Contributing as a community member
"Everyone is encouraged to contribute to the development of new features and bugfixes for Exponential 6"
(README.md, "How to contribute new features and bugfixes into Exponential"). Contributions are not only code:
reports, translations, documentation, tests and shared extensions all count.
Contents
The pages of this part
| Page | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Ways to contribute | All the ways, compared by skill and time |
| Your first contribution | Three small first contributions, step by step |
| Filing a bug | A report that gets the bug fixed |
| Contributing code | Fork, branch, commit message, manifest, pull request |
| The CLA explained | What the copyright assignment means and what it does not cover |
| Contributing documentation and help pages | Fixing and writing help pages |
| Contributing translations | The interface and the documentation in your language |
| Testing releases | Testing the development line before a release |
| Sharing extensions and themes | Publishing your own work for others, and handing it to the project |
| Reviewing and being reviewed | How review rounds work and how to get through them |
What each kind of contribution needs
| Contribution | GitHub account | Code skills | Signed CLA |
|---|---|---|---|
| A bug report or an idea | Yes | No | No |
| A confirmation of someone else's bug | Yes | No | No |
| A typo fix on a help page | Yes | No | Sign it anyway before a merge into the kernel repository; see The CLA explained |
| A translation of the interface or the help | Yes | No | As for any change to the kernel repository |
| A code fix or feature in the kernel | Yes | Yes | Yes, before the merge |
| An extension you publish yourself | Only for GitHub | Yes | No |
| An answer in the forums | A Share account | No | No |
The kernel repository is se7enxweb/exponential: "kernel/, lib/, bin/, design/, settings/, doc/, the
extensions shipped inside it, and everything else in this repository" (CONTRIBUTING.md, "Copyright assignment (CLA)").
The rules that apply to all
- Licenses. Code is GPL version 2 or later; documentation is GNU FDL 1.3 or later. What you contribute is
published under the same license (
CONTRIBUTING.md, "Licensing"; Free documentation). - The code of conduct applies to every contribution, including AI-assisted ones (The code of conduct).
- No secrets or personal data in issues, pull requests, examples or screenshots.
- Security problems are private (
SECURITY.md). - Some bugs are negative features. Behavior that is deliberate or open to interpretation, and that other sites depend on, changes only with a clear justification, preferably as an option rather than a new default, and often after several rounds of review (Negative features).
Related pages
- Community: start here
- Ways to support Exponential
- Contribute to the project
- 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.