The launchpad
Try your own
You have done the practice. This is the real thing - a first contribution to a project you did not write, out in the open where anyone can read it. It will not be fast, and it may be quiet for a while. That is normal. A merged change is public, permanent, and blind to your record; review judges the patch, not the person. Start small. Start real.
LOCAL ONLY · the notes below stay in this browser. Every real step happens on the sites you open from here.
Find a first issue
Pick something small and real - a typo in the docs, a stale command, one confusing sentence. The on-ramps below open in a new tab. thunk never follows them; you do.
- GITHUB good first issue Open issues maintainers tagged as suitable for newcomers, across every public repo.
- KERNELNEWBIES Your first kernel patch A step-by-step walk through preparing and sending a first Linux kernel patch.
- LINUX FOUNDATION Kernel Mentorship A structured, mentored path into kernel contribution, with a free beginner course first.
- INTERNSHIPS Outreachy Paid, remote internships in open source for people facing under-representation in tech.
- ITS DOCS A tool you already use Open its repo, read its docs, and fix the first line that tripped you. No link needed - you already know it.
Write the change description
A good change answers three questions. Fill them in, then copy. Plain words beat clever ones.
### What was wrong _(fill this in)_ ### What is right now _(fill this in)_ ### How I verified it _(fill this in)_
Before you submit
The quiet list a maintainer wishes every first-timer ran. Ticks stay in this browser.
My first patch
One patch, your own. Note what it is and where it stands. This is the only record; it never leaves this browser.
- CHOSE
- FORKED
- CHANGED
- SUBMITTED
- IN REVIEW
- MERGED
You picked a real issue, small and specific.
No accounts, no telemetry, no server. The tracker holds your own notes and nothing else. How this runs, and what it stores