When I hear the term ‘open source,’ I think of a repository where I can view the source code and the license of a particular software. Open source software makes it easy for anyone from any part of the world to see the source code of a software or script and contribute to it to make it better.

Open source softwares are often times free because you can make your own changes and compile it yourself. This open architecture has both its pros and cons, some of which are still heavily debated by tech enthusiasts. Open source softwares for intance keep the code base less prone to security vulnerabilities as people around are world are looking at its code and suggesting fixes all the time to make it better. However, since anyone can see the source code and contribute to it sometimes it is possible to get malicious code injected into the source code by a bad actor. Since most of the technology to some extent relies on open source softwares it can cause a supply chain attack, compromising various machines.

I have decided to register for this class because I wanted to learn more about how to both contribute and maintain open source softwares practically. Here are some of my favorite open source softwares :

• Homebrew install softwares without clicking any buttons (I can’t go a day without it)
• MPV best media player
• brave no ads, privacy friendly (kinda) browser
• immich self-hosted google photos (got tried of paying for google one)