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Getting Started (for GSoC students)

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Terri Oda edited this page Feb 14, 2023 · 4 revisions

It can be really overwhelming figuring out how to start in a new project, so here's some steps we recommend:

Getting Started:

  1. Follow the README and make sure you can run the tool. Try running it against random things on your hard drive and see if it finds anything. On a Linux system, your /bin directory usually yields some interesting results.

  2. Run the tests. The CVE Binary tool has a number of unit tests. Make sure you know how to run them, and if you've never used pytest before, you might want to read up on it (we also have some tests still using python's unittest, but we're tending towrads pytest for new tests). Figure out how to run a single test!

  3. Read the documentation. That should help you figure out what the tool is for and how people use it in more detail.

  4. Read the new contributor guide

Some potential first contributions:

  1. File issues. You might encounter a bug or something confusing in the documentation. Let us know if you do!
  2. Update documentation. We especially appreciate documentation feedback from new users, since your "beginner mind" means you see things differently than experienced users, and will catch places where the documentation could be more detailed or improved.
  3. Write a new test. Instructions for writing tests are here. This can be your first contribution!
  4. Try fixing a bug. We have a few flagged as "good first issue". A number of those are new checkers, which although they might sound challenging are often pretty easy to write. Instructions on how to add a new checker are here.

We expect prospective GSoC students to have made at least one code contribution if they want their application to be considered, so now's a good time to get that going! You can ask for as much help as you need.

Got stuck?

  1. Ask in the GSoC tagged issues. Usually the best place is either the brainstorming thread or one marked "Start here" (If you don't see either of those in that search, you may be out of season for GSoC and we're not yet set up for the upcoming year. You're always welcome to join as a new contributor outside of the program, though!)
  2. We have a chat server on gitter. That allows for "live" chat but no one's actually sitting there 24/7 so you should expect to post your question and get an answer hours later when someone sees it.
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