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CONTRIBUTING.md

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How to contribute

Before going deep into the steps of how to contribute please remember you DO NOT NEED to follow the remote names we used. You can use anything you want. You need to change your command depending on the name you choose. In this tutorial we use-

  • upstream - Remote name of OpenCodeFoundation's repository.
  • origin - Remote name of your forked repository.

Steps for doing a pull request

Here is a high level diagram of relations between remote and local repositories-

high level diagram of pull request

  1. Fork the repository

fork

  1. Get the link of your forked git repository repository for clone-

clone

Clone the forked repository to your computer using the following command-

git clone [your_forked_repository_url/ssh_link]

Example:

git clone git@github.com:ratanparai/first-contributions.git
  1. Now cd into the cloned folder-
cd first-contributions
  1. add upstream remote-
git remote add upstream [upstream_url]

Example: for our first-contributions repository-

git remote add upstream git@github.com:OpenCodeFoundation/first-contributions.git

Check if the upstream remote was added successfully-

git remote -v

You should see something like this-

origin  git@github.com:ratanparai/first-contributions.git (fetch)
origin  git@github.com:ratanparai/first-contributions.git (push)
upstream        git@github.com:OpenCodeFoundation/first-contributions.git (fetch)
upstream        git@github.com:OpenCodeFoundation/first-contributions.git (push)
  1. fetch upstream branch-
git fetch upstream

Note: This command fetch the upstream branch into your local disk. You can see those by running-

git branch -a
  1. set upstream for master branch
git branch -u upstream/master

Now when you run-

git status

you should see something like-

On branch master
Your branch is behind 'upstream/master' by 14 commits, and can be fast-forwarded.
  (use "git pull" to update your local branch)

nothing to commit, working tree clean

Pull changes from upstream (if there is any) -

git pull

Now push change to your forked repository(origin)-

git push origin master

To know more read Git Branching - Remote Branches

  1. create new branch. follow standard (Not Mandatory)
git checkout -b feature/add-ratanparai
  1. Push the branch to your origin(forked) repository while linking the branch with origin's remote branch
git push -u origin feature/add-ratanparai
  1. made changes to files (do what you want to do for the work)
  2. add and commit changes
git add .
git commit -m "write your commit message here"
  1. push changes
git push
  1. Go to your forked repository or upstream repository URL, example OpenCodeFoundation/first-contributions you should see something like-

pull-request

Click Compare & pull request to start the pull request process. In the next page give your pull request a easy to understand title and clear description what you are trying add to the project.

Your next contribution

Good job. You have successfully contributed for the first time to a Open Source Project Repository. Now you want to contribute more to the same project you have forked, cloned and contributed! Just follow those steps-

  1. Checkout to master branch -
git checkout master
  1. Pull changes from upstream remote-
git pull upstream
  1. Push changes to origin remote-
git push origin
  1. Create new branch. Follow from Step 7 of Steps for doing a pull request

How to keep Up-to-Date with the upstream repository

It is a good practice to pull any changes from upstream and merge them to your working branch everyday before you start working. To do this at first checkout to master branch-

git checkout master

Pull changes from upstream-

git pull upstream

Push changes to your origin master-

git push origin

checkout to your working branch-

git checkout [your_working_branch_name]

rebase changes from the master branch-

git rebase master

If there is no conflict then you are good continue your work. But if there is merge conflict error, don't be alarmed. you can easily resolve the merge conflict manually with your editor of choice or using mergetool. There is a good resource about resolving merge conflict here

Finishing touch

  • Be Patience. Read the documentation carefully and wait for Maintainer's response of your pull request. Don't think your pull request will be get merged quickly or merged at all. Respect the decision of others.

  • If you need to update content of the pull request you do not need to create another pull request. Just push changes to the branch of your personal(origin) repository. The changes will show up in your pull request.

  • ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW THE DOCUMENTATION OF THE REPOSITORY YOU ARE CONTRIBUTING. They may have special requirement or rules. Follow them.

  • if maintainer merge the changes then you can safely delete the branch. To work in new content, create a new branch and work on that branch. You should always create different branch for each pull request.