From Chaos to Contribution -- My Open Source Adventure with Fedora & Outreachy

"Medaase, Git—You’re Not Scary Anymore! My Open Source Journey with Fedora"

By Bra Koose | Ghanaian Genz & First-Time Open Source Contributor

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From Panic to PRs

As a Ghanaian Genz diving into open source through Outreachy and Fedora, I expected excitement—but not the Git-induced adrenaline rush that followed. This is the story of how I went from "What’s a merge conflict?" to "I just shipped code to Fedora!"—with cultural flair, mentorship magic, and a few stubborn branches along the way.

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Chapter 1: The Vagrantfile Fix (Issue #13) — When Underscores Saved the Day

The Drama:
My first task seemed simple: fix a typo in the Vagrantfile. But when I saw release-scheduler-planner instead of release_schedule_planner, I realized even hyphens vs. underscores could break the entire dev environment.

The Fix:

• Changed the directory name to use underscores.

• Commit: Fix Vagrantfile syntax

• Impact: No more VM provisioning errors!

Lesson Learned:

"Small fixes are like jollof rice seasoning—miss one ingredient, and the whole dish suffers."

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Chapter 2: SQLite vs. Flask SQLite (Issue #16)—Git Collaborations & Ghanaian Resilience

The Panic:
After Nya, another contributor, "eradicated" my second issue with an advanced fix, instead of where I get the current main origin version, I just foolishly caused divergent branches, making me feel overwhelmed and feel like quitting on it—but Ghanaian hustle mode kicked in. "Chale, adapt!"

The Fix:

• Replaced PostgreSQL with SQLite in database.py for easier local dev:

    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///database.db"  # Bye-bye, setup headaches!
  

• Commits: Configure SQLite, Update poetry.lock

The Git Trauma:
When merge conflicts struck, mentor Jed (Outreachy Mentor) never taught me nuclear commands but rather directed me to GitPro, an extra-git tool doc for developers. We also further discussed ideas from the book—relating to my current issues on divergent branches. We got it resolved— Yah.

I am bingeing on Git Pro this weekend.

git reset --hard upstream/main  # "Poof! Chaos erased."  
git push --force origin main    # Ghanaian stubbornness meets Git force 💪

Lesson Learned:

"Open source is like ‘waakye’—you need the right ingredients (and mentors) to make it work."

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Chapter 3: The Schedule Model (Issue #27) — From “Noob” to Code Architect

The Challenge:
Design the core Schedule model—a data structure for Fedora’s release cycles.

The Win:

• Created fields like name, start_date, and end_date.

• PR: #27 (merged conflict-free!).

The Celebration:
I screenshot the merged PR notification and flooded my family’s WhatsApp group:
"Bra Koose is now a Fedora contributor!" 🎉

Lesson Learned:

"Building models is like crafting Ghanaian ‘kente’ patterns—every thread (field) matters."

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Why This Matters: Lessons for First-Time Contributors

1. Start Small, Dream Big: My journey began with a one-line typo fix.

2. Mentors > Tutorials: Shoutout to Jed and the Git Pro PDF that saved my sanity.

3. Pivot, Don’t Panic: When issues get "Nya’d," find new ones—open source is a buffet!

4. Culture is Code: I coded with sobolo tea, cracked jokes in Matrix chat, and proved that Ghanaian Genzs belong in FOSS.

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Open Source, You’re Stuck With Me Now

To anyone hesitating: DO IT. Yes, Git will confuse you. Yes, your first PR might take 10 revisions. But the thrill of solving real problems with a global team? Priceless.

To the Fedora fam: Medaase paaa! (Thank you VERY much!). Next up? Tackling API endpoints for the Schedule Model—with a side of kelewele. 🌶️

Explore My Work:

• Release Schedule Planner Repo

• My First Merged PR

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Shout Your Story!
Are you a first-time contributor or Outreachy applicant? Drop your journey below! Let’s connect and grow together.

#OpenSourceNoobToPro #OutreachyStories #FedoraFam #GhanaGenzCoding #GitSurvivor

#FirstPRMerged #BraKooseRises #FOSS4Life

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