As the vast majority of you are no doubt aware, WordPress is an open source development platform. In practical terms, this means one thing – you can have a hand in maintaining the world’s most popular content management system.
Sounds pretty cool, right? However, there is a flip side to this – WordPress lives and dies by the efforts of volunteers. The vast majority of WordPress users will never contribute towards ongoing development. Whilst that is fine – you are certainly under no obligation to do so – if you feel you can help, there is a welcome place for you.
Which brings me to the WordPress Trac.
The WordPress What? Are You A Fixer? The Process The WordPress What?
For our purposes, Trac is a web-based bug tracking system. It represents the base of operations for all existing and resolved bug issues in the WordPress source code.
WordPress bugs – cute, but deadly.
Here’s the deal. Software will always have bugs – regardless of whether it is open source or not. With WordPress Trac, you have the opportunity to not only report but actually fix bugs in the WordPress source code.
Are You A Fixer?
You may be wondering how getting involved in ongoing WordPress maintenance benefits you.
If you are a WordPress developer, placing yourself on the cutting edge will ensure that you have a well-rounded and current understanding of the WordPress platform.
Pictured: the cutting edge (yes, I went there).
But besides anything else, getting involved in the WordPress open source project is good karma! There have to be people like you in order for WordPress to exist.
The Process
As is often the case, the WordPress codex has done a great job of detailing exactly how the bug-reporting process should operate.
There is a mandatory two-step
Keep reading this article on wpmudev.org