If you want to contribute to an open-source project, my suggestion would be to start with software you are using heavily. This is built-in incentive for you as a developer and makes it so much easier to dive into the internals since you most likely already know how the thing works.

Prior to being a heavy Zend Framework user, I wanted to contribute to the project. I found myself with lots of grand ideas but I was just spinning my wheels. After using the framework daily for a while, contributing became simple. I say this with the understanding that I still haven’t found the time to implement any of those “grand” ideas; however, just helping chip away at the small stuff has been fun and gratifying enough.

Here is my break-down of how to start (works for me but YMMV):

1 – Use the project in one of your own projects or find a way to use it at work.

2 – Start helping others by answering questions on IRC, the issue tracker, or comment the documentation/wiki.

3 – Periodically run the unit test suite. You may catch something that the original developer didn’t based on your platform and configuration.

4 – Fix the documentation…even if it is just to correct a typo. What you will find is that even if you are submitting a super-trivial patch (typo, correcting a coding standard violation, etc.) you are learning the process and getting familiar with the internals.

Besides, any end-user would agree that no project can have too many people contributing to the documentation.

Any suggestions?

Thanks