WordCamp 2015 Core Contribution talk sharing some things I've learned and experienced along the way to becoming a core contributor.

1. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
A N O O B ’ S J O U R N E Y TO
T H E C O R E
RYA N W E L C H E R

2. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
A B O U T M E
• Web Developer for over 10 years.
• Started using WordPress in 2009.
• Senior Web Engineer at 10up. We’re hiring!
• Noob Core Contributor.

3. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
C O N T R I B U TO R D AY

4. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
C O N T R I B U T I N G I S H A R D

5. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
C O N T R I B U T I N G I S H A R D

6. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
R A M P I N G U P I S H A R D

7. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
W T F T R I F E C TA
Tech Trac
Community

8. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO

9. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO

10. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO

11. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO

12. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
M O T I VAT I O N

13. – M E
“WordPress is going to put my kids through
college”

14. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
WAY S TO C O N T R I B U T E

15. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
https://make.wordpress.org/

16. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
T E C H N I C A L

17. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
W O R D P R E S S R E P O S I TO RY
• WordPress core is stored in an SVN repo.
• By default you have read-only access.
• The structure is much different than what you
download from WordPress.org.

18. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
G E T T I N G T H E C O D E
• SVN
• svn co https://develop.svn.wordpress.org/trunk/
• GIT mirror
• git clone git://develop.git.wordpress.org/
• git-svn
• GUI

19. R E P O S T R U C T U R E

20. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
VA RY I N G VA G R A N T VA G R A N T S
• Vagrant configuration for WordPress development.
• Ideal for WordPress core development.
• “Turn Key” development environment.
• https://github.com/Varying-Vagrant-Vagrants/VVV

21. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
PAT C H F I L E S
• Text file containing the difference ( diff ) between your
local copy and the remote repository.
• Are attached to tickets in trac.
• Can be created via command line or GUI.
• Create them from the root of your local repository.
• Naming convention - ticket-number.diff

22. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
PAT C H F I L E S
svn diff > ~/Desktop/1337.diff
git diff --no-prefix > ~/Desktop/1337.diff

23. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
C O D E
• PHP 5.2 compatible.
• WordPress Coding Standards.
• Documentation Standards.

24. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
U N I T T E S T S

25. – @ W O N D E R B O Y M U S I C
“It’s easier to dive into someone else’s ticket
and review it for commit if Unit Tests are there
to show current behaviour and changed
behaviour”
U N I T T E S T S

26. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
U N I T T E S T S

27. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
T R A C

28. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
T R A C
• Open source software used to manage bugs and tasks
for WordPress core.
• Need an account at WordPress.org to play along.
• Has LOTS of different reports ( ticket groupings )
• Confusing as *%&!

29. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
F I N D I N G A T I C K E T
https://make.wordpress.org/core/reports/

30. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
G O O D F I R S T B U G S
https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/good-first-bugs

31. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
Y O U R S T U F F

32. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

33. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

34. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

35. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides
• Defect (bug)
• Enchancement
• Feature Request
• Task (blessed)

36. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

37. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

38. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

39. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

40. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

41. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

42. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides

43. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides
C R E AT E A T I C K E T

44. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO • www.url.com/slides
A D D I N G A PAT C H

45. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
T H E C O M M U N I T Y

46. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
G E T I N V O LV E D

47. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
T I M I N G I S E V E RY T H I N G

48. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
L E N D A H A N D

49. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
M A K E F R I E N D S

50. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
B E PAT I E N T

51. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
S E L F A D V O C AT E

52. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
F R O N T L O A D E D E F F O RT

53. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
H AV E F U N !

54. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
T H A N K S !

55. Ryan Welcher • @ryanwelcher • #WCTO
L I N K S
• Trac - https://make.wordpress.org/core/reports/
• Slack - make.wordpress.org/chat/
• Core site - make.wordpress.org/core
• Handbook - make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/