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, follow [these instructions](http://readme.drone.io/0.5/install/cli/). After that you can simply call `drone exec` within you 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 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.
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 have been checked, we got team maintainers. Any PR MUST be reviewed and by at least two maintainers before it can get merged. Maintainers should be a contributor of Gitea (or Gogs) and contributed at least 4 accepted PRs. A contributor should apply as a maintainer in [Gitter development channel](https://gitter.im/go-gitea/develop). The owners or the team maintainers could invite the contributor. A maintainer should spend some time on code reviews. If some maintainer have no time to do that, he should apply to leave the maintainers team and we will give him an honor to be as a member of advisor team. Of course, if an advisor have time to code view, welcome it back to maintainers team. If someone have no time to code review and forget 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 healthly we will elect the owners every year. Every time we will elect three owners. All the contributers could vote for three owners, one is the main owner, the other two are assistant owners. When the new owners have been elected, the old owners MUST move the power to the new owners. If some owner don't obey these rules, the other owners are allowed to revoke his owner status.
After the election, the new owners should say he agrees 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 one master as a tip branch and have 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` got some bug, we will accept pull requests on the `v0.9` branch and publish a `v0.9.1` tag, afterwards we will port the bug fix also to the master branch.
The `master` branch is a tip version, so if you wish a production usage, please download the latest release tag version. All the branches will be protected via github, all the PRs to all the branches should be review by two maintainers and pass the automatic tests.
Files in the repository are copyright the year they are added and the year they are last changed. If the copyright author is changed, just copy the head below the old one.
