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Contributing Changes

GitHub Contribution Workflow

Before following this workflow please refer to our New Contributor Guide page for instructions on installing dependencies and setting up your development environment.

All changes should be made in a forked repository, submitted via pull request to the upstream develop branch which will be later merged into main for a new release by maintainers.

Opening a pull request (PR)

  1. Fork the repository

    • Navigate to the main repository on GitHub.
    • Click the Fork button in the upper right corner.
    • This creates a copy of the repository under your GitHub account.

  2. Clone your fork

    Clone your forked repository to your local machine:

    git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/REPOSITORY-NAME.git
cd REPOSITORY-NAME

  3. Add upstream remote

    Add the original repository and name it as upstream remote:

    git remote add upstream https://github.com/ORIGINAL-OWNER/REPOSITORY-NAME.git
git remote -v

  4. Create a feature branch

    Branch from develop using feature/<name> or bugfix/<name>:

    git checkout develop
git pull upstream develop
git checkout -b feature/new-feature

  5. Make changes & push to your fork

    • Commit changes with clear messages.
    • Push the branch to your forked repository.
    git add .  # adds changes in all non-ignored files in current folder
git commit -m "Description of changes"
git push origin feature/new-feature

  6. Create a pull request

    • Navigate to the original repository on GitHub.
    • Click Pull requests --> New pull request.
    • Click Compare across forks.
    • Set the base repository to ORIGINAL-OWNER/REPOSITORY-NAME and base branch to develop.
    • Set the head repository to YOUR-USERNAME/REPOSITORY-NAME and compare branch to feature/new-feature.
    • Click Create pull request and fill in the details.
    • Address any review feedback.

  7. Keep your fork updated

    Regularly sync your fork with the upstream repository:

    git checkout develop.       # switch to local develop branch
git pull upstream develop   # sync the original branch with your local branch
git push origin develop     # update branch on your remote fork with synced local branch

  8. After merge & clean up

    • After your PR is approved and merged into upstream develop, delete your feature branch:
    git checkout develop
git branch -d feature/new-feature
git push origin --delete feature/new-feature

  9. Release

    • When develop is clean and ready for a new major release, maintainers will merge develop into main and create a new release (with your contributions included).