# Contribution guide

This document outlines how to contribute to this project. It details
instructions on how to submit issues, bug reports and patches.

Before you participate in the community, you should also agree to
respect the code of conduct, shipped in `CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md` in the
source code.

# Patches

Patches can be submitted through [pull requests][] on the
[GitHub project][].

[pull requests]: https://github.com/linkcheck/linkchecker/pulls
[GitHub project]: https://github.com/linkcheck/linkchecker

Some guidelines for patches:

* A patch should be a minimal and accurate answer to exactly one
  identified and agreed problem.
* A patch must compile cleanly and pass project self-tests on all
  target platforms.
* A patch commit message must consist of a single short (less than 50
  characters) line stating a summary of the change, followed by a
  blank line and then a description of the problem being solved and
  its solution, or a reason for the change. Write more information,
  not less, in the commit log.
* Patches should be reviewed by at least one maintainer before being merged.

Project maintainers should merge their own patches only when they have been
approved by other maintainers, unless there is no response within a
reasonable timeframe (roughly one week) or there is an urgent change
to be done (e.g. security or data loss issue).

As an exception to this rule, this specific document cannot be changed
without the consensus of all administrators of the project.

> Note: Those guidelines were inspired by the
> [Collective Code Construct Contract][C4]. The document was found to
> be a little too complex and hard to read and wasn't adopted in its
> entirety. See this [discussion][] for more information.

 [C4]: https://rfc.zeromq.org/spec:42/C4/
 [discussion]: https://github.com/zeromq/rfc/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=author%3Aanarcat%20

## Patch triage

You can also review existing pull requests, by cloning the
contributor's repository and testing it. If the tests do not pass
(either locally or in Travis), if the patch is incomplete or otherwise
does not respect the above guidelines, submit a review with "changes
requested" with reasoning.

# Issues and bug reports

We want you to report issuess you find in the software. It is a
recognized and important part of contributing to this project. All
issues will be read and replied to politely and
professionnally. Issues and bug reports should be filed on the
[GitHub issue tracker][issues].

## Issue triage

Issue triage is a useful contribution as well. You can review the
[issues][] in the GitHub project and, for each issue:

-  try to reproduce the issue, if it is not reproducible, label it with
   `help-wanted` and explain the steps taken to reproduce
-  if information is missing, label it with `invalid` and request
   specific information
-  if the feature request is not within the scope of the project or
   should be refused for other reasons, use the `wontfix` label and
   close the issue
-  mark feature requests with the `enhancement` label, bugs with
   `bug`, duplicates with `duplicate` and so on...

[issues]: https://github.com/linkcheck/linkchecker/issues

Note that some of those operations are available only to project
maintainers, see below for the different statuses.

# Membership

There are three levels of membership in the project, Administrator
(also known as "Owner" in GitHub), Maintainer (also known as
"Member"), or regular users (everyone with or without a GitHub
account). Anyone is welcome to contribute to the project within the
guidelines outlined in this document, regardless of their status, and
that includes regular users.

Maintainers can:

* do everything regular users can
* review, push and merge pull requests
* edit and close issues

Administrators can:

* do everything maintainers can
* add new maintainers
* promote maintainers to administrators

Regular users can be promoted to maintainers if they contribute to the
project, either by participating in issues, documentation or pull
requests.

Maintainers can be promoted to administrators when they have given significant
contributions for a sustained timeframe, by consensus of the current
administrators. This process should be open and decided as any other issue.