Github for First Time Open Source Contributors | Hacktoberfest workshop

Hacktoberfest is upon us !

The cloud services provider digitalOcean is sponsoring an event they call Hacktoberfest 1 to find and encourage new contributors to Open Source and Free Software projects. It's simple: make 4 contributions to any project(s) on Github, have them accepted, and earn a Hacktoberfest T-shirt*... and feel proud and fuzzy too!

To this end, the first workshop of the "Edinburgh Free Software Workshops" will be a programmer-oriented session for anybody who wants a hands-on session on how to use Github, and contribute to projects.

As a participant, you will likely have some experience with programming either as a hobby or for work - you may have had a hobby project, you may write algorithms to crunch data, or you may have years of experience but never used Github or contributed to open source. If that sounds right, then this session is for you!

But contributions themselves don't have to be code: documentation, interface text, translations are all valuable parts of the ecosystem too !

The session will start with a guided overview of Github, and the 'git' tool; after which you can start looking at various projects on Github to contribute to - it would be better if you had one in mind in advance (if you've ever found a bug in something and fixed it, but never shared that fix, this is you Big Chance!) ; but if you don't have one in mind, we'll help you find something. Tai and couple of volunteers from EdLUG 2 will be on hand to answer questions on the git tool, and Github usage, and guide you through making your first Pull Request.

We'll be meeting on the afternoon of Saturday 5th of October at Akva, at 3pm. You will need to bring a laptop (Windows, Mac or Linux), with wireless capability, fully charged (there are multiple charge points in the bar, but these may be already taken when you arrive)

We look forward to seeing you there !

• applicable to the first 50,000 people who successfully complete the challenge.

If you are able to do so ahead of time, you might consider creating your Github 3 account and if on Windows, installing Git 4

This event is organised in conjunction with the Edinburgh Linux User Group 2 (EdLUG)