First-Time ASF Contributors Fix Bugs for ASF Projects, Improving OSS Quality, Security, and Usability

Posted by The ASF First Contributions

Reporting, discussing, and resolving bugs in open source software is a frequent entry point for new contributors to engage and collaborate with a community around an Apache Software Foundation (ASF) project. Bug fixing is fundamental to software development; it is crucial in helping improve open source software’s quality, security, and usability. It also builds trust among ASF project users, who see issues addressed effectively, facilitating project sustainability and continuous improvement

To showcase the journeys of first-time contributors, we reached out to individuals from ASF projects to learn about their initial tasks and contributions. This #FirstASFContribution post highlights three ASF community members who contributed bug fixes for Apache Hadoop, Apache Ranger, and Apache Superset. 

Ayush Saxena – Apache Hadoop

Sometimes a contribution to an ASF project can come from an interest in a specific innovation or feature. For Ayush, that was Apache Hadoop’s HDFS Erasure Coding (EC). Hadoop is a well-known open source framework and has been used for 16 years to process large data sets across distributed clusters of computers using simple programming models. Integrating EC with the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS)–the primary storage system for Hadoop apps–can improve Hadoop’s storage efficiency while still retaining the same data durability found in traditional replication-based HDFS deployments. “After exploring the HDFS EC feature for a considerable amount of time,” says Ayush. “I wanted to contribute to the community and luckily found a bug open around the same [topic].” There was a bug in Hadoop’s HDFS CLI related to EC, and because Ayush had spent so much time diving into HDFS EC, he could quickly find and resolve the problem. 

Ramachandran Krishnan – Apache Ranger

Ramachandran’s first ASF project contribution happened when his current employer used Apache Ranger. The framework is used with Hadoop to enable, monitor, and manage comprehensive data security across the platform. While using Apache Ranger, he found some bugs, such as incorrect handling of policy expressions in the Ranger UI, so he started contributing to the project. This initial contribution has led to various code contributions, from fixes and performance improvements to new features in Apache Ranger. 

Rohit Pawar – Apache Superset

It’s important to remember that your passion for open source can inspire others. For Rohit, he was impressed to find like-minded people who shared the same passion for learning and exploring: “My journey with Apache Superset began with the first-time setup of the platform where I encountered several difficulties. However, the community was very helpful, and through their guidance, I learned about how the open source community operates.” Apache Superset is a modern, enterprise-ready business intelligence web application, and Rohit found a bug where Superset created extra columns in emails under specific circumstances. “I had to go through the entire code and root cause to find a solution.” After much investigation, Rohit was able to open his first pull request (PR): “Contributing to Apache Superset was an amazing experience, and I cannot express the satisfaction and accomplishment of being part of such a fantastic community.”

The Community Over Code Ethos

The stories of these first-time contributors showcase the “community over code” philosophy that’s deeply embedded in ASF’s open source communities. These experiences demonstrate how contributions can come from a diverse range of individuals, and how even simple bug fixes ensure the long-term stability of ASF projects. We applaud the collective efforts of these contributors and recognize that the open-source community’s strength lies in collaboration and support.

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