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Contributing to matrix-doc

Everyone is welcome to contribute to the Matrix specification!

Please ensure that you sign off your contributions. See Sign off below.

Code style

The documentation style is described at https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/blob/master/meta/documentation_style.rst.

Python code within the matrix-doc project should follow the same style as synapse, which is documented at https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/tree/master/docs/code_style.md.

Matrix-doc workflows

Specification changes

The Matrix specification documents the APIs which Matrix clients and servers use. For this to be effective, the APIs need to be present and working correctly in a server before they can be documented in the specification. This process can take some time to complete.

Changes to the protocol (new endpoints, ideas, etc) need to go through the proposals process. Other changes, such as fixing bugs, typos, or clarifying existing behaviour do not need a proposal. If you're not sure, visit us at #matrix-spec:matrix.org and ask.

Other changes

The above process is unnecessary for smaller changes, and those which do not put new requirements on servers. This category of changes includes the following:

  • Changes to the scripts used to generate the specification.

  • Addition of features which have been in use in practice for some time, but have never made it into the spec (including anything with the spec-omission label).

  • Likewise, corrections to the specification, to fix situations where, in practice, servers and clients behave differently to the specification, including anything with the spec-bug label.

    (If there is any doubt about whether it is the spec or the implementations that need fixing, please discuss it with us first in #matrix-spec:matrix.org.)

  • Clarifications to the specification which do not change the behaviour of Matrix servers or clients in a way which might introduce compatibility problems for existing deployments. This includes anything with the clarification label.

    For example, areas where the specification is unclear do not require a proposal to fix. On the other hand, introducing new behaviour is best represented by a proposal.

For such changes, please do just open a pull request. If you're not sure if your change is covered by the above, please visit #matrix-spec:matrix.org and ask.

Adding to the changelog

All API specifications require a changelog entry. Adding to the changelog can only be done after you've opened your pull request, so be sure to do that first.

The changelog is managed by Towncrier (https://github.com/hawkowl/towncrier) in the form of "news fragments". The news fragments for the client-server API are stored under changelogs/client_server/newsfragments.

To create a changelog entry, create a file named in the format prNumber.type in the newsfragments directory. The type can be one of the following:

  • new - Used when adding new endpoints. Please have the file contents be the method and route being added, surrounded in RST code tags. For example: POST /accounts/whoami
  • feature - Used when adding backwards-compatible changes to the API.
  • clarification - Used when an area of the spec is being improved upon and does not change or introduce any functionality.
  • breaking - Used when the change is not backwards compatible.
  • deprecation - Used when deprecating something.

All news fragments must have a brief summary explaining the change in the contents of the file. The summary must end in a full stop to be in line with the style guide and and formatting must be done using Restructured Text.

Changes that do not change the spec, such as changes to the build script, formatting, CSS, etc should not get a news fragment.

Sign off

We ask that everybody who contributes to their project signs off their contributions, as explained below.

We follow a simple 'inbound=outbound' model for contributions: the act of submitting an 'inbound' contribution means that the contributor agrees to license their contribution under the same terms as the project's overall 'outbound' license - in our case, this is Apache Software License v2 (see LICENSE).

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 (https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/SubmittingPatches), Docker (https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md), 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 <[email protected]>

...using your real name; unfortunately pseudonyms and anonymous contributions can't be accepted. Git makes this trivial - just use the -s flag when you do git commit, having first set user.name and user.email git configs (which you should have done anyway :)