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Hacktoberfest and Microsoft Learn

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Hacktoberfest is an annual worldwide event held during the month of 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. Some of the repositories actively participate in the Hacktoberfest event. In this article, you'll learn how to discover which repos are accepting PRs, and what you can expect as a contributor.

Find a repo

To discover if a Microsoft Learn repo is participating in Hacktoberfest, you'll see the hacktoberfest topic on the project.

GitHub .NET docs repository with hacktoberfest topic.

To filter all Microsoft Learn and .NET repos that have the hacktoberfest topic, see GitHub Topics: Hacktoberfest.

Alternatively, a repository may choose to use the Hacktoberfest label instead. This label is convenient for filtering issues. For more information, see Filtering issues and pull requests by labels.

Tip

If you're a repo admin and you want to allow your repo to participate in Hacktoberfest, add the hacktoberfest topic to the repo. For more information, see Classifying your repository with topics.

Contribute

To 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. You must also register a profile to track your efforts. See Hacktoberfest.

Once your account is configured, start by reading through and adhering to the CONTRIBUTING.md file at the root of the repository you want to contribute to. These files serve as a guide when contributing. Here are a few example contributor guides from some popular Microsoft Learn repos:

In addition to the contributing Markdown file, if a repository has a CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md file, it's a requirement to adhere to the expected behavior in the community. Again, here are a few common examples:

For more information, see Hacktoberfest: Participation.

Choose an issue

To find an issue to work on in a participating repository, filter the issues for either the up-for-grabs or help-wanted GitHub labels. While you can address other issues, it's easier to focus on issues that have a well-defined scope and are self-contained. In addition to the Microsoft Learn repos, you can use the following sites for beginners:

For more information, see Hacktoberfest: Beginners.

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