Is there a way to find out the needs of a specific open source project?

[joe31]

For example, lets say I want to work on VLC (I'm assuming its GPL, if it isn't just go along with me to help me understand how OS works), is there a way I can find a list of bugs, or features that are desired that I could possibly implement?

Is there a standard way to contribute to open source?

[ofnuts]

For example, lets say I want to work on VLC (I'm assuming its GPL, if it isn't just go along with me to help me understand how OS works), is there a way I can find a list of bugs, or features that are desired that I could possibly implement?

Is there a standard way to contribute to open source?

Yes, and e-mail to the developers. If this email contains the code for a fix/new feature to demonstrate your skills it"s all the better.

FOSS developers are very busy people and if they can give you indications, they expect volunteers to have a reasonable proficiency with the languages and tools used. They won't teach you programming (at least not directly, but you can learn a lot from them by reading their code). It is better to work on a project you actually use, so you should already know how/where the bugs are reported and what users long for

[Buntu Bunny]

You could always check a project's Launchpad page. Bugs and other needs are often listed there, plus a link for joining that team. Usually the project's home web page will do the same.

[ssam]

most projects have their own bug tracker (though some use launchpad), a mailing list (gmane is good for browsing these without having to sign up), IRC chat room and some developer documentation. For VLC you can find these from https://www.videolan.org/support/ https://wiki.videolan.org/Developers_Corner , they even have a getting started guide and hackers guide ('hacker' meaning 'programmer' or 'developer').

some projects have a list of easy tasks specifically to help new developers, https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/...ent/Easy_Hacks https://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeLove