Contributing to Rack¶ ↑

Rack is work of hundreds of contributors. You’re encouraged to submit pull requests and propose features and discuss issues.

Backports¶ ↑

Only security patches are ideal for backporting to non-main release versions. If you’re not sure if your bug fix is backportable, you should open a discussion to discuss it first.

The Security Policy documents which release versions will receive security backports.

Fork the Project¶ ↑

Fork the project on GitHub and check out your copy.

git clone https://github.com/(your-github-username)/rack.git
cd rack
git remote add upstream https://github.com/rack/rack.git

Create a Topic Branch¶ ↑

Make sure your fork is up-to-date and create a topic branch for your feature or bug fix.

git checkout main
git pull upstream main
git checkout -b my-feature-branch

Running All Tests¶ ↑

Install all dependencies.

bundle install

Run all tests.

rake test

Write Tests¶ ↑

Try to write a test that reproduces the problem you’re trying to fix or describes a feature that you want to build.

We definitely appreciate pull requests that highlight or reproduce a problem, even without a fix.

Write Code¶ ↑

Implement your feature or bug fix.

Make sure that all tests pass:

bundle exec rake test

Write Documentation¶ ↑

Document any external behavior in the README.

Update Changelog¶ ↑

Add a line to CHANGELOG.

Commit Changes¶ ↑

Make sure git knows your name and email address:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "contributor@example.com"

Writing good commit logs is important. A commit log should describe what changed and why.

git add ...
git commit

Push¶ ↑

git push origin my-feature-branch

Make a Pull Request¶ ↑

Go to your fork of rack on GitHub and select your feature branch. Click the ‘Pull Request’ button and fill out the form. Pull requests are usually reviewed within a few days.

Rebase¶ ↑

If you’ve been working on a change for a while, rebase with upstream/main.

git fetch upstream
git rebase upstream/main
git push origin my-feature-branch -f

Make Required Changes¶ ↑

Amend your previous commit and force push the changes.

git commit --amend
git push origin my-feature-branch -f

Check on Your Pull Request¶ ↑

Go back to your pull request after a few minutes and see whether it passed tests with GitHub Actions. Everything should look green, otherwise fix issues and amend your commit as described above.

Be Patient¶ ↑

It’s likely that your change will not be merged and that the nitpicky maintainers will ask you to do more, or fix seemingly benign problems. Hang in there!

Thank You¶ ↑

Please do know that we really appreciate and value your time and work. We love you, really.