Allow us to wake you up when September ends because Hacktoberfest is (nearly) here. And you can contribute to the Fedora Project while participating in Hacktoberfest 2022! This event is an excellent opportunity to advocate for free and open-source software, all while giving back to the community with the contribution of your choice. Hacktoberfest includes low and non-code contributions. You can diversify your contributions to include writing docs, creating designs, running tests, mentoring folks, and much more. This global event is open for anyone, from students to professionals. People of all backgrounds and skill levels are encouraged to join us.

Hold on – What’s in it for me?

Folks who participate during Hacktoberfest 2022:

  • Get to expand their network with like-minded folks who maintain or contribute to the projects of their choices and interests
  • Get a pristine opportunity to give back to the free and open-source software project that they use and/or are a big fan of
  • Receive an absolutely awesome-looking Hacktoberfest 2022 tee-shirt to exhibit those bragging rights
  • Get a great opportunity to advocate for environmental conservation by having DigitalOcean plant a tree in their name

Alright, I’m sold – How do I participate?

Folks can participate either as project maintainers or as individual contributors.

As a project maintainer

If you want to participate as a project maintainer:

  • Ensure that you have your project repository available on either GitLab or GitHub
  • Add the “hacktoberfest” topic to your repository to indicate you’re looking for contributors
  • Add a “CONTRIBUTING.md” file with contribution guidelines to your repository
  • Choose issue tickets that are well-defined, self-contained, and have a limited scope
  • Adopt a code of conduct to create a greater sense of inclusion and community
  • Be active in reviewing, approving valid pull/merge requests and merging them
  • Reject any spammy requests you receive by labelling them as “spam” and closing them

Project maintainers get rewards for:

  • Merging unique pull requests or merge requests
  • Providing an approving review for the pull requests and merge requests
  • Adding the “hacktoberfest-accepted” label to the valid requests
  • Adding the “invalid” or “spam” labels to the invalid requests

We encourage teams who have their repositories in the Fedora namespace of GitLab and Fedora-related organizations in GitHub to participating in this event.

As an individual contributor

If you want to participate as an individual contributor:

  • Ensure that you register on the Hacktoberfest website between Sep 26 to Oct 31
  • Look for the “hacktoberfest” topic in GitLab or GitHub project repositories
  • Open four valid pull requests or merge requests for these repositories (maintainers must accept your requests for them to be counted towards your total)
  • Adhere to the project’s contributing guidelines and code of conduct
  • Be active in revising your requests as and when the maintainers request changes

Individual contributors get rewards for:

  • Creating four merged pull requests
  • Being among the top 40,000 participants to get their four requests in
  • Making contributions with a lasting effect, long after October ends
  • Not sending spammy requests to the project maintainers

It’s cool and all – but I am new to this

Not a problem. The Fedora Join SIG is here to help you out. Drop in and introduce yourself. Fom there on, the helpful folks at Join SIG will help you find a place to contribute.

Happy hacking!