Contributing to node-libnmap

Code Contributions

This document will guide you through the contribution process.

Step 1: Fork

Fork the project on GitHub and check out your copy locally.

$ git clone git@github.com:username/node-libnmap.git
$ cd node
$ git remote add upstream git://github.com/jas-/node-libnmap.git

Keep your local fork update to date using the upstream branch indicated in the above commands.

Which branch?

For developing new features and bug fixes, the master branch should be pulled and built upon.

Step 2: Branch

Create a feature branch and start hacking:

$ git checkout -b my-feature-branch -t origin/master

The branch name should be descriptive about the fixes/features it will address.

Step 3: Commit

Make sure git knows your name and email address:

$ git config --global user.name "J. Random User"
$ git config --global user.email "j.random.user@example.com"

Writing good commit logs is important. A commit log should describe what changed and why. Follow these guidelines when writing one:

1. The first line should be 50 characters or less and contain a short description of the change prefixed with the name of the changed subsystem (e.g. "net: add localAddress and localPort to Socket").
2. Keep the second line blank.
3. Wrap all other lines at 72 columns.

A good commit log can look something like this:

subsystem: explaining the commit in one line

Body of commit message is a few lines of text, explaining things
in more detail, possibly giving some background about the issue
being fixed, etc. etc.

The body of the commit message can be several paragraphs, and
please do proper word-wrap and keep columns shorter than about
72 characters or so. That way `git log` will show things
nicely even when it is indented.

The header line should be meaningful; it is what other people see when they run git shortlog or git log --oneline.

Check the output of git log --oneline files_that_you_changed to find out what subsystem (or subsystems) your changes touch.

Step 4: Rebase

Use git rebase (not git merge) to sync your work from time to time (as mentioned in 'Step 1').

$ git fetch upstream
$ git rebase upstream/master

Step 5: Test

Bug fixes and features should come with tests. Add your tests in the test directory. Look at other tests to see how they should be structured.

$ npm test

Step 6: Push

$ git push origin my-feature-branch

Go to https://github.com/yourusername/node-libnmap and select your feature branch. Click the 'Pull Request' button and fill out the form.

Pull requests are usually reviewed within a few days. If there are comments to address, apply your changes in a separate commit and push that to your feature branch. Post a comment in the pull request afterwards; GitHub does not send out notifications when you add commits.