# How to contribute

PythonNet is developed and maintained by unpaid community members so well
written, documented and tested pull requests are encouraged.

By submitting a pull request for this project, you agree to license your
contribution under the MIT license to this project.

## Getting Started

-   Make sure you have a [GitHub account](https://github.com/signup/free)
-   Submit a ticket for your issue, assuming one does not already exist.
    -   Clearly describe the issue including steps to reproduce the bug.
    -   Include what Python version and operating system you are using.
-   Fork the repository on GitHub

## Making Changes

-   Create a topic branch from where you want to base your work.
    -   This is usually the master branch.
    -   Only target release branches if you are certain your fix must be on
        that branch.
    -   To quickly create a topic branch based on master;
        `git checkout -b fix/develop/my_contribution master`.
        Please avoid working directly on the `master` branch for anything
        other than trivial changes.
-   Make commits of logical units.
-   Check for unnecessary whitespace with `git diff --check` before committing.
-   Make sure your commit messages are in the proper format.
-   Make sure you have added the necessary tests for your changes.
-   Run _all_ the tests to assure nothing else was accidentally broken.

## Submitting Changes

-   Merge the topic branch into master and push to your fork of the repository.
-   Submit a pull request to the repository in the pythonnet organization.
-   After feedback has been given we expect responses within two weeks. After
    two weeks we may close the pull request if it isn't showing any activity.

# Additional Resources

-   [General GitHub documentation](https://help.github.com/)
-   [GitHub pull request documentation](https://help.github.com/send-pull-requests/)