Re: Open Source Contribution in FreeType

[Werner LEMBERG]

Amit, Mahesh,


> I am new to open source just contributed in HactoberFest and I
> really wanna contribute more but don't know from where to start.  I
> visited your website through GSoC.  I have gone through projects and
> want to contribute to it and its newer versions.
> 
> Please help me and show me direction towards the open source
> contribution.

I think that contributing to projects doesn't work as you envision.
Instead of focusing on 'I want to contribute!' you should first ask
yourself: 'What I'm interested in?'.

As soon as you have found a project that you like, simply start using
it!  This is, write one or more small test applications that use the
stuff you are interested in.

You *must* get acquainted with whatever you want to do.  If you
encounter problems, write to the corresponding e-mail lists (or
forums) for help – the more concise the questions, the better
assistance you get.  In particular, the most important thing is *to
read the documentation first*!  I repeat, *read the documentation
first*!  This also includes the e-mail list archive(s) and forum(s)
associated with the project; in most cases, your questions will be
similar to already existing ones, which further means that there are
already answers to it.

For FreeType, this means that you should start with becoming a normal
user, and user questions should be sent to the `freetype` mailing
list:

  https://www.freetype.org/contact.html

Then, and *only* then, you can start with contributing stuff like
improving the documentation or other simple tasks.  It is highly
recommended that you learn how to use `git` so that your patches can
be directly added to the development source code.  Questions related
to FreeType development should be sent to the `freetype-devel` mailing
list.

Finally, an advice for GSoC: *You* must initiate everything!  Don't
expect that there are people who say what you should do.  Mentors will
guide you to a certain extent, but they won't do work for you.


    Werner