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#+TITLE:      How to contribute to Org?
#+AUTHOR:     Worg people
#+EMAIL:      mdl AT imapmail DOT org
#+LANGUAGE:   en
#+PRIORITIES: A C B
#+CATEGORY:   worg

# This file is the default header for new Org files in Worg.  Feel free
# to tailor it to your needs.

[[file:index.org][{Back to Worg's index}]]

* Types of contributions

Every contribution to Org is very welcome.  Here is a list of areas where
your contribution will be useful:

- you can submit *bug reports* -- Before sending a bug report, make sure
  you have read this section of Org's manual: [[http://orgmode.org/org.html#Feedback][Feedback]]

- you can submit *feature requests* -- Org is already mature, but new ideas
  keep popping up.  If you want to request a feature, it might be a good
  idea to have a look at the current [[http://orgmode.org/worg/org-issues.html][Issue tracking file]] which captures
  both bug reports and feature requests.  Or dig into the mailing list for
  possible previous discussions about your idea.  If you cannot find back
  your idea, formulate it as detailed as possible, if possible with
  examples, and send it to the mailing list.

- you can submit *patches* -- You can submit patches to the mailing list.
  See the [[Preferred way of submitting patches]] section for details.

  If your patch is against a file that is part of Emacs, then your
  total contribution (all patches you submit) should change /less than
  20 lines/.  If you contribute more, you have to assign the copyright
  of your contribution to the Free Software Foundation (see below).
  
- you can submit Org *add-ons* -- there are many Org add-ons.  The best way
  is to submit your code to the mailing list to discuss it with people.  If
  it is useful, you might consider contributing it to the =CONTRIB/=
  directory in the git repository.

- you can submit material to the *Worg* website -- This website is made of
  Org files that you can contribute to.  Learn what Worg is [[file:worg-about.org][about]] and how
  to contribute to it [[file:worg-git.org][through git]].

* Copyright issues when contributing to Emacs org-mode

Org is made of many files.  Most of them are also distributed as part of
GNU Emacs.  These files are called the /Org core/, and they are all
copyrighted by the [[http://www.fsf.org][Free Software Foundation, Inc]].  If you consider
contributing to these files, your first need to grant the right to include
your works in GNU Emacs to the FSF.  For this you need to complete [[http://orgmode.org/request-assign-future.txt][this
form]], send it to [[mailto:assign@gnu.org][assign@gnu.org]], and tell the Org-mode maintainer when this
process is complete.  Some people consider this a hassle.  I don't want to
discuss this in detail here - there are some good reasons for getting the
copyright registered, an example is discussed in this [[http://twit.tv/floss117][FLOSS weekly podcast]].
Furthermore, by playing according to the Emacs rules, we gain the fantastic
advantage that every version of Emacs ships with Org-mode already fully
built in.  So please consider doing this - it makes our work as maintainers
so much easier, because we can then take your patches without any
additional work.

If you want to learn more about /why/ copyright assignments are
collected, read this: [[http://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-assign.html][Why the FSF gets copyright assignments from
contributors?]]

* Preferred way of submitting patches

Org-mode is developed using /git/ as the version control system.  Git
provides an amazing framework to collaborate on a project.  Git can be used
to make patches and send them via email -- this is perfectly fine for minor
changes.

These patches will be automatically registered at [[http://patchwork.newartisans.com/project/org-mode][John Wiegley's patchwork
server]] and will then be accepted, rejected, or sent back to the author with
a request for modification.

** Sending quick fixes

#+begin_quote
  This command will make a patch between the staging area (in your
  computer), and the file you modified:

  : git diff -p org-whatever.el > org-whatever.el.diff

  If you already committed your changes to your index (staging area), then
  you should compare against a particular branch (in this example,
  origin/master):

  : git diff -p origin/master org-whatever.el > org-whatever.el.diff

  You email the output to the mailing list, adding =[PATCH]= to the
  subject, and description of what you fixed or changed.
#+end_quote

** Sending commits

For more significant changes, you might want to work in several steps and
send each commit separately.  Here is the suggested workflow

#+begin_quote
:   ~$ git pull                 # make sure your repo is up to date
:   ~$ git branch my-changes    # create a new branch
:   ~$ git checkout my-changes  # switch to this new branch

  ... make some changes (1) ...

:   ~$ git commit -m "This is change (1)"  # Commit your change

  ... make another change (2) ...

:   ~$ git commit -m "This is change (2)"  # Commit your change
:   ~$ git format-patch master             # Creates two patches

  ... Then two patches for your two commits are ready to be sent to the
  list and detected by the patchwork server.
#+end_quote

Write useful commit messages: unless your change is very small, please
provide 1) a reason for it in your email and 2) a ChangeLog entry in the
commit message.

** Sharing changes from a public branch

For more significant contributions, the best way to submit patches is
through public branches of your repository clone.

1. Clone our git repository at =http://orgmode.org/w/org-mode.git=

2. Create a repository that can be publicly accessed, for example on
   /GitHub/, /repo.or.cz/, or on your own server.

3. Push your topic branches (and optionally the master branch) to your
   public repository.

   Define a remote for your public repository you push topics to.

   : git remote add REMOTE URL-GOES-HERE

   Push branches to the remote

   : git push REMOTE BRANCH1 [BRANCH2 BRANCH3 ...]

   e.g.

   : git remote add github ssh://.../     # Done once to define the remote 'github'
   : git push github my-topic

4. Do your work on topic-specific branches, using a branch name that
   relates to what you are working on.

5. Often do

   : git remote update

   to pull commits from all defined remote repositories, in particular
   the org-mode master at /repo.or.cz/.

6. When you have something workable, publish the git path and branch
   name on the mailing list, so that people can test it and review
   your work.

7. After your topic has been merged to the project master branch you
   can delete the topic on your local and remote repositories.

   : git branch -d NEWTOPIC
   : git push REMOTE :NEWTOPIC

* Commit messages and ChangeLog entries

We have decided to no longer keep a ChangeLog file to record changes to
individual functions.  In a modern version control system like git,
ChangeLog is duplicating information that should be in the commit message,
and it is the main cause of merge conflicts.

Instead, the change log entry should be part of the commit message.  A
commit message should be constructed in the following way:

- Line 1 of the commit message should always be a short description of
  the overall change.  Line 1 does /not/ get a dot at the end.
- Line 2 is an empty line
- In line 3, the ChangeLog entry should start, in a similar format as
  in the old ChangeLog files, but without the author information
  (which is part of the commit anyway).
- After the changelog, another empty line should come before any
  additional information that the committer wishes to provide in order
  to explain the patch.
- If the change is a minor change made by a committer without
  copyright assignment to the FSF, the commit message should also
  contain the cookie =TINYCHANGE= (anywhere in the message).  When we
  later produce the ChangeLog file for Emacs, the change will be
  marked appropriately.

Here is an example for such a message

#+begin_example
  Capture: Fix the case of using a template file
      
  ,* lisp/org-capture.el (org-capture-set-plist): Make sure txt is a string
  before calling `string-match'.
  (org-capture-templates): Fix customization type.
  ,* doc/org.texi (Capture): Document using a file for a template
      
  The problem here was that a wrong keyword was given in the
  customization type.  This let to a string-match against a list value.
  
  Modified from a patch proposal by Johan Friis.
  
  TINYCHANGE
#+end_example

If you are using /magit.el/ in Emacs, The ChangeLog-like such entries are
easily made by pressing =C= in the diff listing.  Another option to make
the entries is to use `C-x 4 a' in the changed function.  This will create
entries in the ChangeLog file, and you can then cut and paste these to the
commit message and remove the indentation.

* Copyrighted contributors to Org-mode

Here is the list of people who have contributed actual code to the
Org-mode core.  Note that the manual contains a more extensive list
with acknowledgments, including contributed ideas!  The lists below
are mostly for house keeping, to help the maintainers keep track of
copyright issues.

** Current contributors
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CUSTOM_ID: contributors_with_fsf_papers
  :END:

Here is the list of people who signed the papers with the Free Software
Foundation and can now freely submit code to Org files that are included
within GNU Emacs:

1. Adam Elliott
2. Andreas Burtzlaff
3. Andy Steward
4. Anthony Lander
5. Baoqiu Cui
6. Bastien Guerry
7. Benjamin Andresen
8. Bernd Grobauer
9. Bernt Hansen
10. Brian James Gough
11. Carsten Dominik
12. Charles Sebold
13. Christian Egli
14. Christopher League
15. Christopher Miles Gray
16. Christopher Suckling
17. Dan Davison
18. Daniel M German
19. Daniel M. Hackney
20. David Maus
21. David O'Toole
22. Eric S. Fraga
23. Eric Schulte
24. Erik Iverson
25. Ian Barton
26. James TD Smith
27. Jan Böker
28. Jason Riedy
29. Joel Boehland
30. John Wiegley
31. Juan Pechiar
32. Julien Barnier
33. Julien Danjou
34. Konstantin Antipin
35. Lennart Borgman
36. Lukasz Stelmach
37. Magnus Henoch
38. Manuel Giraud
39. Martin Pohlack
40. Matt Lundin
41. Michael Gauland
42. Michael Sperber
43. Miguel A. Figueroa-Villanueva
44. Mikael Fornius
45. Nathan Neff
46. Nicolas Goaziou
47. Noorul Islam K M
48. Paul Sexton
49. Peter Jones
50. Phil Jackson
51. Philip Rooke
52. Piotr Zielinski
53. Puneeth Chaganti
54. Richard Klinda
55. Richard Riley
56. Ross Patterson
57. Russel Adams
58. Sacha Chua
59. Sebastian Rose
60. Sebastien Vauban
61. Seweryn Kokot
62. Stephen Eglen
63. Tassilo Horn
64. Thomas Baumann
65. Tokuya Kameshima
66. Tom Breton
67. Tomas Hlavaty
68. Ulf Stegemann
69. Zhang Weize

** Processing

These people have been asked to sign the papers, and they are
currently considering it or a request is being processed by the FSF.

1. Chris Gray

** Tiny Changes

These people have submitted tiny change patches that made it into Org
without FSF papers.  When they submit more, we need to get papers
eventually.  The limit is a cumulative change of 20 non-repetitive
change lines.  Details are given in [[http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/maintain.html#Legally-Significant ][this document]].

1. Robert P. Goldman
2. Andy Lutomirski

(this list may be incomplete - please help to complete it)

** No FSF assignment

These people cannot or prefer to not sign the FSF copyright papers,
and we can only accept patches that do not change the core files (the
ones that are also in Emacs).

Luckily, this list is still empty.

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