moby--moby/docs/sources/project/work-issue.md

page_title: Work on your issue page_description: Basic workflow for Docker contributions page_keywords: contribute, pull request, review, workflow, beginner, squash, commit

Work on your issue

The work you do for your issue depends on the specific issue you picked. This section gives you a step-by-step workflow. Where appropriate, it provides command examples.

However, this is a generalized workflow, depending on your issue you may repeat steps or even skip some. How much time the work takes depends on you --- you could spend days or 30 minutes of your time.

How to work on your local branch

Follow this workflow as you work:

1. Review the appropriate style guide.

   If you are changing code, review the coding style guide. Changing documentation? Review the documentation style guide.

2. Make changes in your feature branch.

   Your feature branch you created in the last section. Here you use the development container. If you are making a code change, you can mount your source into a development container and iterate that way. For documentation alone, you can work on your local host.

   Review if you forgot the details of working with a container.

3. Test your changes as you work.

   If you have followed along with the guide, you know the make test target runs the entire test suite and make docs builds the documentation. If you forgot the other test targets, see the documentation for testing both code and documentation.

4. For code changes, add unit tests if appropriate.

   If you add new functionality or change existing functionality, you should add a unit test also. Use the existing test files for inspiration. Aren't sure if you need tests? Skip this step; you can add them later in the process if necessary.

5. Format your source files correctly.

   File type	How to format
   .go	Format .go files using the gofmt command. For example, if you edited the `docker.go` file you would format the file like this: $ gofmt -s -w file.go Most file editors have a plugin to format for you. Check your editor's documentation.
   .md and non-.go files	Wrap lines to 80 characters.

6. List your changes.

    $ git status
    On branch 11038-fix-rhel-link
    Changes not staged for commit:
      (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
      (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
   
    modified:   docs/sources/installation/mac.md
    modified:   docs/sources/installation/rhel.md
   

   The status command lists what changed in the repository. Make sure you see the changes you expect.

7. Add your change to Git.

    $ git add docs/sources/installation/mac.md
    $ git add docs/sources/installation/rhel.md
   

8. Commit your changes making sure you use the -s flag to sign your work.

    $ git commit -s -m "Fixing RHEL link"
   

9. Push your change to your repository.

    $ git push origin
    Username for 'https://github.com': moxiegirl
    Password for 'https://moxiegirl@github.com': 
    Counting objects: 60, done.
    Compressing objects: 100% (7/7), done.
    Writing objects: 100% (7/7), 582 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done.
    Total 7 (delta 6), reused 0 (delta 0)
    To https://github.com/moxiegirl/docker.git
     * [new branch]      11038-fix-rhel-link -> 11038-fix-rhel-link
    Branch 11038-fix-rhel-link set up to track remote branch 11038-fix-rhel-link from origin.
   

   The first time you push a change, you must specify the branch. Later, you can just do this:

    git push origin
   

Review your branch on GitHub

After you push a new branch, you should verify it on GitHub:

1. Open your browser to GitHub.

2. Go to your Docker fork.

3. Select your branch from the dropdown.

   

4. Use the "Compare" button to compare the differences between your branch and master.

   Depending how long you've been working on your branch, your branch maybe behind Docker's upstream repository.

5. Review the commits.

   Make sure your branch only shows the work you've done.

Pull and rebase frequently

You should pull and rebase frequently as you work.

1. Return to the terminal on your local machine.

2. Make sure you are in your branch.

    $ git branch 11038-fix-rhel-link
   

3. Fetch all the changes from the upstream/master branch.

     $ git fetch upstream/master
   

   This command says get all the changes from the master branch belonging to the upstream remote.

4. Rebase your local master with Docker's upstream/master branch.

     $ git rebase -i upstream/master
   

   This command starts an interactive rebase to merge code from Docker's upstream/master branch into your local branch. If you aren't familiar or comfortable with rebase, you can learn more about rebasing on the web.

5. Rebase opens an editor with a list of commits.

    	pick 1a79f55 Tweak some of the other text for grammar 
    	pick 53e4983 Fix a link 
    	pick 3ce07bb Add a new line about RHEL
   

   If you run into trouble, git --rebase abort removes any changes and gets you back to where you started.

6. Squash the pick keyword with squash on all but the first commit.

    	pick 1a79f55 Tweak some of the other text for grammar
    	squash 53e4983 Fix a link
    	squash 3ce07bb Add a new line about RHEL
   

   After closing the file, git opens your editor again to edit the commit message.

7. Edit and save your commit message.

   Make sure you include your signature.

8. Push any changes to your fork on GitHub.

    $ git push origin 11038-fix-rhel-link
   

Where to go next

At this point, you should understand how to work on an issue. In the next section, you learn how to make a pull request.