From: Richard M. Stallman Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 00:43:21 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Much rewrite. X-Git-Tag: emacs-pretest-22.0.90~1704 X-Git-Url: http://git.eshelyaron.com/gitweb/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=27e8e7104c2cb912ad45c2fdfcc4adcf9efa951b;p=emacs.git Much rewrite. --- diff --git a/CONTRIBUTE b/CONTRIBUTE index f54f45bb1ae..9c36bd23453 100644 --- 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.