Open Source and Hacktoberfest 

Every year, Digital Ocean along with DEV and GitHub organize a month long event called Hacktoberfest. We all hear about it and want to participate in it but it feels like an impossible feat. Here is a roadmap on what is open-source, Hacktoberfest and how to participate in it.

What is Open Source?

The term open source refers to something people can modify and share because its design is publicly accessible. Similarly, we can say that open source software is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance.

The opposite of open-source software is closed source software, which requires a license that limits users and keeps the source code out of them.

Firefox, OpenOffice, Linux, and Android are some common examples of open-source software, while Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and Apple's iOS are some of the popular closed source software out there.

Most of the Open Source projects rely on Community contributions for improvements and new feature updates. It means that developers, like you and me, are free to suggest and improve open source software, but they need to be accepted by project maintainers else there is a risk that the software will break.

What is Hacktoberfest?

Hacktoberfest is the month-long celebration of open source software created by DigitalOcean to honor and uplift the open source community.

Hacktoberfest is open to everyone in the global community. Whether you're a developer, student learning to code, event host, or company of any size, you can help drive growth of open source and make positive contributions to an ever-growing community. All backgrounds and skill levels are encouraged to complete the challenge.

First 70,000 participants who complete Hacktoberfest will receive a limited edition Hacktoberfest t-shirt or they can also choose to plant a tree (which is the better option if you ask me).

Roadmap to Hacktoberfest

• Register at 'hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com'.

• Submit at least four pull requests to any public GitHub repository. We will talk about this later.

• Wait for 7 days as if your PR is marked spam in this 7 day period it will not be valid for Hacktoberfest.

• Submit the form and enjoy your swag (another name for the prize).

Contributing for Hacktoberfest

• Finding Issues: There are many ways to find issues which are easy to resolve. The best way is to search for "Hacktoberfest" or "Good First Issue" using GitHub's issues filter. There are also some sites which lists beginner friendly issues, like 'https://goodfirstissue.dev/' and 'https://www.firsttimersonly.com/'.

• Claiming Issues: Now that you have found an issue you could work and would like to contribute to it, don't start working on it right away. First, write a comment on the issue that you are interested and wait for the response from Project Maintainers. Only start when you get the green flag as there might be someone else who is already working on the issue.

• Read the README.md: Every project has a README file which explains what the project is and how you can contribute to it. Make sure you read it and follow the project guidelines while working on the project.

• Creating a Pull Request (PR): Once you are sure that you have fully resolved the issue and are ready to submit your work, create a Pull Request. In layman's terms, a Pull Request is basically a request you make to the Project Maintainers that they review and accept your work. If the Project Maintainers are satisfied with your submission, they will accept the PR and merge it.

List of some easy to contribute repos:

The below list is non-exhaustive but I will keep updating it as I find more repos. If you are a Project owner or if you have found a repo which have beginner friendly issues, feel free to comment below.

• Repo Name: keivalya/pong

• Repo Name: Easyvipin/Practice-Python

• Repo Name: aniketsharma00411/algorithmsUse

• Repo Name: andrejarrell/CatGifs

• Repo Name: Harshita248/Loading121