Open Source: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

It’s no secret that Pantheon relies heavily on  Drupal and WordPress content management frameworks to build and optimize our WebOps platform. In fact, Pantheon attributes a ton of ideas and innovation to the hard work, ingenuity, and collaborative efforts of the vibrant open source communities behind Drupal and WordPress. 

To give back to these communities and help spread some holiday cheer, we’re hosting the Gift of Open Source throughout the month of December. During this month-long event, we’re encouraging others to contribute to any number of vital,  sustaining efforts. From submitting  code, documentation, or feedback, to offering design help and scheduling virtual MeetUps, there are a handful of ways to get involved and help bolster the open source community. 

Anyone who contributes to the open source community for this event will have the opportunity to win a slew of fun prizes or give a donation (funded by Pantheon) to either the WordPress Foundation or the Drupal Association.

Who can participate?

Open source enthusiasts from all backgrounds and skill levels are encouraged to contribute; technical and non-technical contributors are welcome! 

We’re encouraging people interested to first sign up on the Pantheon Community, then join our Gift of Open Source Slack Channel to stay up to date on the latest advancements with this event and enter your contributions.

How Do I Contribute?

There are a ton of different ways you can give back to the open source community, from directly contributing to Drupal core, WordPress core, Pantheon repos, or any other open source project — they all count as participation. 

And we’re not just talking code! This means open source enthusiasts of all levels and backgrounds are welcome to join. All that matters is you give back to the open source community and document your contribution on our forum with a corresponding link.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned web developer or a newcomer to open source, anyone is welcome to participate in this event. We have a diverse committee reviewing every individual contribution and, in the case  your contribution doesn’t qualify, you’ll receive a follow-up from us directly. 

If you’d like to find how to contribute to open source communities, here are some helpful resources:

• Contribute section of Drupal.org

• WordPress Contribution Guide

• For GitHub, First Contributions

• Find Pantheon on GitHub to contribute to our projects

• Suggestions page on the Pantheon Community

Maintainers wanted!

To make sure everyone has a good experience and these contributions have an impact on the project, we want to involve project maintainers directly. If you maintain a project in the WordPress or Drupal community, whether it’s a contributed piece of code or a community initiative, we would love to have you involved directly. Email community@pantheon.io to get more information. Maintainers will get swag, too!

Give or Receive, the Choice Is Yours

The first 300 participants who join the Pantheon Community and submit proof of at least two contributions to open source projects during the month of December will receive a free Gift of Open Source T-Shirt! All other participants will receive a free swag bag of goodies for participating. 

For those who’d rather give than receive, you can opt out of the free t-shirt and Pantheon will make a donation to either the WordPress Foundation or Drupal Association on your behalf. Both of these organizations do amazing things for the open source community, including hosting community hackathon events,  improving the platform for future users, and pushing the envelope of what’s possible in web development.

Additional Resources

Interested in finding out more about Pantheon’s Gift of Open Source running throughout December? Go to the official event page for more information. If you think we missed your contribution, you can send us links of your contributions to Community@Pantheon.io, and please reach out with any questions to our #Gift-of-Open-Source  Slack channel. 

Want to showcase your submissions on Pantheon’s Social? Use the hashtag #GiftOfOpenSource for the opportunity to show off your contributions to the rest of the open source community.