Contributing

Contributing

[Sameer Rahmani]

Hi,
My friend and i want to contribute to Emacs as much as we can. We want
to contribute in development and translations.

I read in contributing documents that is better to post here first,
where should we start? what we can do ? and is there any specific task
or something?

Re: Contributing

[Jambunathan K]

Sameer Rahmani <lxsameer@gnu.org> writes:

> Hi,
> My friend and i want to contribute to Emacs as much as we can. We want
> to contribute in development and translations.

If your patches are going to be any big, you may want to read the
"Copyright Assignment" section.

http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/CONTRIBUTE

Since you say that you are interested in translations, I am not quite
sure whether you are a developer or a user.

> I read in contributing documents that is better to post here first,
> where should we start? what we can do ? and is there any specific task
> or something?

May be you want to share a little more about yourself - your skills and
areas of interest. (Speaking of your areas of interest, think about how
you use Emacs yourself)

If you are unsure where to start, the most effective strategy is to pick
one area that you think needs improvement and improve it (As an Emacs
user, I believe you sure have some share of complaints).

The best way to attract attention your patches and ensure progress is
first to exhibit your wares (even if buggy and less than satisfactory)
and open it for criticism. Bonus points if your wares cannot be cooked
up trivially.

It's easier to find areas of improvement particulary in features that
are new, modules that are big or which have wider user base. You can
hang around in the following mailing list and see what catches your
attention:

Emacs Devel: 
   http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/

Emacs Bugs:
   http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnu-emacs/

Orgmode: 
   https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/
Gnus: 
   https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnus-english/
Cedet-devel:
   http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=cedet-devel

If you are unsure where to start you can start anywhere you like and
form opinions as you explore more. Remember, if you would like to
contribute purely for fun - you don't have to be bound by what people
ask of you. 

From my own personal experience, I can say that contributing to Free
Software projects and sustaining your motivation levels require certain
discipline, clarity of thought and enough staying power etc.

Good luck with your efforts,
Jambunathan K.

-- 

Re: Contributing

[Rett Kent]

On 07/23/2011 01:13 AM, Sameer Rahmani wrote:
> Hi,
> My friend and i want to contribute to Emacs as much as we can. We want
> to contribute in development and translations.
>
> I read in contributing documents that is better to post here first,
> where should we start? what we can do ? and is there any specific task
> or something?

Hi Shameer,

I sent an email to Stefan Monnier a month ago or so with that same 
question.  Hopefully he won't mind if I share his response.

 >
 > Thanks for your interest in Emacs and desire to contribute.
 > We're not very well organized to answer such a question, I guess, but
 > you could start by looking at the etc/TODO file (tho it's largely
 > a dump of ideas along the lines of "it would be nice, but I'll never get
 > to it" so it may not be that easy to tackle).
 >
 > Most people start by contributing small changes they've accumulated in
 > their .emacs over the years, or bug reports (with or without patches)
 > about problems (actual bugs, or just missing features) they've bump
 > into.  Other things you could try is to go through the etc/NEWS file in
 > the trunk branch and look at the entries that are not yet marked as
 > "done" (i.e. either a --- or a +++ before it) which means that the
 > corresponding change has not yet been reflected in the manual.
 >
 > I'd also recommend to follow the emacs-devel@gnu.org mailing list,
 > although it's pretty high traffic.
 >
 >
 >         Stefan


If you do end up contributing, you should set up a website or blog that 
documents how you actually managed to select something to fix, and 
shepard it into the Emacs trunk.  I tried to start, but I found it a bit 
too daunting for my feeble abilities.

Contributing

[Matthew Wood]

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I'm interested contributing, but don't have a project in mind.
The contributing docs mention starting with a message here.

Looking through the archives, I found a message that basically said that
there wasn't a well organized list of projects for beginner contributors.
It suggested looking in etc/TODO and etc/NEWS for ideas.

Is that still the best way to start? Or is there a better way now?

Thanks.

Matt Wood

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Re: Contributing

[Aurélien Aptel]

On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 5:57 PM, Matthew Wood <doowttam@gmail.com> wrote:
> Is that still the best way to start? Or is there a better way now?

You can also look at the bugtracker/wishlist:
http://debbugs.gnu.org/db/pa/lemacs.html

Re: Contributing

[Paul Eggert]

On 01/27/2013 08:57 AM, Matthew Wood wrote:
> It suggested looking in etc/TODO and etc/NEWS for ideas.
> 
> Is that still the best way to start? Or is there a better way now?

It's not bad.  You should be looking at the latest trunk versions of these.

These days you can also look at the Emacs bugs list:

http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/pkgreport.cgi?package=emacs

or at the archives to this mailing list:

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/

Thanks for volunteering!

P.S.  Maybe one of the projects should be to update 'etc/TODO'.  :-)

Re: Contributing

[Jambunathan K]

Matthew Wood <doowttam@gmail.com> writes:

> I'm interested contributing, but don't have a project in mind. The
> contributing docs mention starting with a message here.

May be you should tell us more?

How do you use your Emacs and to what ends.  Are you a programmer and
what languages do you program in?  What are your interest areas?  What
platform do you use - Mac, Linux, Windows etc.

The easiest way to contribute is by filing bug reports, responding to
and helping others in the MLs, IRC.

You can also contribute to any of the bigger packages like Gnus, Org
mode, CEDET etc.

If you are serious about contributing, why not submit a(ny) patch of say
20+ lines, asssign the copyright to FSF and have it integrated in to
Emacs proper or GNU ELPA.  See section titled `* Copyright Assignment'
in etc/CONTRIBUTE.

Whether projects end up in your plate or not, lurking around in the
 mailing list of Emacs and sister projects can give you good perspective
 on the goings-on in Emacs world.  You can join in when something rings
 a bell.

> Looking through the archives, I found a message that basically said
> that there wasn't a well organized list of projects for beginner
> contributors. It suggested looking in etc/TODO and etc/NEWS for ideas.
>
> Is that still the best way to start? Or is there a better way now?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Matt Wood
>

-- 

Re: Contributing

[Matthew Wood]

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Thanks, I'll check out the bug list and some of the bigger packages I rely
on, too.

More information: I'm a web developer working on Linux
and primarily working in Perl, Python, Javascript, stuff like that.
Probably not anything directly applicable, unfortunately.


On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Jambunathan K <kjambunathan@gmail.com>wrote:

> Matthew Wood <doowttam@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > I'm interested contributing, but don't have a project in mind. The
> > contributing docs mention starting with a message here.
>
> May be you should tell us more?
>
> How do you use your Emacs and to what ends.  Are you a programmer and
> what languages do you program in?  What are your interest areas?  What
> platform do you use - Mac, Linux, Windows etc.
>
> The easiest way to contribute is by filing bug reports, responding to
> and helping others in the MLs, IRC.
>
> You can also contribute to any of the bigger packages like Gnus, Org
> mode, CEDET etc.
>
> If you are serious about contributing, why not submit a(ny) patch of say
> 20+ lines, asssign the copyright to FSF and have it integrated in to
> Emacs proper or GNU ELPA.  See section titled `* Copyright Assignment'
> in etc/CONTRIBUTE.
>
> Whether projects end up in your plate or not, lurking around in the
>  mailing list of Emacs and sister projects can give you good perspective
>  on the goings-on in Emacs world.  You can join in when something rings
>  a bell.
>
> > Looking through the archives, I found a message that basically said
> > that there wasn't a well organized list of projects for beginner
> > contributors. It suggested looking in etc/TODO and etc/NEWS for ideas.
> >
> > Is that still the best way to start? Or is there a better way now?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Matt Wood
> >
>
> --
>

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Re: Contributing

[Jambunathan K]

Matthew Wood <doowttam@gmail.com> writes:

> Thanks, I'll check out the bug list and some of the bigger packages I
> rely on, too.

> More information: I'm a web developer working on Linux and primarily
> working in Perl, Python, Javascript, stuff like that. Probably not
> anything directly applicable, unfortunately.

If you are in to PHP, then there is a "rumour" that Emacs lacks good
support for PHP.  May be you can try building one...

Interestingly, there is no  Lisp...

1. Pick up some Elisp and CL.  Emacs comes with the following info
   manuals.

        * Emacs Lisp Intro: (eintr).  A simple introduction to Emacs
          Lisp programming.

        * CL: (cl).  Partial Common Lisp support for Emacs Lisp.

2. Elisp cookbook is a good resource.
        http://emacswiki.org/emacs/ElispCookbook

3. For a quick list of good-to-know APIs see

        http://wikemacs.org/wiki/Emacs_Lisp_Cheat_Sheet
 
   The page is badly formatted but good.

4. Build Emacs from Bzr trunk and use it for your day to day use.
   Sooner or later you may run in to some issues and you can take that
   opportunity to complain.

        http://emacswiki.org/emacs/BzrForEmacsDevs


> On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Jambunathan K
> <kjambunathan@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     Matthew Wood <doowttam@gmail.com> writes:
>     
>     > I'm interested contributing, but don't have a project in mind.
>     The
>     > contributing docs mention starting with a message here.
>     
>     
>     May be you should tell us more?
>     
>     How do you use your Emacs and to what ends. Are you a programmer
>     and
>     what languages do you program in? What are your interest areas?
>     What
>     platform do you use - Mac, Linux, Windows etc.
>     
>     The easiest way to contribute is by filing bug reports, responding
>     to
>     and helping others in the MLs, IRC.
>     
>     You can also contribute to any of the bigger packages like Gnus,
>     Org
>     mode, CEDET etc.
>     
>     If you are serious about contributing, why not submit a(ny) patch
>     of say
>     20+ lines, asssign the copyright to FSF and have it integrated in
>     to
>     Emacs proper or GNU ELPA. See section titled `* Copyright
>     Assignment'
>     in etc/CONTRIBUTE.
>     
>     Whether projects end up in your plate or not, lurking around in
>     the
>     mailing list of Emacs and sister projects can give you good
>     perspective
>     on the goings-on in Emacs world. You can join in when something
>     rings
>     a bell.
>     
>     
>     > Looking through the archives, I found a message that basically
>     said
>     > that there wasn't a well organized list of projects for beginner
>     > contributors. It suggested looking in etc/TODO and etc/NEWS for
>     ideas.
>     >
>     > Is that still the best way to start? Or is there a better way
>     now?
>     >
>     > Thanks.
>     >
>     > Matt Wood
>     >
>     
>     
>     --

Re: Contributing

[Matthew Wood]

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Awesome, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!


On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 1:04 PM, Jambunathan K <kjambunathan@gmail.com>wrote:

> Matthew Wood <doowttam@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > Thanks, I'll check out the bug list and some of the bigger packages I
> > rely on, too.
>
> > More information: I'm a web developer working on Linux and primarily
> > working in Perl, Python, Javascript, stuff like that. Probably not
> > anything directly applicable, unfortunately.
>
> If you are in to PHP, then there is a "rumour" that Emacs lacks good
> support for PHP.  May be you can try building one...
>
> Interestingly, there is no  Lisp...
>
> 1. Pick up some Elisp and CL.  Emacs comes with the following info
>    manuals.
>
>         * Emacs Lisp Intro: (eintr).  A simple introduction to Emacs
>           Lisp programming.
>
>         * CL: (cl).  Partial Common Lisp support for Emacs Lisp.
>
> 2. Elisp cookbook is a good resource.
>         http://emacswiki.org/emacs/ElispCookbook
>
> 3. For a quick list of good-to-know APIs see
>
>         http://wikemacs.org/wiki/Emacs_Lisp_Cheat_Sheet
>
>    The page is badly formatted but good.
>
> 4. Build Emacs from Bzr trunk and use it for your day to day use.
>    Sooner or later you may run in to some issues and you can take that
>    opportunity to complain.
>
>         http://emacswiki.org/emacs/BzrForEmacsDevs
>
>
> > On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Jambunathan K
> > <kjambunathan@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >     Matthew Wood <doowttam@gmail.com> writes:
> >
> >     > I'm interested contributing, but don't have a project in mind.
> >     The
> >     > contributing docs mention starting with a message here.
> >
> >
> >     May be you should tell us more?
> >
> >     How do you use your Emacs and to what ends. Are you a programmer
> >     and
> >     what languages do you program in? What are your interest areas?
> >     What
> >     platform do you use - Mac, Linux, Windows etc.
> >
> >     The easiest way to contribute is by filing bug reports, responding
> >     to
> >     and helping others in the MLs, IRC.
> >
> >     You can also contribute to any of the bigger packages like Gnus,
> >     Org
> >     mode, CEDET etc.
> >
> >     If you are serious about contributing, why not submit a(ny) patch
> >     of say
> >     20+ lines, asssign the copyright to FSF and have it integrated in
> >     to
> >     Emacs proper or GNU ELPA. See section titled `* Copyright
> >     Assignment'
> >     in etc/CONTRIBUTE.
> >
> >     Whether projects end up in your plate or not, lurking around in
> >     the
> >     mailing list of Emacs and sister projects can give you good
> >     perspective
> >     on the goings-on in Emacs world. You can join in when something
> >     rings
> >     a bell.
> >
> >
> >     > Looking through the archives, I found a message that basically
> >     said
> >     > that there wasn't a well organized list of projects for beginner
> >     > contributors. It suggested looking in etc/TODO and etc/NEWS for
> >     ideas.
> >     >
> >     > Is that still the best way to start? Or is there a better way
> >     now?
> >     >
> >     > Thanks.
> >     >
> >     > Matt Wood
> >     >
> >
> >
> >     --
>

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Re: Contributing

[Lennart Borgman]

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Since you are a web developer you might also want to have a look at nXhtml
and mumamo.el.

There are things in mumamo that can't be fixed without low level changes to
Emacs. A tough job.
On Jan 27, 2013 8:57 PM, "Matthew Wood" <doowttam@gmail.com> wrote:

> Awesome, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 1:04 PM, Jambunathan K <kjambunathan@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Matthew Wood <doowttam@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>> > Thanks, I'll check out the bug list and some of the bigger packages I
>> > rely on, too.
>>
>> > More information: I'm a web developer working on Linux and primarily
>> > working in Perl, Python, Javascript, stuff like that. Probably not
>> > anything directly applicable, unfortunately.
>>
>> If you are in to PHP, then there is a "rumour" that Emacs lacks good
>> support for PHP.  May be you can try building one...
>>
>> Interestingly, there is no  Lisp...
>>
>> 1. Pick up some Elisp and CL.  Emacs comes with the following info
>>    manuals.
>>
>>         * Emacs Lisp Intro: (eintr).  A simple introduction to Emacs
>>           Lisp programming.
>>
>>         * CL: (cl).  Partial Common Lisp support for Emacs Lisp.
>>
>> 2. Elisp cookbook is a good resource.
>>         http://emacswiki.org/emacs/ElispCookbook
>>
>> 3. For a quick list of good-to-know APIs see
>>
>>         http://wikemacs.org/wiki/Emacs_Lisp_Cheat_Sheet
>>
>>    The page is badly formatted but good.
>>
>> 4. Build Emacs from Bzr trunk and use it for your day to day use.
>>    Sooner or later you may run in to some issues and you can take that
>>    opportunity to complain.
>>
>>         http://emacswiki.org/emacs/BzrForEmacsDevs
>>
>>
>> > On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Jambunathan K
>> > <kjambunathan@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >     Matthew Wood <doowttam@gmail.com> writes:
>> >
>> >     > I'm interested contributing, but don't have a project in mind.
>> >     The
>> >     > contributing docs mention starting with a message here.
>> >
>> >
>> >     May be you should tell us more?
>> >
>> >     How do you use your Emacs and to what ends. Are you a programmer
>> >     and
>> >     what languages do you program in? What are your interest areas?
>> >     What
>> >     platform do you use - Mac, Linux, Windows etc.
>> >
>> >     The easiest way to contribute is by filing bug reports, responding
>> >     to
>> >     and helping others in the MLs, IRC.
>> >
>> >     You can also contribute to any of the bigger packages like Gnus,
>> >     Org
>> >     mode, CEDET etc.
>> >
>> >     If you are serious about contributing, why not submit a(ny) patch
>> >     of say
>> >     20+ lines, asssign the copyright to FSF and have it integrated in
>> >     to
>> >     Emacs proper or GNU ELPA. See section titled `* Copyright
>> >     Assignment'
>> >     in etc/CONTRIBUTE.
>> >
>> >     Whether projects end up in your plate or not, lurking around in
>> >     the
>> >     mailing list of Emacs and sister projects can give you good
>> >     perspective
>> >     on the goings-on in Emacs world. You can join in when something
>> >     rings
>> >     a bell.
>> >
>> >
>> >     > Looking through the archives, I found a message that basically
>> >     said
>> >     > that there wasn't a well organized list of projects for beginner
>> >     > contributors. It suggested looking in etc/TODO and etc/NEWS for
>> >     ideas.
>> >     >
>> >     > Is that still the best way to start? Or is there a better way
>> >     now?
>> >     >
>> >     > Thanks.
>> >     >
>> >     > Matt Wood
>> >     >
>> >
>> >
>> >     --
>>
>
>

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Re: Contributing

[Xue Fuqiao]

On Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:14:37 +0100
Lennart Borgman <lennart.borgman@gmail.com> wrote:

> Since you are a web developer you might also want to have a look at nXhtml
> and mumamo.el.

And things like web-mode, cperl-mode, python.el, js2-mode, MozRepl and so on.

-- 
Best regards, Xue Fuqiao.
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/XueFuqiao

Re: Contributing

[Xue Fuqiao]

On Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:34:27 +0530
Jambunathan K <kjambunathan@gmail.com> wrote:

> 1. Pick up some Elisp and CL.  Emacs comes with the following info
>    manuals.
> 
>         * Emacs Lisp Intro: (eintr).  A simple introduction to Emacs
>           Lisp programming.
> 
>         * CL: (cl).  Partial Common Lisp support for Emacs Lisp.
> 
> 2. Elisp cookbook is a good resource.
>         http://emacswiki.org/emacs/ElispCookbook
> 
> 3. For a quick list of good-to-know APIs see
> 
>         http://wikemacs.org/wiki/Emacs_Lisp_Cheat_Sheet
>  
>    The page is badly formatted but good.
> 
> 4. Build Emacs from Bzr trunk and use it for your day to day use.
>    Sooner or later you may run in to some issues and you can take that
>    opportunity to complain.
> 
>         http://emacswiki.org/emacs/BzrForEmacsDevs

Apart from those resources, there are also some other useful resources:

1. GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual
(info "(elisp) Top")

2. CC Mode.  It helps you edit Emacs source files containing C code.
(info "(ccmode) Top")

3. The Emacs Widget Library.  All customization types are implemented as widgets.
(info "(widget) Top")

4. GNU build system.  It helps Emacs developers make Emacs source code portable to many Unix-like systems.
http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/index.html
http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html

5. GNU coding standards.  Though it focuses on writing free software in C, much of it can be applied more generally.
http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards

6. Bazaar User Reference.  Even if you have write access to the bzr repository, it is very useful.
http://doc.bazaar.canonical.com/bzr.dev/en/user-reference/index.html

7. GDB User Manual.  Although Emacs can be debugged with Microsoft Visual C++ and other debuggers, GDB is recommended.
http://sourceware.org/gdb/current/onlinedocs/gdb/

8. GTK+ 3 Reference Manual, since GTK+ is the default X toolkit in GNU Emacs.
http://developer.gnome.org/gtk3/unstable/

HTH

-- 
Best regards, Xue Fuqiao.
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/XueFuqiao

Re: Contributing

[Dmitry Gutov]

Xue Fuqiao <xfq.free@gmail.com> writes:

> On Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:14:37 +0100
> Lennart Borgman <lennart.borgman@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Since you are a web developer you might also want to have a look at nXhtml
>> and mumamo.el.
>
> And things like web-mode, cperl-mode, python.el, js2-mode, MozRepl and so on.

Also MMM Mode, an old but still kicking alternative to MuMaMo.