Contributions are very welcome. When contributing code, please follow these simple guidelines.
-
Make sure you run
npm run check
for code formatting problems. -
Run our test suite
npm run test:*
to avoid regressions or bugs. -
Before adding any code dependencies, check with the maintainers if this is okay.
-
Write properly formatted comments: they should be english sentences, eg:
// Return the current UNIX time.
-
Follow the guidelines when proposing code changes (see below).
-
Write properly formatted git commits (see below).
When proposing changes via a patch:
- Isolate changes in separate commits to make the review process easier.
- Don't make unrelated changes, unless it happens to be an obvious improvement to code you are touching anyway ("boyscout rule").
- Rebase on
master
when needed. - Keep your changesets small, specific and uncontroversial, so that they can be merged more quickly.
- If the change is substantial or requires re-architecting certain parts of the codebase, write a proposal in english first, and get consensus on that before proposing the code changes.
A properly formed git commit subject line should always be able to complete the following sentence:
If applied, this commit will _____
For example, the following message is well formed:
Add support for .gif files
In addition, it should be capitalized and must not include a period.
When it comes to formatting, here's a model git commit message1:
Capitalized, short (50 chars or less) summary
More detailed explanatory text, if necessary. Wrap it to about 72
characters or so. In some contexts, the first line is treated as the
subject of an email and the rest of the text as the body. The blank
line separating the summary from the body is critical (unless you omit
the body entirely); tools like rebase can get confused if you run the
two together.
Write your commit message in the imperative: "Fix bug" and not "Fixed bug"
or "Fixes bug." This convention matches up with commit messages generated
by commands like git merge and git revert.
Further paragraphs come after blank lines.
- Bullet points are okay, too.
- Typically a hyphen or asterisk is used for the bullet, followed by a
single space, with blank lines in between, but conventions vary here.
- Use a hanging indent.