- Contributing to Emacs
-
-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 Emacs (to understand how to implement your
-desired change), refer to:
-
-- the Emacs Manual
- http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/emacs.html
- (info "(Emacs)Top")
-
-- the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual
- http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/elisp.html
- (info "(elisp)Top")
-
-- http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs
-
-- http://www.emacswiki.org/
-
-There are many ways to contribute to Emacs:
-
-- implement a new feature, and submit a patch (see "Submitting
- Patches" below).
-
-- answer questions on the Emacs user mailing list
- https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-emacs
-
-- write documentation, either on the wiki, or in the Emacs source
- repository (see "Submitting Patches" below)
-
-- find and report bugs; use M-x report-emacs-bug
-
-- check if existing bug reports are fixed in newer versions of Emacs
- http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/pkgreport.cgi?which=pkg&data=emacs
-
-- develop a package that works with Emacs, and publish it on your own
- or in Gnu ELPA (see admin/notes/elpa).
-
-Here are some style and legal conventions for contributors to Emacs:
-
-
-* Coding Standards
-
-Contributed code should follow the GNU Coding Standards
-(http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/ - may also be available in info on
-your system).
-
-If it doesn't, we'll need to find someone to fix the code before we
-can use it.
-
-Emacs has additional style and coding conventions:
-
-- the "Tips" Appendix in the Emacs Lisp Reference
- http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Tips.html
- (info "(elisp)Tips").
-
-- Avoid using `defadvice' or `eval-after-load' for Lisp code to be
- included in Emacs.
-
-- Remove all trailing whitespace in all source and text files.
-
-- Emacs has no convention on whether to use tabs in source code;
- please don't change whitespace in the files you edit.
-
-- Use ?\s instead of ? in Lisp code for a space character.
-
-* Copyright Assignment
-
-The FSF (Free Software Foundation) is the copyright holder for GNU Emacs.
-The FSF is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer
-user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users.
-For general information, see the website http://www.fsf.org/ .
-
-Generally speaking, for non-trivial contributions to GNU Emacs we
-require that the copyright be assigned to the FSF. For the reasons
-behind this, see: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-assign.html .
-
-Copyright assignment is a simple process. Residents of some countries
-can do it entirely electronically. We can help you get started, and
-answer any questions you may have (or point you to the people with the
-answers), at the emacs-devel@gnu.org mailing list.
-
-(Please note: general discussion about why some GNU projects ask
-for a copyright assignment is off-topic for emacs-devel.
-See gnu-misc-discuss instead.)
-
-A copyright disclaimer is also a possibility, but we prefer an assignment.
-Note that the disclaimer, like an assignment, involves you sending
-signed paperwork to the FSF (simply saying "this is in the public domain"
-is not enough). Also, a disclaimer cannot be applied to future work, it
-has to be repeated each time you want to send something new.
-
-We can accept small changes (roughly, fewer than 15 lines) without
-an assignment. This is a cumulative limit (e.g. three separate 5 line
-patches) over all your contributions.
-
-* Getting the Source Code
-
-The current working version of the Emacs source code is stored in a
-git repository on the Savannah web site
-(http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/emacs). It is important to write
-your patch based on the current working version. If you start from an
-older version, your patch may be outdated (so that maintainers will
-have a hard time applying it), or changes in Emacs may have made your
-patch unnecessary.
-
-After you have downloaded the repository source, you should read the file
-INSTALL.REPO for build instructions (they differ to some extent from a
-normal build).
-
-* Submitting Patches
-
-Every patch must have several pieces of information before we
-can properly evaluate it.
-
-When you have all these pieces, bundle them up in a mail message and
-send it to the developers. Sending it to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
-(which is the bug/feature list) is recommended, because that list
-is coupled to a tracking system that makes it easier to locate patches.
-If your patch is not complete and you think it needs more discussion,
-you might want to send it to emacs-devel@gnu.org instead. If you
-revise your patch, send it as a followup to the initial topic.
-
-** Description
-
-For bug fixes, a description of the bug and how your patch fixes it.
-
-For new features, a description of the feature and your implementation.
-
-** ChangeLog
-
-A ChangeLog entry as plaintext (separate from the patch).
-
-See the existing ChangeLog files for format and content. Note that,
-unlike some other projects, we do require ChangeLogs for
-documentation, i.e. Texinfo files.
-
-Ref: "Change Log Concepts" node of the GNU Coding Standards Info
-Manual, for how to write good log entries.
-http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Log-Concepts.html
-
-When using git, commit messages should use ChangeLog format, with a
-single short line explaining the change, then an empty line, then
-unindented ChangeLog entries. (Essentially, a commit message should
-be a duplicate of what the patch adds to the ChangeLog files. We are
-planning to automate this better, to avoid the duplication.) You can
-use the Emacs functions log-edit-add-to-changelog or
-log-edit-insert-changelog to ease this process.
-
-** The patch itself.
-
-If you are accessing the Emacs repository, make sure your copy is
-up-to-date (e.g. with 'git pull'). You can commit your changes
-to a private branch and generate a patch from the master version
-by using
- git format-patch master
-Or you can leave your changes uncommitted and use
- git diff
-With no repository, you can use
- diff -u OLD NEW
-
-** Mail format.
-
-We prefer to get the patches as plain text, either inline (be careful
-your mail client does not change line breaks) or as MIME attachments.
-
-** Please reread your patch before submitting it.
-
-** Do not mix changes.
-
-If you send several unrelated changes together, we will ask you to
-separate them so we can consider each of the changes by itself.
-
-** Do not make formatting changes.
-
-Making cosmetic formatting changes (indentation, etc) makes it harder
-to see what you have really changed.
-
-
-* Supplemental information for Emacs Developers.