this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
32 points (92.1% liked)
Open Source
34022 readers
154 users here now
All about open source! Feel free to ask questions, and share news, and interesting stuff!
Useful Links
- Open Source Initiative
- Free Software Foundation
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Software Freedom Conservancy
- It's FOSS
- Android FOSS Apps Megathread
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to the open source ideology
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
- !libre_culture@lemmy.ml
- !libre_software@lemmy.ml
- !libre_hardware@lemmy.ml
- !linux@lemmy.ml
- !technology@lemmy.ml
Community icon from opensource.org, but we are not affiliated with them.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
While I don't know of any such site, I wouldn't recommend it either.
Open source projects are made by the community, for the community, so I'd recommend you start by helping out one of the projects that you personally use. Maybe you can fix a bug that is bothering you, or implement a functionality that you are missing.
Can I ask why you wouldn't recommend it? I'm open to the possibility that I'm missing something but imo exposure and attention would often be a big hurdle when it comes to open source projects.
Having a repository that lists and describes them doesn't feel like it could be a bad thing to me
I believe what they might mean is if you don't personally use a project, you might not be as committed/passionate about it as someone who uses the software in their daily life and cares about it as a user.
So it's not about finding one with lots of users and dropping in there if it is software you don't care about.
If you are just getting into using open source software though and have yet to find any that are important to you, then you can usually find lists of open source alternatives (from a user perspective) with a search fairly easily to get to better know what is out there and what you might be most interested in. (And lists like that for people to find software like that are generally helpful, I found lots of tools I wouldn't have otherwise known about through peoples collections of favourites/alternatives/etc.!)
That's a reasonable stance and I do agree.
I was about to say "but what if I'm just not yet using a project that I would otherwise be passionate about because I don't know it exists", but you've basically gone over that in the rest of your comment. So thank you
Yup, you explained it much better than me!
Here you go: https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/trixie/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
Why are you trying to get me to download whatever that file is?
You said you wanted a list of open source project, this is a list of open source projects.
It is a downloadable file. How often do you trust strangers that say "Here you go" with no actual context. I'm not trying to be mean, but seriously put yourself in my shoes. Would you download that file?
If you've never heard of debian, maybe you need to do a bit more research about the open source world.
Yes, getting into the open source world is basically the point of my whole post isn't it? And you didn't answer my question
@SomethingBlack
https://idownvotedbecau.se/noattempt/
https://idownvotedbecau.se/noresearch/
A wonderful example of gatekeeping. Because I don't have this particular piece of inside knowledge I get downvotes. This is literally my first step into the world of open source, a community I had come to believe was welcoming.
This is beyond a joke. If there weren't other people legitimately engaging with my question in good faith, I'd be well and truly put off of working with you people.
@SomethingBlack It's basic human decency. You ask questions like everyone is working for you.
I asked if anyone knows of a resource. I didn't demand a response. Are you seriously suggesting that people in the open source community see sharing information as a bad thing? That is honestly baffling 😂
@SomethingBlack You failed to put "debian" into google when you were wondering about what "debian" means, instead, you spent several comments and a lot of time demanding answers from other people. You are disrespecting everyone who might be able to help you. You'd know that, if you had read the links I posted, they explain it very well. And I don't think you are willing to change so.. bye bye
I don't remember asking what Debian was. I demanded an answer to the question, "would you download an unfamiliar file from a stranger without any context or description of what it is" (paraphrasing because I don't remember exactly what I said). And that demand was only because of the condescending comment I was replying to.
I can admit I have been disrespectful to three people, but only in retaliation to a disrespectful comment levied at me first. Everyone else I have had a pleasant discussion with and thanked them for their time and help. I deserve as much respect as anyone else here does, why did you and the others feel justified being disrespectful to me and expecting me to just allow that to happen without me calling it out for what it is?
And I did read the links you posted, I just don't see how they are relevant to this case. I thought it could have been a productive discussion, and other than this thread and three particularly rude and unwelcoming people, it has been.
Yes. It's just a gzip file from Debian.
My understanding of gzip files is simply that they're compressed. Compressed files can still be dangerous last I checked. And like I said to the other guy, I don't know what Debian is. I'm asking for a start into the open source world, how would I know that this random ass compressed file from somewhere I've never heard of is going to be safe?
Debian is one of the largest GNU/Linux variants out there. Who and what you trust are personal decisions but they’ve got a good reputation.
Thank you, I appreciate you actually trying to educate me. If I knew that, I definitely would have been less suspicious
If you don't trust us, then you're not going to be able to perform the necessary work to contribute, because there's a lot of "download this, run this".
If I had any context, explanation, prior warning, knowledge of the person sending the file, or ANYTHING I might be more inclined to download a random file.
I'm honestly kinda stunned that you think "download this, run this", from a complete stranger is a smart thing to do. If that is how you manage your personal security I don't want to imagine how your software will fare.
If you and that other guy are legitimately what I should expect from the open source community then you're absolutely right, it's not for me.
I agree, if you aren't able to use your own judgement to evaluate sources, this is not the community for you. I'm sure you can get away with sandbagging in corporate software development, but open-source happens because people are self-motivated. That also means any time given is done purely voluntarily, so there's an expectation that participants do their own homework.
I'm so glad we're on the same page. I'll go back to the people who are actually open and welcoming to new people rather than the ones that try their hardest to condescend and belittle when I am justifiably suspicious of a random unknown file