Ruby on Rails is not "someone else's framework." Over the years, hundreds of people have contributed to Ruby on Rails ranging from a single character to massive architectural changes or significant documentation - all with the goal of making Ruby on Rails better for everyone. Even if you don't feel up to writing code or documentation yet, there are a variety of other ways that you can contribute, from reporting issues to testing patches.
README](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/master/README.md), everyone interacting in Rails and its sub-projects' codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms, and mailing lists is expected to follow the Rails [code of conduct](http://rubyonrails.org/conduct/).
Ruby on Rails uses [GitHub Issue Tracking](https://github.com/rails/rails/issues) to track issues (primarily bugs and contributions of new code). If you've found a bug in Ruby on Rails, this is the place to start. You'll need to create a (free) GitHub account in order to submit an issue, to comment on them or to create pull requests.
NOTE: Bugs in the most recent released version of Ruby on Rails are likely to get the most attention. Also, the Rails core team is always interested in feedback from those who can take the time to test _edge Rails_ (the code for the version of Rails that is currently under development). Later in this guide you'll find out how to get edge Rails for testing.
If you've found a problem in Ruby on Rails which is not a security risk, do a search on GitHub under [Issues](https://github.com/rails/rails/issues) in case it has already been reported. If you are unable to find any open GitHub issues addressing the problem you found, your next step will be to [open a new one](https://github.com/rails/rails/issues/new). (See the next section for reporting security issues.)
Your issue report should contain a title and a clear description of the issue at the bare minimum. You should include as much relevant information as possible and should at least post a code sample that demonstrates the issue. It would be even better if you could include a unit test that shows how the expected behavior is not occurring. Your goal should be to make it easy for yourself - and others - to reproduce the bug and figure out a fix.
Then, don't get your hopes up! Unless you have a "Code Red, Mission Critical, the World is Coming to an End" kind of bug, you're creating this issue report in the hope that others with the same problem will be able to collaborate with you on solving it. Do not expect that the issue report will automatically see any activity or that others will jump to fix it. Creating an issue like this is mostly to help yourself start on the path of fixing the problem and for others to confirm it with an "I'm having this problem too" comment.
Having a way to reproduce your issue will be very helpful for others to help confirm, investigate and ultimately fix your issue. You can do this by providing an executable test case. To make this process easier, we have prepared several bug report templates for you to use as a starting point:
* Template for Active Record (models, database) issues: [gem](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/master/guides/bug_report_templates/active_record_gem.rb) / [master](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/master/guides/bug_report_templates/active_record_master.rb)
* Generic template for other issues: [gem](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/master/guides/bug_report_templates/generic_gem.rb) / [master](https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/master/guides/bug_report_templates/generic_master.rb)
These templates include the boilerplate code to set up a test case against either a released version of Rails (`*_gem.rb`) or edge Rails (`*_master.rb`).
Simply copy the content of the appropriate template into a `.rb` file and make the necessary changes to demonstrate the issue. You can execute it by running `ruby the_file.rb` in your terminal. If all goes well, you should see your test case failing.
WARNING: Please do not report security vulnerabilities with public GitHub issue reports. The [Rails security policy page](http://rubyonrails.org/security) details the procedure to follow for security issues.
As a next step beyond reporting issues, you can help the core team resolve existing issues. If you check the [issues list](https://github.com/rails/rails/issues) in GitHub Issues, you'll find lots of issues already requiring attention. What can you do for these? Quite a bit, actually:
For starters, it helps just to verify bug reports. Can you reproduce the reported issue on your own computer? If so, you can add a comment to the issue saying that you're seeing the same thing.
If an issue is very vague, can you help narrow it down to something more specific? Maybe you can provide additional information to help reproduce a bug, or help by eliminating needless steps that aren't required to demonstrate the problem.
If you find a bug report without a test, it's very useful to contribute a failing test. This is also a great way to get started exploring the source code: looking at the existing test files will teach you how to write more tests. New tests are best contributed in the form of a patch, as explained later on in the "Contributing to the Rails Code" section.
Anything you can do to make bug reports more succinct or easier to reproduce helps folks trying to write code to fix those bugs - whether you end up writing the code yourself or not.
You can also help out by examining pull requests that have been submitted to Ruby on Rails via GitHub. To apply someone's changes you need first to create a dedicated branch:
```bash
$ git checkout -b testing_branch
```
Then you can use their remote branch to update your codebase. For example, let's say the GitHub user JohnSmith has forked and pushed to a topic branch "orange" located at https://github.com/JohnSmith/rails.
After applying their branch, test it out! Here are some things to think about:
* Does the change actually work?
* Are you happy with the tests? Can you follow what they're testing? Are there any tests missing?
* Does it have the proper documentation coverage? Should documentation elsewhere be updated?
* Do you like the implementation? Can you think of a nicer or faster way to implement a part of their change?
Once you're happy that the pull request contains a good change, comment on the GitHub issue indicating your approval. Your comment should indicate that you like the change and what you like about it. Something like:
If your comment simply reads "+1", then odds are that other reviewers aren't going to take it too seriously. Show that you took the time to review the pull request.
You can help improve the Rails guides by making them more coherent, consistent or readable, adding missing information, correcting factual errors, fixing typos, or bringing them up to date with the latest edge Rails.
If you are unsure of the documentation changes, you can create an issue in the [Rails](https://github.com/rails/rails/issues) issues tracker on GitHub.
When working with documentation, please take into account the [API Documentation Guidelines](api_documentation_guidelines.html) and the [Ruby on Rails Guides Guidelines](ruby_on_rails_guides_guidelines.html).
NOTE: As explained earlier, ordinary code patches should have proper documentation coverage. Docrails is only used for isolated documentation improvements.
NOTE: To help our CI servers you should add [ci skip] to your documentation commit message to skip build on that commit. Please remember to use it for commits containing only documentation changes.
WARNING: Docrails has a very strict policy: no code can be touched whatsoever, no matter how trivial or small the change. Only RDoc and guides can be edited via docrails. Also, CHANGELOGs should never be edited in docrails.
To move on from submitting bugs to helping resolve existing issues or contributing your own code to Ruby on Rails, you _must_ be able to run its test suite. In this section of the guide you'll learn how to setup the tests on your own computer.
The easiest and recommended way to get a development environment ready to hack is to use the [Rails development box](https://github.com/rails/rails-dev-box).
It doesn't matter much what name you use, because this branch will only exist on your local computer and your personal repository on GitHub. It won't be part of the Rails Git repository.
Now get busy and add/edit code. You're on your branch now, so you can write whatever you want (make sure you're on the right branch with `git branch -a`). But if you're planning to submit your change back for inclusion in Rails, keep a few things in mind:
TIP: Changes that are cosmetic in nature and do not add anything substantial to the stability, functionality, or testability of Rails will generally not be accepted (read more about [our rationales behind this decision](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/13771#issuecomment-32746700)).
You can invoke `test_jdbcmysql`, `test_jdbcsqlite3` or `test_jdbcpostgresql` also. See the file `activerecord/RUNNING_UNIT_TESTS.rdoc` for information on running more targeted database tests, or the file `ci/travis.rb` for the test suite run by the continuous integration server.
The test suite runs with warnings enabled. Ideally, Ruby on Rails should issue no warnings, but there may be a few, as well as some from third-party libraries. Please ignore (or fix!) them, if any, and submit patches that do not issue new warnings.
If you are sure about what you are doing and would like to have a more clear output, there's a way to override the flag:
You should add an entry **to the top** of the CHANGELOG of the framework that you modified if you're adding or removing a feature, committing a bug fix or adding deprecation notices. Refactorings and documentation changes generally should not go to the CHANGELOG.
A CHANGELOG entry should summarize what was changed and should end with the author's name. You can use multiple lines if you need more space and you can attach code examples indented with 4 spaces. If a change is related to a specific issue, you should attach the issue's number. Here is an example CHANGELOG entry:
Some changes require the dependencies to be upgraded. In these cases make sure you run `bundle update` to get the right version of the dependency and commit the `Gemfile.lock` file within your changes.
You might have cloned your forked repository into your machine and might want to add the original Rails repository as a remote instead, if that's the case here's what you have to do.
It's entirely possible that the feedback you get will suggest changes. Don't get discouraged: the whole point of contributing to an active open source project is to tap into the knowledge of the community. If people are encouraging you to tweak your code, then it's worth making the tweaks and resubmitting. If the feedback is that your code doesn't belong in the core, you might still think about releasing it as a gem.
If you want to add a fix to older versions of Ruby on Rails, you'll need to set up and switch to your own local tracking branch. Here is an example to switch to the 4-0-stable branch:
TIP: You may want to [put your Git branch name in your shell prompt](http://qugstart.com/blog/git-and-svn/add-colored-git-branch-name-to-your-shell-prompt/) to make it easier to remember which version of the code you're working with.
Changes that are merged into master are intended for the next major release of Rails. Sometimes, it might be beneficial for your changes to propagate back to the maintenance releases for older stable branches. Generally, security fixes and bug fixes are good candidates for a backport, while new features and patches that introduce a change in behavior will not be accepted. When in doubt, it is best to consult a Rails team member before backporting your changes to avoid wasted effort.
For simple fixes, the easiest way to backport your changes is to [extract a diff from your changes in master and apply them to the target branch](http://ariejan.net/2009/10/26/how-to-create-and-apply-a-patch-with-git).
First make sure your changes are the only difference between your current branch and master:
Switch over to the target branch and apply your changes:
```bash
$ git checkout -b my_backport_branch 3-2-stable
$ git apply ~/my_changes.patch
```
This works well for simple changes. However, if your changes are complicated or if the code in master has deviated significantly from your target branch, it might require more work on your part. The difficulty of a backport varies greatly from case to case, and sometimes it is simply not worth the effort.
Once you have resolved all conflicts and made sure all the tests are passing, push your changes and open a separate pull request for your backport. It is also worth noting that older branches might have a different set of build targets than master. When possible, it is best to first test your backport locally against the Ruby versions listed in `.travis.yml` before submitting your pull request.
And then... think about your next contribution!
Rails Contributors
------------------
All contributions, either via master or docrails, get credit in [Rails Contributors](http://contributors.rubyonrails.org).
