Much rewrite.

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTE b/CONTRIBUTE
index f54f45bb1ae0f1c2cd3963247da4c0d08a074b46..9c36bd234533fdbe770872cb8122ada1b73e4c4f 100644 (file)
--- a/CONTRIBUTE
+++ b/CONTRIBUTE
@@ -1,38 +1,37 @@
 
                        Contributing to Emacs
 
-Emacs is a collaborative project and one which wants to encourage new
-development.  You may wish to fix Emacs bugs, improve testing, port
-Emacs to a new platform, update documentation, add new Emacs features,
-and the like.  To help with this, there is a lot of documentation
-available.  In addition to the user guide and Lisp Reference Manual in
-the Emacs distribution, the Emacs web pages also contain much
-information.
+Emacs is a collaborative project and we encourage contributions from
+anyone and everyone.  If you want to contribute in the way that will
+help us most, we recommend (1) fixing reported bugs and (2)
+implementing the feature ideas in etc/TODO.  However, if you think of
+new features to add, please suggest them too -- we might like your
+idea.  Porting to new platforms is also useful, when there is a new
+platform, but that is not common nowadays.
+
+For documentation on how to develop Emacs changes, refer to the Emacs
+Manual and the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual (both included in the Emacs
+distribution).  The web pages in http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs
+contain additional information.
 
 You may also want to submit your change so that can be considered for
 inclusion in a future version of Emacs (see below).
 
-If you don't feel up to hacking Emacs, there are still plenty of ways to
-help!  You can answer questions on the mailing lists, write
-documentation, find bugs, create a Emacs related website (contribute to
-the official Emacs web site), or create a Emacs related software
-package.  We welcome all of the above and feel free to ask on the Emacs
-mailing lists if you are looking for feedback or for people to review a
-work in progress.
+If you don't feel up to hacking Emacs, there are many other ways to
+help.  You can answer questions on the mailing lists, write
+documentation, find and report bugs, contribute to the Emacs web
+pages, or develop a package that works with Emacs.
 
-Ref: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
-
-Finally, there are certain legal requirements and style issues which
-all contributors need to be aware of:
+Here are some style and legal conventions for contributors to Emacs:
 
 
 o      Coding Standards
 
-       All contributions must conform to the GNU Coding Standard.
-       Submissions which do not conform to the standards will be
-       returned with a request to reformat the changes.
+       Contributed code should follow the GNU Coding Standard.
+       If it doesn't, we'll need to find someone to fix the code
+       before we can use it.
 
-       Emacs has certain additional coding requirements.
+       Emacs has certain additional style and coding conventions.
 
        Ref: http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards_toc.html
        Ref: Standards Info Manual
@@ -40,23 +39,21 @@ o   Coding Standards
 
 o      Copyright Assignment
 
-       Before we can accept code contributions from you, we need a
-       copyright assignment form filled out and filed with the FSF.
+       We can accept small changes without legal papers, and for
+       medium-size changes a copyright disclaimer is ok too.  Toa
+       accept substantial contributions from you, we need a copyright
+       assignment form filled out and filed with the FSF.
 
-       Contact us via the Emacs mailing list to obtain the relevant
+       Contact us at emacs-devel@gnu.org to obtain the relevant
        forms.
 
-       Small changes can be accepted without a copyright assignment
-       form on file.
-
 
 o      Getting the Source Code
 
-       The latest version of Emacs can be downloaded using CVS or Arch
-       from the Savannah web site.  It is important that you submit
-       your patch using this version, as any bug in a released version
-       of Emacs may already be fixed.  It also makes it easier for
-       others to test your patch.
+       The latest version of Emacs can be downloaded using CVS or
+       Arch from the Savannah web site.  It is important to write
+       your patch based this version; if you start from an older
+       version, your patch may be outdated when you write it.
        
        Ref: http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/emacs
 
@@ -94,16 +91,18 @@ o   Submitting Patches
        list.
 
 
-o      Please read your patch before submitting it.
+o      Please reread your patch before submitting it.
+
 
-       A patch containing several unrelated changes reformats will be
-       returned with a request to send them separately.
+o      If you send several unrelated changes together, we will
+       ask you to separate them so we can consider each of the changes
+       by itself.
        
 
 o      Supplemental information for Emacs Developers:
 
-       If you wish to contribute to Emacs on a regular basis then you
-       may be given write access to the CVS repository.
+       Once you become a frequent contributor to Emacs, we can
+       consider giving you write access to the CVS repository.
        
        Discussion about Emacs development takes place on
        emacs-devel@gnu.org.
@@ -116,7 +115,7 @@ o   Supplemental information for Emacs Developers:
        but the  nodes "Tips" and "GNU Emacs Internals" in the Appendix
        of the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual may also help.
 
-       The file DEBUG describes how to debug Emacs.
+       The file DEBUG describes how to debug Emacs bugs.
 
-       Avoid using `defadvice' or `eval-after-load' for lisp
+       Avoid using `defadvice' or `eval-after-load' for Lisp
        code to be included in Emacs.