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Contributing to Matrix iOS SDK, Kit and Element-iOS

Everyone is welcome to contribute code to matrix-ios-sdk, matrix-ios-kit, element-ios, provided that they are willing to license their contributions under the same license as the project itself. We follow a simple 'inbound=outbound' model for contributions: the act of submitting an 'inbound' contribution means that the contributor agrees to license the code under the same terms as the project's overall 'outbound' license - in this case, Apache Software License v2 (see LICENSE).

To simplify project management, Matrix iOS SDK and Matrix iOS Kit issues are managed in the Element-iOS repository.

How to contribute

The preferred and easiest way to contribute changes to the project is to fork it on GitHub, and then create a pull request to ask us to pull your changes into our repo.

We use GitHub's pull request workflow to review the contribution, and either ask you to make any refinements needed or merge it and make them ourselves.

Things that should go into your PR description:

  • References to any bugs fixed by the change (in GitHub's Fixes notation)
  • Notes for the reviewer that might help them to understand why the change is necessary or how they might better review it
  • Screenshots or videos if applicable

Your PR must also:

  • be based on the develop branch
  • include a changelog file entry (see below)
  • include a sign off

Attribution

Everyone who contributes anything to Matrix is welcome to be listed in the AUTHORS.rst file for the project in question. Please feel free to include a change to AUTHORS.rst in your pull request to list yourself and a short description of the area(s) you've worked on. Also, we sometimes have swag to give away to contributors - if you feel that Matrix-branded apparel is missing from your life, please mail us your shipping address to matrix at matrix.org and we'll try to fix it :).

Changelog

All changes, even minor ones, need a corresponding changelog / newsfragment entry. These are managed by Towncrier.

To create a changelog entry, make a new file in the changelog.d directory named in the format of ElementIOSIssueNumber.type. The type can be one of the following:

  • feature for a new feature
  • change for updates to an existing feature
  • bugfix for bug fix
  • api for an api break
  • i18n for translations
  • build for changes related to build, tools, CI/CD
  • doc for updates to the documentation
  • wip for anything that isn't ready to ship and will be enabled at a later date
  • misc for other changes

This file will become part of our changelog at the next release, so the content of the file should be a short description of your change in the same style as the rest of the changelog. The file must only contain one line. It can contain Markdown formatting. It should start with the area of the change (screen, module, ...) and end with a full stop (.) or an exclamation mark (!) for consistency.

Adding credits to the changelog is encouraged, we value your contributions and would like to have you shouted out in the release notes!

For example, a fix for an issue #1234 would have its changelog entry in changelog.d/1234.bugfix, and contain content like:

Voice Messages: Fix a crash when sending a voice message. Contributed by Jane Matrix.

If there are multiple pull requests involved in a single bugfix/feature/etc, then the content for each changelog.d file should be the same. Towncrier will merge the matching files together into a single changelog entry when we come to release.

There are exceptions on the ElementIOSIssueNumber.type entry format. Even if it is not encouraged, you can use:

  • pr-[PRNumber].type for a PR with no related issue
  • sdk-[iOSSDKIssueNumber].type for a PR related a matrix-ios-sdk issue
  • kit-[iOSKitIssueNumber].type for a PR related a matrix-ios-kit issue
  • x-nolink-[AnyNumber].type for a PR with a change entry that will not have a link automatically appended. It must be used for internal project update only. AnyNumber should be a value that does not clash with existing files.

To preview the changelog for pending changelog entries, use:

$ towncrier build --draft --version 1.2.3

Sign off

In order to have a concrete record that your contribution is intentional and you agree to license it under the same terms as the project's license, we've adopted the same lightweight approach that the Linux Kernel submitting patches process, Docker, and many other projects use: the DCO (Developer Certificate of Origin: http://developercertificate.org/). This is a simple declaration that you wrote the contribution or otherwise have the right to contribute it to Matrix:

Developer Certificate of Origin
Version 1.1

Copyright (C) 2004, 2006 The Linux Foundation and its contributors.
660 York Street, Suite 102,
San Francisco, CA 94110 USA

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1

By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:

(a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
    have the right to submit it under the open source license
    indicated in the file; or

(b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
    of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
    license and I have the right under that license to submit that
    work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
    by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
    permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
    in the file; or

(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
    person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified
    it.

(d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
    are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
    personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
    maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
    this project or the open source license(s) involved.

If you agree to this for your contribution, then all that's needed is to include the line in your commit or pull request comment:

Signed-off-by: Your Name <your@email.example.org>

We accept contributions under a legally identifiable name, such as your name on government documentation or common-law names (names claimed by legitimate usage or repute). Unfortunately, we cannot accept anonymous contributions at this time.

Git allows you to add this signoff automatically when using the -s flag to git commit, which uses the name and email set in your user.name and user.email git configs.