| <!-- | |
| Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <[email protected]>, et al. | |
| SPDX-License-Identifier: curl | |
| --> | |
| # How to get started helping out in the curl project | |
| We are always in need of more help. If you are new to the project and are | |
| looking for ways to contribute and help out, this document aims to give a few | |
| good starting points. | |
| You may subscribe to the [curl-library mailing | |
| list](https://lists.haxx.se/listinfo/curl-library) to keep track of the | |
| current discussion topics; or if you are registered on GitHub, you can use the | |
| [Discussions section](https://github.com/curl/curl/discussions) on the main | |
| curl repository. | |
| ## Scratch your own itch | |
| One of the best ways is to start working on any problems or issues you have | |
| found yourself or perhaps got annoyed at in the past. It can be a spelling | |
| error in an error text or a weirdly phrased section in a man page. Hunt it | |
| down and report the bug. Or make your first pull request with a fix for that. | |
| ## Smaller tasks | |
| Some projects mark small issues as "beginner friendly", "bite-sized" or | |
| similar. We do not do that in curl since such issues never linger around long | |
| enough. Simple issues get handled fast. | |
| If you are looking for a smaller or simpler task in the project to help out | |
| with as an entry-point into the project, perhaps because you are a newcomer or | |
| even maybe not a terribly experienced developer, here's our advice: | |
| - Read through this document to get a grasp on a general approach to use | |
| - Consider adding a test case for something not currently tested (correctly) | |
| - Consider updating or adding documentation | |
| - One way to get started gently in the project, is to participate in an | |
| existing issue/PR and help out by reproducing the issue, review the code in | |
| the PR etc. | |
| ## Help wanted | |
| In the issue tracker we occasionally mark bugs with [help | |
| wanted](https://github.com/curl/curl/labels/help%20wanted), as a sign that the | |
| bug is acknowledged to exist and that there is nobody known to work on this | |
| issue for the moment. Those are bugs that are fine to "grab" and provide a | |
| pull request for. The complexity level of these of course varies, so pick one | |
| that piques your interest. | |
| ## Work on known bugs | |
| Some bugs are known and have not yet received attention and work enough to get | |
| fixed. We collect such known existing flaws in the | |
| [KNOWN_BUGS](https://curl.se/docs/knownbugs.html) page. Many of them link | |
| to the original bug report with some additional details, but some may also | |
| have aged a bit and may require some verification that the bug still exists in | |
| the same way and that what was said about it in the past is still valid. | |
| ## Fix autobuild problems | |
| On the [autobuilds page](https://curl.se/dev/builds.html) we show a | |
| collection of test results from the automatic curl build and tests that are | |
| performed by volunteers. Fixing compiler warnings and errors shown there is | |
| something we value greatly. Also, if you own or run systems or architectures | |
| that are not already tested in the autobuilds, we also appreciate more | |
| volunteers running builds automatically to help us keep curl portable. | |
| ## TODO items | |
| Ideas for features and functions that we have considered worthwhile to | |
| implement and provide are kept in the | |
| [TODO](https://curl.se/docs/todo.html) file. Some of the ideas are | |
| rough. Some are well thought out. Some probably are not really suitable | |
| anymore. | |
| Before you invest a lot of time on a TODO item, do bring it up for discussion | |
| on the mailing list. For discussion on applicability but also for ideas and | |
| brainstorming on specific ways to do the implementation etc. | |
| ## You decide | |
| You can also come up with a completely new thing you think we should do. Or | |
| not do. Or fix. Or add to the project. You then either bring it to the mailing | |
| list first to see if people shoot down the idea at once, or you bring a first | |
| draft of the idea as a pull request and take the discussion there around the | |
| specific implementation. Either way is fine. | |
| ## CONTRIBUTE | |
| We offer [guidelines](https://curl.se/dev/contribute.html) that are suitable | |
| to be familiar with before you decide to contribute to curl. If you are used | |
| to open source development, you probably do not find many surprises there. | |