* Adhere to our [coding conventions](coding-conventions)
* If your patch is extensive, discuss it first on the [silverstripe forum](http///www.silverstripe.org/forums/) (ideally before doing any serious coding)
* Check your patches against the latest "trunk" or "master", as well as the latest release.
Please not that the latest stable release will often not be sufficient! (of all modules)
* Provide complete [unit test coverage](/topics/testing) - depending on the complexity of your work, this is a required
step.
* Do not set milestones. If you think your patch should be looked at with priority, mark it as "critical".
* Describe specifics on how to test the effects of the patch
* It's better to submit multiple patches with separate bits of functionality than a big patch containing lots of
changes
* Document your code inline through [PHPDoc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHPDoc) syntax. See our
[API documentation](http://api.silverstripe.org/trunk) for good examples.
* Also check and update documentation on [doc.silverstripe.org](http://doc.silverstripe.org). Check for any references to functionality deprecated or extended through your patch. Documentation changes should be included in the patch.
* If you get stuck, please post to the [forum](http://silverstripe.org/forum) or for deeper core problems, to the [core mailinglist](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/silverstripe-dev)
git version control. SilverStripe hosts its modules on [github.com/silverstripe](http://github.com/silverstripe) and [github.com/silverstripe-labs](http://github.com/silverstripe-labs).
After [installing git](http://help.github.com/git-installation-redirect) and creating a [free github.com account](https://github.com/signup/free), you can "fork" a module,
which creates a copy that you can commit to (see github's [guide to "forking"](http://help.github.com/forking/)).
(every file view has an "edit this file" link). More commonly, you will deal with a working copy on your own computer. After committing your fix, you can send the module authors a so called ["pull request"](http://help.github.com/pull-requests/).
If you want to learn more about git, please have a look at the [free online git book](http://progit.org/book/) and the [git crash course](http://gitref.org/).
We try to maintain a consistent record of descriptive commit messages.
Most importantly: Keep the first line short, and add more detail below.
This ensures commits are easy to browse, and look nice on github.com
(more info about [proper git commit messages](http://tbaggery.com/2008/04/19/a-note-about-git-commit-messages.html)).
As we automatically generate [changelogs](http://doc.silverstripe.org/sapphire/en/trunk/changelogs/) from them, we need a way to categorize and filter.
Report security issues to [security@silverstripe.com](mailto:security@silverstripe.com). See our "[Release Process](release-process)" documentation for more info, and read our guide on [how to write secure code](/topics/security).
The easiest way of making a change the the documentation is to find the appropriate .md
file in the [github.com/silverstripe/sapphire](https://github.com/silverstripe/sapphire/edit/3.0/docs/) repository
and press the "edit" button. You will need a GitHub account to do this.
* After you have made your change, describe it in the "commit summary" and "extended description" fields below, and press "Commit Changes".
* After that you will see form to submit a Pull Request. You should just be able to submit the form, and your changes will be sent to the core team for approval.
**Coming soon:** each documentation page will have an "edit" link, to make it easier for you to find this feature.
### Editing on your computer
If you prefer to edit the content on your local machine, you can "[fork](http://help.github.com/forking/)"
the [github.com/silverstripe/sapphire](http://github.com/silverstripe/sapphire)
and [github.com/silverstripe/silverstripe-cms](http://github.com/silverstripe/silverstripe-cms)
repositories and send us "[pull requests](http://help.github.com/pull-requests/)". If you have
downloaded SilverStripe or a module, chances are that you already have these checkouts.
The documentation is kept alongside the source code in the `docs/` subfolder.
**Note:** If you submit a new feature or an API change, we strongly recommend that your patch
includes updates to the necessary documentation. This helps prevent our documentation from
This is where most documentation should live, and is the natural "second step" after finishing the tutorials.
*Example: Templates, Testing, Datamodel*
* **Howto**: Recipes that solve a specific task or problem, rather than describing a feature.
*Example: Export DataObjects as CSV, Customizing TinyMCE in the CMS*
* **Reference**: Complements API docs in providing deeper introduction into a specific API. Most documentation
should fit elsewhere. *Example: ModelAdmin*
* **Misc**: "Meta" documentation like coding conventions that doesn't directly relate to a feature or API.
See [What to write (jacobian.org)](http://jacobian.org/writing/great-documentation/what-to-write/) for an excellent
introduction to the different types of documentation, and [Producing OSS: "Documentation"](http://producingoss.com/en/getting-started.html#documentation)
for good rules of thumb for documenting opensource software.
### Structure
* Don't duplicate: Search for existing places to put your documentation. Do you really require a new page, or just a new paragraph
of text somewhere?
* Use PHPDoc in source code: Leave lowlevel technical documentation to code comments within PHP, in [PHPDoc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHPDoc) format.
