Getting Involved in Open Source Acadiana Open Source Group http://acadianaos.org Matthew Turland

Acadiana Open Source Group

http://acadianaos.org

A Little About Me Lead Programmer for surgiSYS LLC 7 years experience in the IT industry Bachelors in Computer Science from UL Zend Certified Engineer Published author in php|architect magazine Blog: http://ishouldbecoding.com

Lead Programmer for surgiSYS LLC

7 years experience in the IT industry

Bachelors in Computer Science from UL

Zend Certified Engineer

Published author in php|architect magazine

Blog: http://ishouldbecoding.com

What is Open Source? ”Open” - open to distribution, study, and change ”Source” - source code The Open Source Definition http://opensource.org/docs/osd The Free Software Definition http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

”Open” - open to distribution, study, and change

”Source” - source code

The Open Source Definition http://opensource.org/docs/osd

The Free Software Definition http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

Examples of Open Source Ubuntu – Linux-based operating system OpenOffice – Office suite Firefox – Web browser Thunderbird – E-mail client Pidgin – Multi-protocol instant messenger client MediaWiki – Wiki software powering Wikipedia Apache – Web server powering 50% of the web

Ubuntu – Linux-based operating system

OpenOffice – Office suite

Firefox – Web browser

Thunderbird – E-mail client

Pidgin – Multi-protocol instant messenger client

MediaWiki – Wiki software powering Wikipedia

Apache – Web server powering 50% of the web

Why Open Source? Free (as in beer) No commercial pressure on releases Given enough eyes, all bugs are shallow Perspectives + Goals = Innovation Scratch your own itch

Free (as in beer)

No commercial pressure on releases

Given enough eyes, all bugs are shallow

Perspectives + Goals = Innovation

Scratch your own itch

Show Me the Money! Hosting and installation Customizations and add-ons Consulting and training Books and magazines Accelerated development

Hosting and installation

Customizations and add-ons

Consulting and training

Books and magazines

Accelerated development

Why Should I Get Involved? Improves the software available to you Improves the support community Provides software developers with education and work samples for prospective employers Provides businesses with more flexible cost-effective software solutions

Improves the software available to you

Improves the support community

Provides software developers with education and work samples for prospective employers

Provides businesses with more flexible cost-effective software solutions

How Can I Get Involved? Write code and fix bugs Promote the software you use Suggest new features Test release candidates and report bugs Submit documentation improvements Participate in support channels Donate money for hosting and bandwidth

Write code and fix bugs

Promote the software you use

Suggest new features

Test release candidates and report bugs

Submit documentation improvements

Participate in support channels

Donate money for hosting and bandwidth

Writing Code and Fixing Bugs Common desktop languages: C, Java, Python Find an open issue and submit a patch Package software for a target OS Write new software and submit it for inclusion

Common desktop languages: C, Java, Python

Find an open issue and submit a patch

Package software for a target OS

Write new software and submit it for inclusion

Promoting Software Use it yourself Word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising Include logos and links on your web site or blog Participate in a user group or street team Purchase and wear branded merchandise

Use it yourself

Word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising

Include logos and links on your web site or blog

Participate in a user group or street team

Purchase and wear branded merchandise

Testing and Reporting Bugs Back up your data first! Review related documentation Find out if bugs are known before reporting When filing a bug report, be thorough Be available if developers have questions

Back up your data first!

Review related documentation

Find out if bugs are known before reporting

When filing a bug report, be thorough

Be available if developers have questions

Support Channels Wikis Forums Mailing lists IRC channels Freenode - http://freenode.net EFNet - http://www.efnet.org DevNode - http://devnode.org

Wikis

Forums

Mailing lists

IRC channels

Freenode - http://freenode.net

EFNet - http://www.efnet.org

DevNode - http://devnode.org

Finding Projects SourceForge - http://sourceforge.net Freshmeat - http://freshmeat.net Assembla - http://www.assembla.com/portal Google Code - http://code.google.com Students: Google Summer of Code - http://code.google.com/soc Package repository for your OS

SourceForge - http://sourceforge.net

Freshmeat - http://freshmeat.net

Assembla - http://www.assembla.com/portal

Google Code - http://code.google.com

Students: Google Summer of Code - http://code.google.com/soc

Package repository for your OS

Questions?

Credits Acadiana Educational Endowment Acadiana Symphony Orchestra All of you!

Acadiana Educational Endowment

Acadiana Symphony Orchestra

All of you!