You've now retrieved source code from a remote repository and explored the build process. Time for a mini-celebration!

By now, you have probably chosen a FOSS project that interests you. Maybe you've been running that code from a pre-built binary that you downloaded, but now it's time to build the executables from scratch.

Go check out the project's codebase from its SCM. Walk through the entire build process. In some cases, this might be pretty simple; it some cases, it might be quite complicated. Use all of the tools available to you: install instructions, mailing lists, search engines, IRC, etc. Build the code, and then run the code; that's your goal.

As you go through this build process, record your process and then post about your experience. What made the build easier or more difficult?

Building software can be frustrating, and a lot of FOSS projects do a lot of things wrong. To be clear: most proprietary software projects do a lot of things wrong too, but the failures of FOSS projects are visible for all to see -- and thus, to learn from. Tom 'spot' Callaway has compiled a list of things that projects do wrong, in a piece entitled How to tell if a FLOSS project is doomed to FAIL.