Hacktoberfest Contributors Guide

[AceTheCreator]

AsyncAPI Hacktoberfest 2022 Participation

Glad to announce that AsyncAPI will be participating in this year's (2022) hacktoberfest like we've done in previous years, and now is the perfect time to start hacking with us!

Why Hacktoberfest ?

Hacktoberfest is an annual event that encourages people to contribute to open source throughout October. AsyncAPI is an open-source projects and like many other open-source projects are built and maintained by passionate people who often don’t have the staff or budgets to do much more than keep the project alive. hacktoberfest is all about giving back to those projects, sharpening skills, and celebrating all things open source, especially the people that make open source so special.

Getting started

To contribute to an open source repo, you must first configure your account to contribute to AsyncAPI. If you have never completed this process, start by signing up for a GitHub account.

Once your account is configured, start by reading through and adhering to the CONTRIBUTING.md file at the root of the repository you want to contribute to. These files serve as a guide when contributing. Here are a few example contributor guides from some popular AsyncAPI repos:

• Contribute to the webiste
• Contribute to the Studio

In addition to the contributing Markdown file, if a repository has a CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md file, it's a requirement to adhere to the expected behavior in the community. Again, here are a few common examples:

• Webiste: Code of Conduct
• Studio: Code of Conduct

Picking the right issue

Here you can find a list of all the issues that you can work on. These issues varies from code contribution, documentations, CI/CD configurations(we use GitHub Actions) and designs. Now you can pick an issue from the list above, and before jumping into implementation, it will make sense to take a look at the README document and CONTRIBUTING guidelines of the repository. Mostly, the projects follow some good practices that help contributors, and such practices are described in these documents.

Also, you should indicate in the issue comment section that you're interested in the issue and this section can be used to ask questions as a contributor.

We use Slack for our contributors and community, and we also offer weekly Open Office Hours calls. Don’t hesitate to join us on the how-to-contribute channel Here!

Setup your environment and create your first pull request

Once you install Git on your machine and get a GitHub account, you need first to decide if you are here just for Hacktoberfest or longer, and make sure if your issue is easy and maybe you can complete it in the GitHub UI.

In case you are here just for the Hacktoberfest, and you picked easy issues that involve changes only to a single file, there is no need to install Git and complicate your life. GitHub UI enables you to make changes to a single file online.

In case you:

• want to stay with us longer,
• you picked up an issue where you need to make changes to more than just one file,
• you also need to run the project locally to check if it works

Then in order for you to make a contribution, you need to [fork a repository]. Then you can clone your fork on your local environment, implement the changes, and test all the necessary things locally.

We recommend you follow this guide if you're not familiar with the process(https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/quickstart/fork-a-repo) [this](https://github.com/asyncapi/.github/blob/master/git-workflow.md) 

Once you are ready with your changes, submit a pull request. Be nice and follow our code of conduct and make sure your pull request is described properly.

Ask questions or create an issue

If something is unclear about the issue you want to work on or currently working on, there are several options available to ask questions. We have already mentioned chats and calls, but GitHub itself also offers some communication tools. First of all, there is a possibility to leave comments on issues. Quite often, contributors discuss potential implementations or unclear aspects there.

Also, on GitHub, there is a feature called Discussions where anyone can ask questions about the project.

If you notice a bug or have a feature suggestion, the best course of action is to navigate to the issue tab in a specific repository and create a new issue. By the way, reporting issues is also a valuable contribution to open-source projects!

Quality expectations

To have a successful contribution to an AsyncAPI repository, create a meaningful and impactful PR. The following examples from the official Hacktoberfest site are considered low-quality contributions:

• PRs that are automated (for example, scripted opening PRs to remove whitespace, fix typos, or optimize images).
• PRs that are disruptive (for example, taking someone else's branch or commits and making a PR).
• PRs that are regarded by a project maintainer as a hindrance vs. helping.
• A submission that's clearly an attempt to simply +1 your PR count for October.

Finally, one PR to fix a typo is fine, but five PRs to remove stray whitespace are not.

For more information, see Hacktoberfest: Quality standards.

Start your open-source contribution with AsyncAPI this October

At AsyncAPI, we welcome all the open source contributors! From feature implementations to fixing typos in our documentation – we value everything! 

Whether it’s for Hacktoberfest or otherwise, you are welcome to take a look at AsyncAPI and find something that interests you. Feel free to explore the project and you'll definitely find something to work on, set up the development environment, prepare a pull request and pass code review. ✌️

Help

You can always tag @AceTheCreator or @derberg if there is an issue or PR where you need some help.