Hacktoberfest: What It Is, How to Take Part, and Lessons From Twelve Years
What Hacktoberfest is, how to take part in October 2026 now that pull requests no longer count, and what twelve years of it taught open source, good and bad.
Open source, {re}explained.
How it works, how to contribute, how to run your own project. A free guide, articles and a showcase by the Open {re}Source community.
Nine modules, from the first contribution to funding
01
What Is Open Source?
The rules, the history and the numbers behind open source, so the rest of the guide makes sense. Six chapters, no prerequisites.
02
Getting Started With Open Source
Where open-source projects live, how to judge one before you install it, build on it or contribute to it, how to talk to its maintainers, and the Git you need. Five chapters for first-timers.
03
Contributing to Open-Source Projects
From picking a project to a merged pull request, plus the community, the portfolio and the rough patches. For anyone who wants their name in a changelog.
04
Creating Your Own Open-Source Project
Turning a folder on your laptop into a project other people can use and improve. The idea, the plan, the repository, the community. Licenses have a module of their own.
05
Licensing & Legal
What a license lets people do with your code, how to choose one, apply it and change it later. For anyone who publishes code or depends on it.
06
Maintaining Open-Source Projects
The job nobody describes. Reviewing, updating dependencies, keeping a community, and not burning out. For anyone with the Maintain bit.
07
Promoting Open-Source Projects
Making a good project findable without becoming a marketer. Why promotion isn't a dirty word, and a name, a logo and a voice that hold up.
08
Financing Open-Source Projects
Where the money comes from, where it goes, and what it costs to ask. The funding models, and how to raise money without a legal department.
09
Open Source & AI
What changes when contributions and reports come out of AI tools, and the rules projects wrote in response. For maintainers and contributors alike.
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What the community builds
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