I have everything set up and working. I managed to run Diaspora on my local development (see screenshot above). All dependencies needed to get Diaspora running are quite similar with wheedly and etroduce (start up project I used to be part of).  

The following are the dependencies:

•    Build Tools  - packages needed to compile components below
•    Ruby  - the language (I personally use rvm, so that I can easily switch between multiple ruby versions.)
•    Mysql  - storage engine
•    ImageMagick  - image processing library
•    Git  - version control system
•    Redis  - key value store 
•    RubyGems  - a package manager to download gems
•    Bundler - gem management tool for ruby projects 

Bundler made it easy to install Diaspora's gem depencencies, simply by running:

      bundle install

There are more than 50 gems used in this project and I have no idea about some of them. It's going to be hard, but hey, no pain no gain.

That's all for today. Can't wait to see what's going on inside. It will probably take one month to get acquainted with the code. Maybe, I should print the source code and read it on my way to work. That's a brilliant idea. :D

 

 

I have so much respect for programmers who contribute to open source. It's amazing how these programmers grow and mature. These are the real people who give something without expecting anything in return. They could have earned quite an amount doing other projects on their spare time, but instead they chose to give back to the open source community. They could have spent time relaxing and watching tv series after a long day at work, but instead, they chose to fiddle with their computers and code. Some of them even do this full time. 

We have free OS way way better than commercial ones (with free shipping), sofware applications and other cool programming tools readily available. Just one click away. All of these, in the name of open source. Yet, some of use failed to recognize and appreciate their contribution and even came to the point of criticizing it.

So let's close our eyes, take a moment of silence and give thanks to the open source community. Just kidding. :D

Joining and contributing to open source projects will help us grow and develop our craft. There's a big chance we can work with great and experienced programmers. Reading their code will help us validate the way we do ours. Plus, contributing to open source doesn't just sound cool; it is cool.

I hope the spirit of open source will not die and more programmers will consider doing open source projects.

Pick your open source project now. I have already found mine https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora