See also: OpenFPGA · PR #2682 · PR #2683
I have always assumed the entry to open-source contribution was a high one, and rightfully so. There are so many people who will eventually use the tools and changes you make if approved. Yesterday, I made my first OS contributions to OpenFPGA.
It was a rather obvious one — a broken contribution URL in the root README, the very page I wanted to read before making any contributions at all. I forked, branched, and pointed the link at the correct Read the Docs page. PR #2682 (issue #1534) was approved and merged.
I then moved on to interconnect documentation. The goal was to learn the workflow from problem to fix to pull request. I tackled outdated directlist syntax in PR #2683 (issue #518): separated the VPR <directlist> syntax from the OpenFPGA <direct_connection> syntax, fixed an incorrect closing tag (</directlist> → </direct_connection>), and updated attributes to match the XML parser rules in read_xml_routing_circuit.cpp.
Reading issues is now one way I find pending problems worth solving. For the next challenge, I will keep contributing within my capacity to learn and appreciate the workflow.
It was exciting seeing the approved status — the idea that someone will click the link, it will work, and I sitting here had a hand in that narrative. A good start.