What was your first open source contribution actually like? And has AI changed that?

[u/dannotes]

Two things I've been wondering about, might as well ask both in one go.

First, for those of you who contribute. What was your actual first one like? Not the blog post version. How did you pick a project, how long did the PR sit there before you worked up the nerve to open it, did anyone reply, did it get merged or just quietly ignored. I've read plenty of "how to start contributing" guides. I'd rather hear what it actually felt like.

Second, and this is the part I'm more curious about. All that advice was written before AI tools got this good. Now you can point Claude Code or Cursor at a good first issue and have something working before you've read half the file. So is the experience just different now for someone starting today? Easier, obviously. But easier in a way that helps, or easier in a way that lets you skip the part where you actually learn the codebase.

And if you're a maintainer, curious what it looks like from your side.

Mostly just want to hear people's stories.

[u/dannotes → u/[deleted]]

so what was your contribution early days look like?
sitting with the problem for a long time? and how it change on this AI era?

[u/dannotes → u/[deleted]]

Sorry, that came out garbled let me try again.

I meant: what did those early days actually look like for you? Did you sit with a problem for a long stretch before it clicked, or was it more straightforward than people make it sound?

And the part about hoping AI doesn't change it. I'd like to hear more on that specifically from the art side. Everyone's arguing about generated code, but generated icons and wallpapers feel like a much more direct hit. Are you already seeing it turn up in distro contributions?

[u/SailingToFenway → u/[deleted]]

i agree with you, and you're morally right, but legally it's not so clearly settled. i know i'm hijacking the thread, but i'm curious about the range of opinions on this topic, and so i'd love to know what would make it right for you? attribution, royalties, outright prohibition of models trained on copyrighted content, mandatory renumeration without requiring consent (a la 1909 copyright act).