS?
I'm ready.

60. https://open .org
https://github.com/explore
http://sourceforge.net/p/forge/helpwanted/
http://teachingopensource.org/
https://opensource.com/ (redhat)
http://community.ubuntu.com/contribute/
http://contribute.jquery.org/
hatch

61. DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE
Just because ...

62. What's your interest?
What's your strength?
What skill do you currently want to work on?
What problem to you want to solve?
What do you do in your spare time?
weird form of teamwork
Personal need/"Scratching your own itch"

63. HAVE A GOOD
INTERNAL SENSE
OF WHEN YOU'RE
USING FREE SOFTWARE
LEARN TO LOOK
(which I trust everyone here does ...)

64. LearntoLook
for waysyoucan help.
If you have the right attitude interesting
problems will find you.
THINK LIKE A CONTRIBUTOR
“Lesson #4 The Cathedral and the Bazaar
Go beyond being a Passive User

65. Details, details, details
Isolate, replicate and report bugs properly.
Read and understand documentation
THINK LIKE A CONTRIBUTOR
(spelling, cruft, etc).
When you find bugs:
(for clarity and coherence).
Remember: You're contributing effort, it takes energy.

66. START SMALL
This is not the last time I'm going to say this.

67. #1 Seek/Find/Reach out
notice itch
find code (eyeball community)
#2 Do your thing
fork, clone
poke around code (grep, code, etc)
commit, push (to your version)
#3 Send back your work
pull-request (comment/email)

68. #1 NoticeItch, Find Source
Seek/Find/Reach out.
#2 Work on your Contribution
#3 Returnyour Contributions
Notify project, get feedback.

69. For your firstcommit:
Punch your weight
Play to your strengths
Have realistic expectations
Talk to the project!
MY FIRST CONTRIBUTION
First time: Like dinner parties and marathons
don't attempt something you've never done before.

70. FIND OUT HOW TO (WHO)
COMMUNICATE
FIND OUT HOW TO
COMMIT

71. Well known projects have:
serious,
dedicated,
committed,
professional
people working on them.
These people have taken serious time and effort.

72. "Ecosystem" around big projects
~ Work up ranks (hard work over long time).
~ Make plugins.
~ Be a good "Cultural fit".
CONCEPT OF "CORE"
Trustworthy committers are a very limited resource

73. Learn the "style" of the existing project.
(Phrasing, structure, etc)
If in doubt: copy
Don’t make up a new style: ask!
There will probably be rules.
Follow them (eg, PEP)
PROJECT STYLE
Step where they step.

74. CONFERENCE SPRINTS!
Tools/projects you use.
Projects people you know are working on.
Projects within your "domain".
"Learn to look" redux
FINDING PROJECTS
After the closing address in about 3 hours.

75. //AS A
CODER

76. Spend most your time:
Reading Code
Fixing
Testing
Maintaining
Documenting
AS A CODER
It's not all about the uber-ego commits.

77. Code Review
Ticket Triage
Help out on the Users list/IRC
(fielding questions)
AS A CODER

78. The software development
methodologies adopted
are not the same as those found
in closed source development projects.
“
”

79. (Stable/Working) >(your Ego)
Expect to get Rejection
but playful, friendly, caring rejection.
Aspiring to Concensus-Based Perfection
(rather than minimum viable product)
HOW FOSS IS DIFFERENT
Particularly in famous projects: free ⊄ ideal

80. In FOSSif you'regoing to: FailFast!
Hot white fear, nobody wants to look stupid.
Do document your failures.
Don't fail on the same thing repeatedly.
Don't assign blame.
FAILURE IS NECESSARY
Failure is comparatively cheap for us.

81. Learn to take"feedback"
(iecriticism)
Accepting criticism is actually a skill.
YOU ARE NOT YOUR CODE.
Development is a continuum.
HOW FOSS IS DIFFERENT
Giving good constructive criticism
is a really hard skill.

82. My patch is amazing
accept it now.
✗
Who is this guy?
Do you think this
patch is OK?
✓
OMG, God wrote this patch.
BE OVERLY MODEST
"completely and self-deprecatingly truthful"

83. SmallProjects
Can Turn on a Dimefor Your Idea
Envisioning and implementing
is expensive for small projects.
SOME PROJECTS ARE FLEXIBLE
(Big/Famous Projects are Not)
Maybe it is about the uber-ego commits.

84. DROP YOUR EGO
It's just not cool here.
HOW FOSS IS DIFFERENT

85. YouareHerebyChoice
Engage Socially
You are statistically more likely to stay involved
with the project for longer.
HOW FOSS IS DIFFERENT
IRC, Email, Sprints, User Groups, Conference

86. DURATION
OF PARTICIPATION IS
FUNCTION OF
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

87. Ask your employer!
Give back donate some of your time to the
projects you use at work.
Openly License your internal packages/projects.
THINGS YOU CAN DO
Some of these kinds of projects can be successful.

88. 3.3M Peopleon ohloh
⅔M projects
18.5M programmers
11M professionals
7.5M "hobbiests"
IDC, 2014 survey

89. //AS A
NON-CODER

90. 50%-50%
FOSS needs non-Coders.
FOSS needs to
involve non-Coders
effectively.
NON-CODERS
MSF, EWB, Pro-Bono Lawyers

91. Code Review (learning)
Every project needs:
Designers, Content makers, Writers
Translations!
Many kinds of unusual task!
AS A NON-CODER
All these things take tremendous talent and effort.

92. BeModest and beOK with Yourself
Be confident you can do something they can't.
Beware of the gaping holes in their knowledge
outside code and be gentle about this.
AS A NON-CODER
Programmers aren't very smart,
they will mirror: if you're comfortable they will be.

93. UsetheToolsYour FriendsareUsing
Use tools that are
easy to install
(be kind to yourself).
IF YOU ARE NOT A CODER
(the best support!)

94. LEARN TO USE GITHUB
Be comfortable with
how to make contributions
and everything else will follow.
IF YOU ARE NOT A CODER
This is the 2014 advice.

95. USE A GIT GUI

96. Programming is easy
Software is hard
Only onepersoncould
work on a project atonce.
VERSION CONTROL SYSTEMS
Like "Shared document" but terminator style.

97. SCCS (1972)
RCS (1982)
CVS (1986/9)
SVN (2000) ~60% FOSS 2008
Most Free Software
ever developed.
CENTRALIZED
All these systems are open source.

98. Whereisthe"Master"Repository kept?
Centralised: One cardinal version
Distributed: Every one has own version
DIFFERENCE: MASTER
Need to connect to make changes (can be slow).
Changes are distributed.

99. Should youFork?
Centralized: "Forking" is BAD
Distributed: "Forking" is the first thing you do.
DIFFERENCE: FORKING
Discouraged (can be an act of aggression).

100. DVCSwarsearly 2000s
Bazaar, Mercurial, DARCS, Monotone, Git
DISTRIBUTED

101. diff/patch
Universal language
of software change.
VERSION CONTROL
Larry Wall

102. CONCENTRATE
Version Control
(particularly git)
has a reputation for being complicated.

103. sourceforgecompared togithub
Is git perfect?
(probably not)
VCS MAY CHANGE AGAIN
So recently as 2007(!) lauding sourceforge.

104. If this is all too much:
SAY THANKS!
Send an email, tweet, etc or in person!
Open source developers are people too.

105. //HOW TO
PROJECT OWNER
Don't ask me.
Ask Carl, he's talking about this next.

106. ALSO ASK THESE PEOPLE

107. For the love of humanity ...
EnsureIt’sPossibleto Run/Install!
INSTALLATION AND
DEPENDENCIES
Fortunately we all use virtual environments.

108. Wearepython.
FIRST TIME?:
USE COOKIECUTTER

109. "Advertising" helps.
Maintenance and care helps.
Enough code to convince
potential co-developers.
FIRST TIME?:
DON'T EXPECT CONTRIBUTORS
"plausible promise"

110. Phrase your problem in a way that's
easily accessible to the
person with the right skills.
Offer Recognition
GETTING OTHER PEOPLE
TO HELP

111. Thisisoneof the
mainmotivations
for peopleto contribute.
They're not doing it for the money, after all.
GIVE RECOGNITION!

112. Likegetting a puppy.
It'sa responsibility and
it getsbigger.
AS A PROJECT OWNER
It takes work to get work done.

113. Recogniseit takeswork
to getworkdone.
Automate all the things.
AS A PROJECT OWNER

114. Don't Automatically Reject/Revert
Don't let people find out through an
automated system.
Drop a quick note,
there's usually a reason.
Humans hate rejection, chips away at your soul.

115. Bike-shedding
How much domain experience/knowledge
required?
"Putting your thumb print on it."

116. 1957 argument that organizations give
disproportionate weight to trivial issues.
Time spent in discussion will be in
inverse proportion to the complexity.
PARKINSON'S
LAW OF TRIVIALITY
“ ”Resist the urge to weigh in, unless asked personally.

117. Like-Attracts-Like
Firstly: Do No harm
Good Judgement
Politeness, Respect, Patience
CHOOSE YOUR CULTURE
Like a motley family, where people can come and go.

118. Your role may tend to be:
Firefighter
Anti-bikeshedder
AS A PROJECT OWNER

119. PeopleTend
NottoAnswer
theQuestion They'reAsked
Hard to see your project with new eyes.
Get other people to do this!

120. Be Optimistic (not stupid, hopeful but realistic)
Be Patient, Fair & Tolerant
Have decent Judgement and "Taste"
Traits of a good Leader?:
perhaps: Strength & Resourcefulness
BE A GOOD LEADER
Hard to tell who will make a good leader.

121. "Pull Request Zero"
Have a non-code person
who answers pull requests.
AS A PROJECT OWNER
No feedback makes people think you don't want them.

122. Never Know Who'sWatching
You probably have quality sleepers/lurkers.
You will never see contribution from people
you (or your community's) behavior turns away.
ALWAYS BE CORDIAL

123. .. or you will burnout.
Writea list
highlight thethingsyoulove.
Give everything else away!
LET GO!

124. According to the research:
Average involvement is between:
3 months and 2 years.
PeopleChange!
EMBRACE YOUR CHURN
... and they should!

125. Occasionally ignore everything
(except security).
ProjectLeaderChurn
isalso a Thing
BURN OUT: TAKE BREAKS

126. Most of our toolstakeYEARSto learn!
Learn our Basic Tools
We expend most of our effort/lives with them.
The all take practice
it's easy to stagnate.
MASTER YOUR TOOLS
Programmers are often self-taught/from other fields.

127. Text Editor
Pick a good one, learn to use it well.
MASTER YOUR TOOLS
Programmers are often self-taught/from other fields.

128. Version Control (git, hg, svn, etc)
Learn basic commands solidly.
Get comfortable with major operations
( reverting, resolving conflicts,
merging, branching, etc).
MASTER YOUR TOOLS
Programmers are often self-taught/from other fields.

129. Issuetracker
Learn to Write a Good Bug Report:
~ Be Descriptive
~ Do the Homework
"Design decision needed"/"close"v."feedback"
MASTER YOUR TOOLS
Special hell for people who just copy/paste traceback.

130. Command Line(CLI)
Learn to use it well (go beyond ` cd`).
Regular Expressions ( regex).
grepand find
MASTER YOUR TOOLS
aliasing, wildcarding, command substitution,
piping, variables/control structures, iteration, etc

131. Mailing Lists/IRC/IM
When/Which to use?
Who to ask about different matter.
General channels v. channels-with-a-purpose.
Language expectations.
Is there a code of conduct?
MASTER YOUR TOOLS

132. Learn to WRITE
Effectively Communicate
Have a working knowledge of popular markups
( ReST, markdown, etc).
MASTER YOUR TOOLS
(clearly)

133. SOMEONE NEW
COME UP NOW!

134. //ON
PARTICIPATION
For those to whom this is obvious:
I'm not talking to you. thxk.

135. ... and are solved by.
Communicate! Communicate!
95% human problems are caused by ...
COMMUNICATE!
Shallow and often.

136. StateIt Upfront
StateasSimply asPossible
brief, short, to the point, concise, succint
summary, pithy, crisp, incisive
ASK/EXPLAIN: BE TERSE
“ ”No fluffy language, no big explanation.
Be cordial but just get to the core of it.

137. Do What YouSay You'reGoing to Do
If you can’t: Communicate!
FOSS people are spectacularly understanding.
DON'T SPEAK UP, if you're not "already there".
SET EXPECTATIONS
18%

138. Tell PeopleWhat You'reDoing
For their sake.
Save them from wondering.
SET EXPECTATIONS

139. Don’tagonise(spareyourself pain!)
Experienced people often can see/feel
you struggling .
ASK!
(but will be polite)
In short term: it may be intimidating to ask
In medium term: you're learning faster
They know the feel because they've been there.

140. Everyone does.
Everyone is about most things.
The "best" leverage
On feeling stupid:
(and are usually very humble).
SAYING: I DON’T KNOW
Nobel Prize 1996 "Buckminsterfullerene"

141. RuleofThumb:
If you'restuck for 1⁄2hour
go to: IRC, mailing lists, IM, etc
ASK!
"Confessions of Joe Developer" @pydanny

142. Decisions are made by
the people who show up.
User Groups, Hackerspaces, Conferences
IRC, Email Lists
TURN UP
“ ”
Both Online and Offline

143. CONGRATULATIONS!
Youarealready here.
Thankyou!
Shareand enjoy.

144. Don'tCriticisePeople'sLifeDecisions
It's a surprisingly small community.
ON EACH OTHER'S TEAM
Same people come around.

145. Don'tCriticiseTechnical
Fixes/Solutionsthat are
CurrentlyWorking
Rough concensus, running code.
ON EACH OTHER'S TEAM
“ ”Unless you have a patch actually delivered.
Even then be nice.

146. Don'tCriticiseother FOSSProjects
... without contacting the project first.
Send an email or submit a ticket.
Pull up anyone else you see doing this.
ON EACH OTHER'S TEAM
Save it for the proprietary world.

147. All mistakes will eventually be
washedcleanby timeand entropy.
Communitiesarevery robust.
DON’T GET DISHEARTENED
Nobody cares how many times you fall down,
ONE fewer than the times you get up all that matters.

148. PYTHON
DIVERSITY GRANT
THANK YOU

149. THE PSF
PYCON AUSTRALIA
LINUX AUSTRALIA
PYLADIES
ALL THE THANKS