Contributing¶

Thank you for your interest in contributing to CultureMesh Android! Here are a few steps to get you up and running:

Follow the instructions in Documentation for CultureMesh Android to get set up with the code base and Android Studio.
Open an issue on GitHub describing the changes you’d like to make. This is important beacuse your idea might already be in development or might not match the direction we are planning to take the app in. Reaching out to describe your proposal first will help avoid unnecessary work. You should also offer to work on it so people know not to do it themselves.
If your idea is accepted, start working on your idea! You might need to ask for suggestions or discuss implementation details in the issue first.
If you don’t have commit access, you’ll need to fork the repository and then clone your copy instead of the main fork.
Create a new branch for your changes:
```
$ git checkout -b your_branch_name
```

Make your changes. Please divide up your work into chunks, each of which could be un-done without breaking the app’s functionality. Make each chunk a commit. Please include comments and documentation updates as needed in your changes, preferably in the commit which necessitated them. The commit message should follow the below style (inspired by Pro-Git, page 127):

Summary on one line and under 70 characters

After a blank line, you can have paragraphs as needed to more
fully detail your changes. Wrap them at ~72 lines (no more than
80) for people viewing it from a command line interface.

Separate paragraphs with a single line.
  - For bullet points, use hyphens or asterisks
  - You don't need a blank line between bullet points, but you
    should indent multiple lines to create a block of text.

In your message, describe both what you changed at a high level
and, more importantly, why you changed it. The rationale is
important to include because it might not be clear from your
code changes alone.

Push your changes:

$ git push --set-upstream origin your_branch_name

Create a pull request describing your changes and why they were made. Use the develop branch as the base for your pull request.
Before your pull request can be accepted, it must be reviewed. Your reviewer may suggest changes, which you should then make or explain why they aren’t needed. This is a way to create dialogue about changes, which generally enhances code quality.
Once your pull request is accepted, you can delete your branch.

Warning

There are currently no automated tests for this project. Unfortunately, this means you will have to test manually to ensure your changes don’t break anything.