There are many different ways to contribute to the DCAF community and all contributions are appreciated. However as an open source project, we encourage all DCAF users to consider implementing desired changes themselves and giving that work back to the community. If there are features or issues that you'd really like to see addressed, the best way to help is to make the changes yourself! This document is intended to cover the high-level details of how to contribute code to DCAF.
- All DCAF source code is licensed under Apache 2.0. We will require all contributions to use this same license. Before attempting to make a contribution, first read through the Apache 2.0 license and make sure that you can contribute code under those terms.
- DCAF uses GitHub for source control. To contribute you will need to setup a client. This document provides the basics for getting started with GitHub and this document explains the general workflow. Plenty of additional resources are available online if needed.
- DCAF is currently developed using LabVIEW 2013. Some plugin modules may use a later version of LabVIEW, and if you are creating your own new plugin you can use any version that you'd like (although we would strongly recommend using 2013). Make sure that you have the right version of LabVIEW installed for the repository that you plan to contribute to.
- DCAF development also uses the standard LabVIEW Style Guidelines. Strict adherence to all items is not required, but the repository admins reserve the right to reject requests that do not sufficiently conform.
- Creation of unit tests with the LabVIEW Unit Test Framework for any new features or issue fixes is encouraged but not required.
- Finally, each contribution must contain a Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) in the commit notes. The basics of the certificate state that you have the rights to share the contribution and that you understand the implications of sharing it under the project's open source license, but please carefully review and understand the text before making a contribution.
In all your Pull Requests and commits you must include :
DCO-1.1-Signed-off-by: John Smith <jsmith@example.com> (github: jsmith_github)
Replacing John Smith’s details with your name, email address and GitHub username.
Please note that submitting a Pull Request does not guarantee that your changes will make it into the repository. The changes must still be approved by one or more repository admins. The best way to avoid a situation where a pull request gets rejected or sits in limbo is to discuss any intended major changes with a DCAF admin before getting started. If the Pull Request is not signed it will not be included.
We are very interested in enabling contributions to DCAF and will do whatever we can to ensure any quality contributions are successful. Please share any questions/concerns/ideas below.
