This document provides information on contributing to the Ruby on Rails framework. It discusses why developers should contribute (e.g. giving back to an open source project they use), what types of contributions are needed (e.g. fixing bugs, writing documentation), and how to get started (e.g. setting up their development environment, downloading the Rails source code, and running tests). The document also lists some specific contribution tasks and resources for learning more about the contribution process.

1. Contributing to
Ruby on Rails

2. Agenda
• Why?
• What?
• How?

3. • http://ryanbigg.com/2010/04/want-it-give/
• enjoy the bad language
why - what - how

4. Issues
• 900 open tickets
• development hell
• „I don’t know enough about Rails to do
anything with any of the tickets.“
why - what - how

6. Why you should
• You use it, it‘s only fair
• Timezones!
• You can learn a lot
• You can
why - what - how

7. Why you want to
• You might find it interesting
• You can take part in a community
• It looks great on your CV
why - what - how

8. Document
• on a branch (docrails)
• Rails guides
• API Documentation
• Wiki
why - what - how

11. Duplicate
• Try it on your installation
• Try it with your ruby version and OS
• Try finding where it started
why - what - how

12. Test a patch
• Download a patch
• Apply it and run the tests
• Read the patch
• Document your findings
why - what - how

13. Fix
• coding conventions
• fix a bug
• find someone who could fix a bug
why - what - how

14. Create a bug report
1. Describe the bug in detail
2. Improve the unit tests to explain better
3. Implement a fix
4. Post a diff
why - what - how

15. Rails Lighthouse
• Creating a feature request? Please don't.
• state:open not-tagged:patch not-tagged:doc
> 809 Tickets
• Read
why - what - how

16. get ready...
• ruby 1.8.7 (rvm)
• gem update --system
• gem install mocha
• gem install bundler
• bundle install
why - what - how

17. ... set ...
• postgresql
• mysql
• sqlite
• Lighthouse Account
• Github: no pull requests accepted
why - what - how

19. Download
git clone http://github.com/
rails/rails.git
git branch --track 2-3-stable
origin/2-3-stable
why - what - how

20. rake
cd rails
rake
why - what - how

21. module tests
cd rails/activerecord
rake mysql:build_databases
rake
why - what - how

22. Test a patch
git checkout -b my_branch
git apply patchfile.diff
rake
why - what - how

23. Synchronize!
git commit -a -m “great patch“
git checkout master
git pull
git checkout my_branch
git rebase master
rake
why - what - how

24. Create a patch
git format-patch master
--stdout > my_great_patch.diff
why - what - how

25. git bisect
git bisect start
git bisect bad
git bisect good c1d7327
why - what - how

26. try
why - what - how

27. Agenda Revisited
• Why?
• What?
• How?

28. Resources
• https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/
• http://ryanbigg.com/2010/04/want-it-give/
• http://guides.rails.info/
contributing_to_rails.html
• http://railsbridge.org/BugMashGuide.pdf

29. Lukas Eppler
lukas.eppler@simplificator.com