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<p>The Ruby Documentation Project is dedicated to getting MRI Ruby <b>fully documented</b>. To achieve this goal as fast as possible, we offer a <b>support system</b> geared towards making it easy to prepare and submit documentation patches. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to give back to open source in general and to Ruby in particular.</p>


<h2>Why Documentation?</h2>
<ul>
<li>Only about 75% of Ruby is adequately documented</li>
<li>Existing documentation could use some polish in form of clearer descriptions and better examples</li>
<li>Writing documentation is a gentle, but effective introduction to contributing to open source</li>
<li>Great way to solidify your Ruby fundamentals</li>
<li>Many prominent Rubyists and core contributors have started out this way</li>
</ul>

<h2>What We Provide</h2>
<ul>
<li>Detailed <a href="/step-by-step-guide.html">step-by-step guide</a> to take you through the process of contributing documentation patches</li>
<li>Guides on particular aspects, such as preparing patches using git</li>
<li>A <a href="/undocumented-areas.html">list of undocumented areas</a>, so that you can pick something that interests you</li>
<li>Answers to your questions via the <a href="mailto:documenting.ruby@librelist.org">mailing list</a> and on <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/ruby-core">IRC</a></li>
<li>Reviews of your documentation patch before you submit it</li>
</ul>

<h2>How It Works (In a Nutshell)</h2>
<p>Generally, Ruby documentation patches need to be submitted to the Redmine <a href="http://bugs.ruby-lang.org">Ruby Issue Tracking System</a>. We pave the way to ensure a successful submission by setting up an internal review process through Github. To take advantage of this workflow you need to:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Create your own fork of <a href="https://github.com/documenting-ruby/ruby">this fork of ruby</a></li>
  <li>Indicate what you want to work on by opening an <a href="https://github.com/documenting-ruby/ruby/issues/new">issue</a>. This is mostly to avoid duplication of efforts.</li>
  <li>Submit a pull request on Github which will trigger a review process</li>
  <li>Then prepare your patch for submission to the Ruby Issue Tracker</li>
</ol>

<p>For more details on the entire process <a href="/step-by-step-guide.html">Read our step-by-step guide</a></p>