From f585b4ff2f7da84f077973105c68a28814c97c79 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: timpieces Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2026 10:30:00 +0800 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Add sections for new contributors to find tasks and get help I couldn't find anywhere which is dedicated to the 'people side' of getting started. I'm happy to move this to a different page or remove it entirely if people think it's a bad idea, the commit is more to inspire the discussion around whether it's ok to add this. The communication around FreeCAD is quite fragmented (forum/discord/issues/reddit/etc) and I found this very confusing as a newcomer. I tried to word it to emphasize that new contributors should give things a 'good shot' before reaching out. This is to avoid people being swamped by new contributors who aren't very serious about positively contributing. --- gettingstarted/index.md | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+) diff --git a/gettingstarted/index.md b/gettingstarted/index.md index bcacbec..564b492 100644 --- a/gettingstarted/index.md +++ b/gettingstarted/index.md @@ -111,6 +111,27 @@ The Visual Studio Installer may be used to install Visual Studio Community 2019 - [Visual Studio Code](./VSCode) - [CLion](./CLion) +## Finding Tasks to Work On + +The GitHub issues tracker contains a 'Good First Issue' tag. Filtering by this tag will show issues that are well suited for new contributors. +Try to find an issue that seems like an obvious win. If your issue seems unclear or complex, and you've given it a good shot, consider asking for help on Discord or the Forum before investing too much time (see below). + +Please note: While existing contributors try their best to be helpful, open source projects attract many first-time contributors, many of whom may not stick around for long. +As such, existing contributors have limited time to help all newcomers. Please don't be offended if your questions go unanswered. Your contributions are still appreciated. + +For subsequent issues: +- Keep an eye on the GitHub issues (see below) +- Fix issues / make improvements that you notice in your own usage of FreeCAD - ensure they haven't already been fixed in latest dev! +- Ask on the Discord (see below) + +## Collaborating with Others + +There are four main places to collaborate with other FreeCAD developers: +- [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/issues): Useful for tagging specific people for discussions related to a particular issue +- [Discord](https://discord.com/channels/870877411049357352/1099444468895199232): More free-form and general development discussions, and longer-term planning +- [FreeCAD Forum](https://forum.freecad.org/) (Particularly FreeCAD Development subform): Useful for reaching a wide audience + non-dev users, but typically not active for actual development discussions +- [FreeCAD Development Meetings](https://www.freecad.org/events.php): Weekly/Monthly meetings for discussion of development work + ## Submitting a PR The basic process is: From 501374ae0849a35889eb9282d64555e07e6c8f02 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "pre-commit-ci[bot]" <66853113+pre-commit-ci[bot]@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2026 03:10:42 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] [pre-commit.ci] auto fixes from pre-commit.com hooks for more information, see https://pre-commit.ci --- gettingstarted/dependencies.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/gettingstarted/dependencies.md b/gettingstarted/dependencies.md index d9e30e0..3ce1608 100644 --- a/gettingstarted/dependencies.md +++ b/gettingstarted/dependencies.md @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ why FreeCAD needs them. ## Supported versions -The head of the main branch of FreeCAD, currently used for the development of FreeCAD 1.2, can be compiled from source on systems as old as the oldest currently-supported [Ubuntu LTS](https://packages.ubuntu.com/) at the time of its expected release, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. This ties FreeCAD development to the C++23 standard, Python 3.11 and later (we plan to swtich to 3.12 or later once Blender updates their dependencies in mid-2026), Qt 6.4, and the versions of the required libraries available on that system. Note that Qt does not support PySide6 `pip` installation on this system, so use of a PPA is required for that dependency. The decision to stop support for Qt5 was [announced 5 January 2026](https://forum.freecad.org/viewtopic.php?t=102292). +The head of the main branch of FreeCAD, currently used for the development of FreeCAD 1.2, can be compiled from source on systems as old as the oldest currently-supported [Ubuntu LTS](https://packages.ubuntu.com/) at the time of its expected release, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. This ties FreeCAD development to the C++23 standard, Python 3.11 and later (we plan to swtich to 3.12 or later once Blender updates their dependencies in mid-2026), Qt 6.4, and the versions of the required libraries available on that system. Note that Qt does not support PySide6 `pip` installation on this system, so use of a PPA is required for that dependency. The decision to stop support for Qt5 was [announced 5 January 2026](https://forum.freecad.org/viewtopic.php?t=102292). ## Major dependencies