This document explains how to contribute changes to the Gitea project. It assumes you have followed the [installation instructions](https://github.com/go-gitea/docs/tree/master/en-US/installation). Sensitive security-related issues should be reported to [security@gitea.io](mailto:security@gitea.io).
If unique, [open an issue](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/issues/new) and answer the questions so we can understand and reproduce the problematic behavior.
The burden is on you to convince us that it is actually a bug in Gitea. This is easiest to do when you write clear, concise instructions so we can reproduce the behavior (even if it seems obvious). The more detailed and specific you are, the faster we will be able to help you. Check out [How to Report Bugs Effectively](http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html).
Before starting to write something new for the Gitea project, please [file an issue](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/issues/new). Significant changes must go through the [change proposal process](https://github.com/go-gitea/proposals) before they can be accepted.
This process gives everyone a chance to validate the design, helps prevent duplication of effort, and ensures that the idea fits inside the goals for the project and tools. It also checks that the design is sound before code is written; the code review tool is not the place for high-level discussions.
Before sending code out for review, run all the tests for the whole tree to make sure the changes don't break other usage and keep the compatibility on upgrade. To make sure you are running the test suite exactly like we do you should install the CLI for [Drone CI](https://github.com/drone/drone), as we are using the server for continous testing, following [these instructions](http://readme.drone.io/0.5/install/cli/). After that you can simply call `drone exec` within your working directory and it will try to run the test suite locally.
Changes to Gitea must be reviewed before they are accepted, no matter who makes the change even if it is an owner or a maintainer. We use GitHub's pull request workflow to do that and we also use [LGTM](http://lgtm.co) to ensure every PR is reviewed by at least 2 maintainers.
Please try to make your pull request easy to review for us. Please read the "[How to get faster PR reviews](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/docs/devel/faster_reviews.md)" guide, it has lots of useful tips for any project you may want to contribute. Some of the key points:
* Make small pull requests. The smaller, the faster to review and the more likely it will be merged soon.
* Don't make changes unrelated to your PR. Maybe there are typos on some comments, maybe refactoring would be welcome on a function... but if that is not related to your PR, please make *another* PR for that.
* Split big pull requests in multiple small ones. An incremental change will be faster to review than a huge PR.
The sign-off is a simple line at the end of the explanation for the patch. Your signature certifies that you wrote the patch or otherwise have the right to pass it on as an open-source patch. The rules are pretty simple: If you can certify [DCO](DCO), then you just add a line to every git commit message:
Please use your real name, we really dislike pseudonyms or anonymous contributions. We are in the opensource world without secrets. If you set your `user.name` and `user.email` git configs, you can sign your commit automatically with `git commit -s`.
To make sure every PR is checked, we got team maintainers. Every PR **MUST** be reviewed by at least two maintainers (or owners) before it can get merged. A maintainer should be a contributor of Gitea (or Gogs) and contributed at least 4 accepted PRs. A contributor should apply as a maintainer in the [Gitter develop channel](https://gitter.im/go-gitea/develop). The owners or the team maintainers may invite the contributor. A maintainer should spend some time on code reviews. If a maintainer has no time to do that, they should apply to leave the maintainers team and we will give them the honor of being a member of the advisors team. Of course, if an advisor has time to code review, we will gladly welcome them back to maintainers team. If someone has no time to code review and forgets to leave the maintainers team, the owners have the power to move him from maintainers team to advisors team.
Since Gitea is a pure community organization without any company support, to keep the development healthy we will elect the owners every year. Every time we will elect three owners. All the contributors may vote up to three people, one of which is the main owner, and the others are assistant owners. When the new owners have been elected, the old owners MUST move the power to the new ones. If an owner don't obey these rules, the others are allowed to revoke his owner status.
After the election, the new owners should say they agree with these rules on the [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md) on the [Gitter main channel](https://gitter.im/go-gitea/gitea). Below are the words to speak:
I'm glad to be an owner of Gitea, I agree with [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md). I will spend part of my time on Gitea and lead the development of Gitea.
Gitea has the `master` branch as a tip branch and has version branches such as `v0.9`. `v0.9` is a release branch and we will tag `v0.9.0` for binary download. If `v0.9.0` has bugs, we will accept pull requests on the `v0.9` branch and publish a `v0.9.1` tag, after bringing the bug fix also to the master branch.
Since the `master` branch is a tip version, if you wish to use Gitea in production, please download the latest release tag version. All the branches will be protected via GitHub, all the PRs to every branch must be reviewed by two maintainers and must pass the automatic tests.
Files in the repository contain copyright from the year they are added to the year they are last changed. If the copyright author is changed, just paste the header below the old one.
