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Hacktoberfest and other hack-a-thon events

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Hacktoberfest is an annual worldwide event held during October. The event encourages open source developers to contribute to repositories through pull requests (PR). GitHub hosts many open source repositories that contribute to Microsoft Learn content. Several repositories actively participate in Hacktoberfest.

How to contribute

Before you can contribute to an open source repo, you must first configure your account to contribute to Microsoft Learn. If you have never completed this process, start by signing up for a GitHub account. Be sure to install Git and the Markdown tools.

To get credit for participation, register with Hacktoberfest and read their participation guide.

Find a repo that needs your help

The PowerShell-Docs team is supporting Hacktoberfest contributions for several PowerShell documentation repositories. We have defined a set of cleanup tasks designed to be simple for first time contributors. Full information can be found in the Hacktoberfest meta-issue.

To be successful with these tasks, you should:

Before contributing should read the meta-issue. When you are ready to start, open a new issue using the Hacktoberfest issue template (linked below):

Quality expectations

To have a successful contribution to an open source Microsoft Learn 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 a stray whitespace are not.

For more information, see Hacktoberfest: Values.

Open a PR

A PR provides a convenient way for a contributor to propose a set of changes. When opening a PR, specify in the original comment that it's intended to contribute to hacktoberfest. Successful PRs have these common characteristics:

  • The PR adds value.
  • The contributor is receptive to feedback.
  • The intended changes are well articulated.
  • The changes are related to an existing issue.

If you're proposing a PR without a corresponding issue, create an issue first. For more information, see GitHub: About pull requests.

See also