Here are some style and legal conventions for contributors to Emacs:
-o Coding Standards
+* Coding Standards
- Contributed code should follow the GNU Coding Standard.
- If it doesn't, we'll need to find someone to fix the code
- before we can use it.
+Contributed code should follow the GNU Coding Standard.
- Emacs has certain additional style and coding conventions.
+If it doesn't, we'll need to find someone to fix the code before we
+can use it.
- Ref: http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards_toc.html
- Ref: Standards Info Manual
+Emacs has certain additional style and coding conventions.
+Ref: http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards_toc.html
+Ref: GNU Coding Standards Info Manual
+Ref: The "Tips" Appendix in the Emacs Lisp Reference.
-o Copyright Assignment
- We can accept small changes without legal papers, and for
- medium-size changes a copyright disclaimer is ok too. Toa
- accept substantial contributions from you, we need a copyright
- assignment form filled out and filed with the FSF.
+* Copyright Assignment
- Contact us at emacs-devel@gnu.org to obtain the relevant
- forms.
+We can accept small changes without legal papers, and for medium-size
+changes a copyright disclaimer is ok too. To accept substantial
+contributions from you, we need a copyright assignment form filled out
+and filed with the FSF.
+Contact us at emacs-devel@gnu.org to obtain the relevant forms.
-o Getting the Source Code
- The latest version of Emacs can be downloaded using CVS or
- Arch from the Savannah web site. It is important to write
- your patch based this version; if you start from an older
- version, your patch may be outdated when you write it.
+* Getting the Source Code
- After you have downloaded the source, you should read the file
- INSTALL.CVS for further instructions.
+The latest version of Emacs can be downloaded using CVS or Arch from
+the Savannah web site. It is important to write your patch based on
+this version; if you start from an older version, your patch may be
+outdated when you write it, and maintainers will have hard time
+applying it.
- Ref: http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/emacs
+After you have downloaded the CVS source, you should read the file
+INSTALL.CVS for build instructions (they differ to some extent from a
+normal build).
+Ref: http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/emacs
-o Submitting Patches
- Every patch must have several pieces of information before we
- can properly evaluate it.
+* Submitting Patches
- For bug fixes, a description of the bug and how your patch fixes
- this bug.
+Every patch must have several pieces of information before we
+can properly evaluate it.
- For new features, a description of the feature and your
- implementation.
+When you have all these pieces, bundle them up in a mail message and
+send it to emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org or emacs-devel@gnu.org.
- A ChangeLog entry as plaintext (separate from the patch); see
- the various ChangeLog files for format and content. Note that,
- unlike some other projects, we do require ChangeLogs also for
- documentation i.e. texinfo files.
+All subsequent discussion should also be sent to the mailing list.
- Ref: Change Log Concepts node of the Standards Info Manual
+** Description
- The patch itself. If you are accessing the CVS repository use
- "cvs update; cvs diff -cp"; else, use "diff -cp OLD NEW". If
- your version of diff does not support these options, then get
- the latest version of GNU diff.
+For bug fixes, a description of the bug and how your patch fixes this
+bug.
- We accept patches as plain text (preferred for the compilers
- themselves), MIME attachments (preferred for the web pages), or
- as uuencoded gzipped text.
+For new features, a description of the feature and your
+implementation.
- When you have all these pieces, bundle them up in a mail message
- and send it to emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org or emacs-devel@gnu.org.
- All subsequent discussion should also be sent to the mailing
- list.
+** ChangeLog
+A ChangeLog entry as plaintext (separate from the patch).
-o Please reread your patch before submitting it.
+See the various ChangeLog files for format and content. Note that,
+unlike some other projects, we do require ChangeLogs also for
+documentation, i.e. Texinfo files.
+Ref: "Change Log Concepts" node of the GNU Coding Standards Info
+Manual, for how to write good log entries.
-o If you send several unrelated changes together, we will
- ask you to separate them so we can consider each of the changes
- by itself.
+** The patch itself.
+Please use "Context Diff" format.
-o Supplemental information for Emacs Developers:
+If you are accessing the CVS repository use
+ cvs update; cvs diff -cp
+else, use
+ diff -cp OLD NEW
- Once you become a frequent contributor to Emacs, we can
- consider giving you write access to the CVS repository.
+If your version of diff does not support these options, then get the
+latest version of GNU Diff.
- Discussion about Emacs development takes place on
- emacs-devel@gnu.org.
+** Mail format.
- Think carefully about whether your change requires updating the
- documentation. If it does, you can either do this yourself or
- add an item to the NEWS file.
+We prefer to get the patches as inline plain text.
- The best way to understand Emacs Internals is to read the code
- but the nodes "Tips" and "GNU Emacs Internals" in the Appendix
- of the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual may also help.
+Please be aware of line wrapping which will make the patch unreadable
+and useless for us. To avoid that, you can use MIME attachments or,
+as a last resort, uuencoded gzipped text.
- The file DEBUG describes how to debug Emacs bugs.
+** Please reread your patch before submitting it.
+
+** Do not mix changes.
+
+If you send several unrelated changes together, we will ask you to
+separate them so we can consider each of the changes by itself.
+
+
+* Coding style and conventions.
+
+** Mandatory reading:
+
+The "Tips and Conventions" Appendix of the Emacs Lisp Reference.
+
+** Avoid using `defadvice' or `eval-after-load' for Lisp code to be
+included in Emacs.
+
+** Remove all trailing whitespace in all source and text files.
+
+** Use ?\s instead of ? in Lisp code for a space character.
+
+
+* Supplemental information for Emacs Developers.
+
+** Write access to Emacs' CVS repository.
+
+Once you become a frequent contributor to Emacs, we can consider
+giving you write access to the CVS repository.
+
+
+** Emacs Mailing lists.
+
+Discussion about Emacs development takes place on emacs-devel@gnu.org.
+
+Bug reports for released versions are sent to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
+
+Bug reports for development versions are sent to emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org.
+
+You can subscribe to the mailing lists at savannah.gnu.org/projects/emacs.
+
+You can find the mailing lists archives at lists.gnu.org or gmane.org.
+
+
+** Document your changes.
+
+Think carefully about whether your change requires updating the
+documentation. If it does, you can either do this yourself or add an
+item to the NEWS file.
+
+If you document your change in NEWS, please mark the NEWS entry with
+the documentation status of the change: if you submit the changes for
+the manuals, mark it with "+++"; if it doesn't need to be documented,
+mark it with "---"; if it needs to be documented, but you didn't
+submit documentation changes, leave the NEWS entry unmarked. (These
+marks are checked by the Emacs maintainers to make sure every change
+was reflected in the manuals.)
+
+
+** Understanding Emacs Internals.
+
+The best way to understand Emacs Internals is to read the code,
+but the nodes "Tips" and "GNU Emacs Internals" in the Appendix
+of the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual may also help.
+
+The file etc/DEBUG describes how to debug Emacs bugs.
+
+
+
+* How to Maintain Copyright Years for GNU Emacs
+
+** Our lawyer says it is ok if we add, to each file that has been in Emacs
+since Emacs 21 came out in 2001, all the subsequent years. We don't
+need to check whether *that file* was changed in those years.
+It's sufficient that *Emacs* was changed in those years (and it was!).
+
+** For those files that have been added since then, we should add
+the year it was added to Emacs, and all subsequent years.
+
+** For the refcards under etc/, it's ok to simply use the latest year
+(typically in a `\def\year{YEAR}' expression) for the rendered copyright
+notice, while maintaining the full list of years in the copyright notice
+in the comments.
+
+\f
+Local variables:
+mode: outline
+paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
+end:
- Avoid using `defadvice' or `eval-after-load' for Lisp
- code to be included in Emacs.