It’s been a while since I’ve touched an open source project, let alone contributed. So here’s my attempt at taking a small bite - contributing to the Rust language compiler. Probably starting with a timeline then my complaints because I’m listening to bbno$ and it’s about 1am in Seattle.

  • [23:50] Playlist started.
  • [00:25] git clone https://github.com/rust-lang/rust.git
  • [00:41] 49%… it’s taking a while to clone, 122k commits :O

Reading over the Rust language docs is actually a really pleasant experience - having read (never participated) in ugly LKML threads and particularly unfriendly project entry points, I’m happy to see a systems lang compiler that actually has a UX.

  • [00:52] Got it all, time to x.py
  • [01:01] Turns out I only have Python 3 in WSL, so I’m using python3 x.py build - I really don’t like Python as a build system.
  • [01:19] Looks like this will take a while, probably a good time to sleep - I also just saw that my social icons aren’t showing up. Gotta remind myself to fix this in #1.
  • [01:35] Psych, I stayed up; turns out I didn’t install cmake. A quick apt install and we’re back on track. Gnight.
  • [09:29] Gmornin. Build finished and it looks like it didn’t take that long - maybe 30 mins? Should have recorded the time. rustc --version = 1.46.0-dev here we go!
  • [09:47] Discovered a broken link in Rust’s README! Time to make the world’s smallest PR.
  • [09:52] I’m an IDIOT, I completely forgot to fork.
  • [10:10] Fixed the fork, changed my remote URL, and created this PR to address my documentation woes.
  • [10:23] Turns out it was a duplicate - time to find something more useful to contribute.
  • [13:47] Got some new Salesforce hardware - time to set it up and have lunch. I’ll pick this up at a later time hopefully.