bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Drew Adams]

(emacs) `Contributing' says:

  For more information on how to contribute, see the 'etc/CONTRIBUTE'
  file in the Emacs distribution.

I find no such file.  I'm using ordinary Emacs releases on MS Windows.

First, there are two `etc' folders: One at the top level of the zip
archive, and one as folder `share/emacs/26.3/etc'.  So those
instructions about looking for `etc/CONTRIBUTE' aren't clear.

I find no `CONTRIBUTE' in either of those `etc' folders.  Searching with
Windows Explorer finds no such file anywhere in the Emacs 26.3
distribution (I have the "full" distribution, i.e., with dependencies).

I find file `share/emacs/26.3/etc/README', but that says almost nothing,
and certainly nothing about contributing to Emacs development.  I also
find `share/emacs/26.3/README.W32', but that makes no reference to
`CONTRIBUTE'.

When I search the distribution of Emacs 24.5, I find CONTRIBUTE in
folder `share/emacs/24.5/etc'.  Similarly for some other releases (for
23.4 it is in top-level folder `etc'; for 22.3 it's in the top-level
folder).  But starting with Emacs 25.3.1 I find no such file.  (I also
find no such file for 21.4 or 20.7.)

What am I missing?  Where is a user on MS Windows supposed to find file
`CONTRIBUTE'?

In GNU Emacs 26.3 (build 1, x86_64-w64-mingw32)
 of 2019-08-29
Repository revision: 96dd0196c28bc36779584e47fffcca433c9309cd
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 10.0.17763
Configured using:
 `configure --without-dbus --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32
 --without-compress-install 'CFLAGS=-O2 -static -g3''

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Drew Adams]

BTW, I also see this, in (efaq-w32) `Does not run':

  For example, there should be a file CONTRIBUTE in the
  top level directory;

That differs from the other mention of such a file
being in an `etc' folder, FWIW.

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:13:19 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> 
> (emacs) `Contributing' says:
> 
>   For more information on how to contribute, see the 'etc/CONTRIBUTE'
>   file in the Emacs distribution.

You have an old manual, from an older Emacs version.

> Where is a user on MS Windows supposed to find file `CONTRIBUTE'?

In the source tree, as the contents of that file has changed and makes
no sense without access to the sources.

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Drew Adams]

> You have an old manual, from an older Emacs version.

emacs -Q for Emacs 26.3 says this in `(emacs) Contributing':

  If you would like to make more extensive contributions, see the
  'CONTRIBUTE' file in the Emacs distribution for information on
  how to be an Emacs developer.

> > Where is a user on MS Windows supposed to find file `CONTRIBUTE'?
> 
> In the source tree, as the contents of that file has changed and makes
> no sense without access to the sources.

No idea what "the source tree" means here.  That node tells
users to look for file CONTRIBUTE "in the Emacs distribution".
Where is it in the Emacs distribution?

The same node also says:

  It is important to write your patch based on the current
  working version.

But there's no spec of what constitutes a "patch" - what
to include in it or what form it takes.  Nothing about the
form of a patch file, change log etc.  Is such info in the
missing (?) CONTRIBUTE file?  If not, where is it?

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Eli Zaretskii]

> X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.5 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_50,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_MED
> 	autolearn=disabled version=3.3.2
> Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2019 09:22:26 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> Cc: 37414@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > You have an old manual, from an older Emacs version.
> 
> emacs -Q for Emacs 26.3 says this in `(emacs) Contributing':
> 
>   If you would like to make more extensive contributions, see the
>   'CONTRIBUTE' file in the Emacs distribution for information on
>   how to be an Emacs developer.
> 
> > > Where is a user on MS Windows supposed to find file `CONTRIBUTE'?
> > 
> > In the source tree, as the contents of that file has changed and makes
> > no sense without access to the sources.
> 
> No idea what "the source tree" means here.  That node tells
> users to look for file CONTRIBUTE "in the Emacs distribution".
> Where is it in the Emacs distribution?

In the source tarball, in the top-level directory.

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Drew Adams]

> > emacs -Q for Emacs 26.3 says this in `(emacs) Contributing':
> >
> >   If you would like to make more extensive contributions, see the
> >   'CONTRIBUTE' file in the Emacs distribution for information on
> >   how to be an Emacs developer.
> >
> > > > Where is a user on MS Windows supposed to find file `CONTRIBUTE'?
> > >
> > > In the source tree, as the contents of that file has changed and makes
> > > no sense without access to the sources.
> >
> > No idea what "the source tree" means here.  That node tells
> > users to look for file CONTRIBUTE "in the Emacs distribution".
> > Where is it in the Emacs distribution?
> 
> In the source tarball, in the top-level directory.

What's that?  I have an "Emacs distribution" for 26.3, from here
(the location announced in emacs-devel@gnu.org on 2019-09-01): 

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__alpha.gnu.org_gnu_emacs_pretest_windows_emacs-2D26_&d=DwICAg&c=RoP1YumCXCgaWHvlZYR8PZh8Bv7qIrMUB65eapI_JnE&r=kI3P6ljGv6CTHIKju0jqInF6AOwMCYRDQUmqX22rJ98&m=7le47_VmxC77S4y7ZAEyhihP7eM9uhQzgEyuCq2jGAE&s=lZL3oWwAmq2LTzXevRIMYcwDl_2GbE3phyns_9v30RI&e=

There is no CONTRIBUTE anywhere in that zip archive, AFAICT.

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2019 10:16:59 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> Cc: 37414@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > > No idea what "the source tree" means here.  That node tells
> > > users to look for file CONTRIBUTE "in the Emacs distribution".
> > > Where is it in the Emacs distribution?
> > 
> > In the source tarball, in the top-level directory.
> 
> What's that?  I have an "Emacs distribution" for 26.3, from here
> (the location announced in emacs-devel@gnu.org on 2019-09-01): 
> 
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__alpha.gnu.org_gnu_emacs_pretest_windows_emacs-2D26_&d=DwICAg&c=RoP1YumCXCgaWHvlZYR8PZh8Bv7qIrMUB65eapI_JnE&r=kI3P6ljGv6CTHIKju0jqInF6AOwMCYRDQUmqX22rJ98&m=7le47_VmxC77S4y7ZAEyhihP7eM9uhQzgEyuCq2jGAE&s=lZL3oWwAmq2LTzXevRIMYcwDl_2GbE3phyns_9v30RI&e=
> 
> There is no CONTRIBUTE anywhere in that zip archive, AFAICT.

These are binary zip files, not source tarballs.  You should look on
ftp.gnu.org instead.

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Drew Adams]

> These are binary zip files, not source tarballs.  You should look on
> ftp.gnu.org instead.

How about improving the manual to explain what it
means by "the Emacs distribution", if that's not
what users download to install Emacs?  Or how
about including CONTRIBUTE in the zip archive that
users download to install Emacs?

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Stefan Kangas]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>> These are binary zip files, not source tarballs.  You should look on
>> ftp.gnu.org instead.
>
> How about improving the manual to explain what it
> means by "the Emacs distribution", if that's not
> what users download to install Emacs?

On current master, this text says:

     If you would like to make more extensive contributions, see the
  ‘CONTRIBUTE’ file in the Emacs distribution for information on how to be
  an Emacs developer.

Perhaps we could just change "the Emacs distribution" to "the
development version of Emacs"?

> Or how about including CONTRIBUTE in the zip archive that users
> download to install Emacs?

The problem is that our conventions may change over time.  New
developers are better off looking for the latest version of the file.

bug#37414: 26.3; (emacs) `Contributing': no `etc/CONTRIBUTE'

[Stefan Kangas]

tags 37414 fixed
close 37414 28.1
thanks

Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se> writes:

> Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:
>
>>> These are binary zip files, not source tarballs.  You should look on
>>> ftp.gnu.org instead.
>>
>> How about improving the manual to explain what it
>> means by "the Emacs distribution", if that's not
>> what users download to install Emacs?
>
> On current master, this text says:
>
>      If you would like to make more extensive contributions, see the
>   ‘CONTRIBUTE’ file in the Emacs distribution for information on how to be
>   an Emacs developer.
>
> Perhaps we could just change "the Emacs distribution" to "the
> development version of Emacs"?

No further comments within a year, so I've now made this change on
master.  I'm therefore closing this bug report.