GitHub for advocates
This page is for advocates who are new to GitHub, and for developers who want to use it as an advocate, not only as a coder. Exponential lives on GitHub under the account se7enxweb: the kernel, the extensions, Velocity and the community tracker. You need a free GitHub account to open issues and pull requests (When something goes wrong).
Contents
- The repositories you will use
- Follow what happens
- Issues: reading, commenting, reacting
- Pull requests
- Helping without code
- Safety on GitHub
The repositories you will use
| Repository | Use |
|---|---|
| se7enxweb/exponential | The kernel, the administration, the bundled extensions and the documentation (this help is in doc/) |
| se7enxweb/exponential-velocity | The Velocity server |
| se7enxweb/exponential-community | The project, website, ecosystem, ideas |
| Each extension's own repository | Its code and issues; the help's Report an error page lists them |
Follow what happens
- Watch > Custom > Releases on a repository to be notified of new releases only.
- The releases page lists published versions.
- The commit list of
mainshows daily work; the history explains it month by month. - Do not turn on notifications for everything unless you want hundreds of mails.
Issues: reading, commenting, reacting
| Do | Don't |
|---|---|
| Search before opening a new issue | Open a duplicate |
| Add new information to an existing issue: your version, a reproduction | Comment "+1" or "same here" (use a reaction instead) |
| Use a thumbs-up reaction to show the issue affects you | Ask "any news?" repeatedly |
| Be specific and kind | Demand a fix or a date |
| Link related issues and forum threads | Paste logs with personal data or secrets |
How to write a good issue: Reporting bugs well. Which repository: Which tracker for which report.
Pull requests
- Documentation: Edit on GitHub on any help page opens the file; GitHub forks the repository for you (Improving the help).
- Code: fork, branch, commit, pull request (Develop with Git).
- Copyright assignment (CLA): a code contribution to the kernel
(
se7enxweb/exponential), in any form, is merged only once its author's signed Contributor Licensing Agreement has been received. By signing and submitting, you assign the copyright in your contribution to the Exponential Foundation and 7x, which become its owners, and give up control over it: the Exponential Foundation and 7x may use, change, relicense and distribute it in any way, without asking or paying you, and you cannot withdraw it (Copyright assignment (CLA)). Your own extensions are not affected. - Commit messages start with
Added:,Updated:,Fixed:,Removed:orRenamed:(CONTRIBUTING.md). - Every pull request is merged. While it is open, its author squashes it and rebases it onto
mainas the reviews ask; once it is merged,mainis never rewritten, and later fixes come as new pull requests (How the project grows).
Helping without code
| Help | How |
|---|---|
| Confirm a bug | Reproduce it on your installation and comment with your environment (Reproducing and confirming issues) |
| Improve an issue | Add steps, a smaller example, the exact message |
| Test a pull request | Try the change on a test installation and report what you saw |
| Review documentation | Read a docs pull request for clarity and names |
| Translate | Pull requests to the translation files (Helping with translations) |
| Welcome a first-time contributor | A friendly comment on their first pull request |
Safety on GitHub
- Everything on a public repository is public forever, including edited-away text in history.
- Never post passwords, keys, cookies, database addresses or personal data in issues, comments or code.
- Security problems never go into a public issue: use the private path of
SECURITY.md(Security reports stay private). - Turn on two-factor authentication for your GitHub account.
Related pages
- Which tracker for which report
- Mentoring a first contribution
- Develop with Git
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
Become an Exponential Partner
Partners share their information, provide funding, contribute back and develop the products with us, and that is how Exponential grows. A partner website and dashboard are planned for mid-2027: please become a partner today to speed up our growth rate and land new features faster.