120

How can i teach myself to contribute to these projects? (self.selfhosted)

submitted 4 days ago by philanthropicoctopus to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I use open source self hosted software everyday. I love the community and I would love to be able to contribute to some of these projects.

As far as code goes, I basically no nothing about how it works. I see the development section of the repos I use and again, I've go no idea how it works.

How can I teach myself how to offer small improvements to the projects I use?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] JensSpahnpasta@feddit.org 4 points 4 days ago

A few hints:

Start with smaller projects with simpler codebases. Do not try to understand what LibreOffice or Jellyfin are doing.
Maybe try to understand how one specific part of that software works. Chatbots are really, really good at explaining existing code, so ask your bot where the feature is located and let it explain it to you

this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2026

120 points (96.9% liked)

Selfhosted

61512 readers

1227 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

Detailed Rules Post

Be civil.
No spam.
Posts are to be related to self-hosting.
Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or readme if you're providing a link.
Submission headline should match the article title.
No trolling.
Promotion posts require active participation, with an account that is at least 30 days old. F/LOSS without a paywall has exceptions, with requirements. See the rules link for details. Tags [CBH] or [AIP] are required, see the links in Rule 8 for details.
AI-related discussions and AI-involved promotional posts have additional requirements for tagging, as noted in Rule 7 and the AI & Promotional Post Expanded Rules post, and find example disclosures here.

Resources:

selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
awesome-selfhosted software
awesome-sysadmin resources
Self-Hosted Podcast from Jupiter Broadcasting

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

curbstickle@anarchist.nexus

curbstickle_lw@lemmy.world