| **Contribution:** | French translation on [Crowdin](https://crowdin.com/project/mekanism/activity-stream)<br>Typos fixing: [Pull request](https://github.com/mekanism/Mekanism/pull/8274)|
Mekanism is a popular open-source tech mod for the Java version of Minecraft, focusing on automation through advanced machinery and energy systems. Mekanism: Tools is a sub-mod that adds new gear.
The first commit was made by Aidan Brady (aidancbrady) on the 15th of August, 2012.
The project currently has 1,406 stars, 534 forks, 10,398 contributions from 138 people.
### Maintainers
There is currently 3 maintainers:
- Aidan (aidancbrady)
- Sara Freimer (pupnewfster)
- Xander (thiakil)
### License
The MIT License is an open-source license that allows users to freely use, modify, and distribute software. It places minimal restrictions, requiring only that the original copyright and license notice be included in copies of the software.
## Project Search
| October |
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The first step was to find a project to participate in. I don't typically use open-source projects in my daily life, except for some widely used ones like Thunderbird or the LibreOffice suite.
To explore some options, I checked out projects from previous years. I found someone who had contributed to the Mekanism Minecraft mod. Growing up with Minecraft and playing the game with mods during this summer, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get find an open-source project.
## First attempt
| 08/11/2024 |
|-----------------------|
I was looking for a Minecraft mod where I could help with French translation or implement/fix a simple feature that I would enjoy. I came across the mod Sophisticated Backpacks, which I had used during the summer. It's not overly complex, and I'm familiar with most of the mod, so I thought it would be a good place to start.
| 16/11/2024 |
|-----------------------|
While considering the translation, I decided it would be better to first try to compile the mod on my computer. That is when I ran into some difficulties and noticed the relative simplicity of the README (which only mentioned the Discussions tab on GitHub). It seemed like there was too little information, and the only link was to CurseForge (a popular platform for sharing Minecraft mods) which I hadn’t considered earlier, thinking I wouldn't find any useful information there.
But that is where I found the mod’s Discord. I learned that the French translation had already been completed but hadn’t been pushed to the default branch of the GitHub repository, but it was on a more recent one. Since Minecraft mods are available for multiple versions of the game, the default branch wasn’t using the latest Minecraft version (although it is now) and so it didn't include the latest implementations.
## Second attempt
| 09/12/2024 |
|-----------------------|
Since the task I originally wanted to do was already completed, I decided to look for another project to contribute to. I returned to my initial idea: the Mekanism mod. The French translation was incomplete, so I decided to contribute.
| 16/12/2024 |
|-----------------------|
On the Crowdin platform, I translated most (~90%) of the sub-mod Mekanism: Tools, which amounted to about 4,200 words and 750 translations.
While searching for references in the game, I also found that the Minecraft launcher translation is hosted on Crowdin, something I would not have noticed without this project.
I also noticed some typos in the original files, so I created a pull request to fix them. The request is still pending, as I’m writing this just after submitting it.
## Conclusion
This project allowed me to discover and become interested in the open-source projects I use. It also made me realize that participating in a project can be easy and that it is quite satisfying to contribute to a project that you know and use.
It also helped me better understand the necessary steps before starting a new project. Indeed, searching for information about the community around the project and its organization greatly facilitates the process, as does reading the documentation and installing the project on your machine.
This is not something I would have taken the time to do under normal circumstances, as I don’t tend to interact much with others on the internet, so I am grateful for the opportunity provided by the course.
