There are several ways to contribute to the project:

• Report bugs and features in the issue tracker.
• Submit and review pull requests
• Help with documentation
• Help with testing

GitHub supports markdown, so when filing bugs make sure you check the formatting before clicking submit.

Before submitting a feature or substantial code contribution please discuss it with the team and ensure it follows the product roadmap. You might also read these two blogs posts on contributing code:

• Open Source Contribution Etiquette by Miguel de Icaza
• Don't "Push" Your Pull Requests by Ilya Grigorik.

If you don't know what a pull request is read the "Using pull requests" article.

Some guidelines for pull requests:

• Use a descriptive title and description.
• Include a single logical change.
• Base on master branch - once accepted, can be ported to stable branches.
• Should cleanly merge with target branch.

1. Separate subject from body with a blank line
2. Limit the subject line to 50 characters
3. Capitalize the subject line
4. Do not end the subject line with a period
5. Use the imperative mood in the subject line (e.g. Fix #123: Make pigs fly).
6. Wrap the body at 72 characters
7. Use the body to explain what and why. The how should be mostly covered by the diff.

References:

• How to Write a Git Commit Message
• A Note About Git Commit Messages
• Guidelines for Commit Messages
• On commit messages