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Ways to Contribute to TunaOS

· 3 min read
James Reilly
James Reilly
Maintainer

TunaOS is a small project with an outsized goal: an enterprise-grade, cloud-native desktop that tracks current software without abandoning Enterprise Linux lifecycles. It is built by a small core team — and it should not stay that way. This post lays out every way to get involved, from a five-minute docs fix to building a whole new desktop flavor.

The fastest path: tagged starter issues​

We now curate a good first issue backlog: tasks that are deliberately small, well-scoped, and safe to attempt without deep knowledge of the image factory. Right now that includes:

  • ARM laptop hardware — the README System Requirements don't document supported ARM hardware (ThinkPad X13s, Apple Silicon) yet (tunaOS#1385).
  • Verifying downloads — the README has no checksums/SBOM verification section for the published ISOs (tunaOS#1366).
  • Pantheon desktop docs — the new Gurnard (Ubuntu + Pantheon) variant needs a desktop guide and the pantheon suffix documented (tunaOS#1351, tunaOS#1350).

Each issue carries the help wanted label too, which signals "external contribution explicitly welcome." Comment on the issue when you pick it up — that prevents double work, and it gets you a response faster.

Docs and guides​

The docs site runs its own issue tracker and has an independent good first issue backlog. Guides, FAQ answers, variant pages, and screenshots are all welcome. If you use a TunaOS variant daily, you are the best person to write its getting-started guide.

Community​

The project lives in Matrix (#tunaos:reilly.asia). If you are not ready to open a PR yet:

  • Answer questions from newcomers in the room
  • Triage open issues — confirm reproductions, add logs, mark duplicates
  • Join GitHub Discussions and react to release announcements

Testing and reporting​

TunaOS publishes a weekly boot report and runs daily verification across desktop cells. Booting an ISO on real hardware — especially less-common platforms like Apple Silicon (Asahi) or ARM — and reporting what breaks is genuinely valuable work. The verification issues are labeled and tracked; a "works on my machine" report with logs moves the project forward.

Spreading the word​

If you use TunaOS at work or home:

  • Add your org to ADOPTERS.md — one-line PR
  • Star the repo and share the blog
  • Write about your setup; the maintainers read everything

Writing code​

For the full picture, CONTRIBUTING.md has the quick start (just fix && just check), the manifest-driven build model, and the PR process. Desktop environments are declared as YAML manifests — you can add a new flavor without shell scripting at all.

Start today​

Pick a good first issue, drop a comment, and say hi in Matrix. The project is young enough that your first contribution can genuinely shape it.