Less.js Contributing Install These Tools

Contributing to an open-source project is a great way to learn and explore any technology in depth. The open-source contribution provides you with the experience of working on large-scale projects. In this article, we will learn how to install the tools needed to contribute to Less.js.

What is Less.js?

Less.js is a JavaScript library that boosts or increases CSS power. LESS stands for leaner style sheets Less.js gives you a method to write more dynamic and powerful stylesheets, which is not available in simple CSS. Less.js provides a way to write variables, functions, and mixins.

Prerequisites

To contribute to Less.js, you mainly require two tools in your system.

• Node.js: Node.js is a runtime environment for Javascript and allows you to use Javascript outside of your browser. So first of all, install node.js on your system. To download Node.js navigate to NodeJS’ official website https://nodejs.org/ and download Node.js according to your system requirement. I suggest you download the LTS version because it is for long-term support. Once you download node.js, follow the below steps for your operating system.
• Git: To install Git, visit https://git-scm.com/downloads and download a git according to your operating system for installation.

Installation steps:

Node.js:

• To install Node.js Visit the official Node.js website (https://nodejs.org) and download the latest LTS (Long Term Support) version for your operating system
• Run the installer, then follow by the directions shown on the screen.
• Check the version of node by opening the terminal and running the command ” node -v ”.

Git:

• To install Git Visit the official Git website (https://git-scm.com) and download the appropriate installer for your operating system.
• Run the installer, then follow by the directions shown on the screen.
• Check the version of Git by opening the terminal and running the command ” git -version ”.

Steps to contribute to Less.js:

Below are the steps needed to contribute to Less:

Step 1: Fork the Less.js repository(https://github.com/less/less.js) to your own GitHub account.

Step 2: Clone the repository which you fork by running following command

git clone https://github.com/your-username/less.js.git

Step 3: Open your cloned repository into your code editor and install project’s dependencies by running following command.

npm install

Setp 4: built your less.js project using build command.

npm run build

Step 5: Now you can do changes and create new branch and commit your changes and push those changes by running following commands.

git checkout -b new-feature
git add .
git commit -m "Your commit message"
git push origin new-feature

Step 6: Navigate to original Less.js repository and create pull request from your forked repository and they will review your changes and merge if the changes is good for their project.

For installation of node is linux system follow Installation of Node.js on Linux.
For installation of node is Mac system follow Installation of Node.js on MacOS.

To Learn git in detail we have an entire tutorial on git. You can learn by visiting Git Tutorial