For people which just have found our source code especially over GitHub sometimes seem to have problems finding out how to contribute. This is sad as it prevents us building a bigger community. While we have a wiki which conatins a lot informations, this seems to get overlooked. I guess a contributing fact is that most software today has these informations contained in the repository itself. While I am not going to duplicate the wiki to have these informations in our repository I still think it is a good idea to have a short guide to lead new contributers into the right direction.

Someone now could argue that new people just a too * to look at the right place and that's why we do not need these documents. I do not think so because of several points:

First people get used to look for information at a readme. I guees that is because of the fact both GitHub and Gitlab place the readme so prominently.

Second starting in a new project is hard. Finding the right place where to start is also not easy as every project is different. Giving people a short introduction what the first steps could be is definitely needed.

Signed-off-by: Jonatan Schlag jonatan.schlag@ipfire.org --- README.md | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++ doc/CONTRIBUTING.md | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 60 insertions(+) create mode 100644 README.md create mode 100644 doc/CONTRIBUTING.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..1bb3a0727 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +# IPFire + +# What is IPFire? + +IPFire is a hardened, versatile, state-of-the-art Open Source firewall based on Linux. Its ease of use, high performance in any scenario and extensibility make it usable for everyone. For a full list of features have a look [here](https://www.ipfire.org/features). +This repository contains the source code which is used to build the whole distribution from scratch. + +# Where can I get IPFire? + +Just head over to https://www.ipfire.org/download + +# How do I use this software? + +We have a long and detailed wiki located [here](https://wiki.ipfire.org/) which should answers most of your questions. + +# But I have some questions left. Where can I get support? + +You can ask your question at our community located [here](https://community.ipfire.org/). +A complete list of our support options can be found [here](https://www.ipfire.org/support) + +# How can I contribute? + +We have another document for this. Please look [here](doc/CONTRIBUTING.md). + + diff --git a/doc/CONTRIBUTING.md b/doc/CONTRIBUTING.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..510a26f02 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/CONTRIBUTING.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +# How can I help? + +You can help in numerous ways. This document should give you an overview of what is possible and how you can get involved. +It will **not** give you all information you need to successfully contribute to avoid content duplication between this document and our [wiki](https://wiki.ipfire.org/). +Instead, it should guide you to the right places to look for further information. + +## Development + +All information is available in the [development section](https://wiki.ipfire.org/devel) of our wiki. The following is a very short overview about the most important topics. + +### Contact + +We use a mailing list development@lists.ipfire.org for our communication. For the list archive and registration, see [here](http://lists.ipfire.org/mailman/listinfo/development) + +### Source Code + +We use our own infrastructure for code hosting, located under git.ipfire.org. The GitHub repositories are **only** mirrors of the main repositories located under git.ipfire.org. + +### How to build the distribution? + +In order to contribute, you certainly need to build the distribution at some point. See [here](https://wiki.ipfire.org/devel/ipfire-2-x/build-howto) for a long guide how to do that. + +### Bugs + +We have a bug tracker located [here](https://wiki.ipfire.org/devel/bugzilla). Further information can be found in our [wiki](https://wiki.ipfire.org/devel/bugzilla). +We do **not** use GitHub for tracking bugs. + +### Contribute changes to the source code + +First: **we do not accept GitHub pull requests!** We are working with patches which are sent to our mailing list development@lists.ipfire.org . +This process might be a bit tricky in the beginning. That's why you can find more information how to do this [here](https://wiki.ipfire.org/devel/submit-patches) + + + +