Finishing Up With 0.1

To all those embarking on the journey of adding to open source projects, be warned, there is a steep learning curve.

I have faced adversity in many forms leading up to committing my first ticket fix branch. Some of which included finding an appropriate bug to start on, installing a linux partition on an HP laptop, installing all the necessary software to build the project and tests, finding out that just because you fork the main repository that it doesn't mean it will be bug free (see missing test suite), and submitting the issue fixes to your repo properly.

All of which I have discussed except the last one. I mistakenly made my changes on the original development branch, commited, and pushed that to my repo. Along with a merge error of some sort involving a folder, it turns out you create a separate branch to put your changes on so as not to disturb the current development branch. Once your fix gets put into the main development branch and double checked, that's when your changes get put it.

Anyways aside from that, it's been an interesting experience. Hours upon fours of IRC chats discussing issues, finding out opinions of the best way to go about things, and learning about other projects being used by their actual creators. It's awesome that the community helps each other out so willfully, otherwise I would have my doubts in open source software succeeding. As I learn, I too will field any questions that I have the capability to answer; almost like a knowledge karma situation.

Regarding the actual issue, it was more of a suggested change to Gladius than an actual issue. That's what I'm being told Gladius is doing mostly right now anyways; repositioning and restrategizing on what direction the team wants to take it. I am proud to say I have been apart of this process even though I feel my task was seemingly insignificant. I guess the more you participate, the more you learn and the more you can contribute; just takes time.

I feel like I've already learned quite a bit and hope to continue to do so. As soon as the fix for the test suite is put up I plan on testing my fix and making sure I didn't break anything, but for now I can start my second task. I feel like this time I'll have a better handle and be able to commit to a much larger issue.

Cheers and Happy Hacking,

crgosselin