Contributing to Astropy
=======================

Reporting Issues
----------------

When opening an issue to report a problem, please try and provide a minimal
code example that reproduces the issue, and also include details of the
operating system, and the Python, Numpy, and Astropy versions you are using.

Contributing code
-----------------

So you're interested in contributing code to Astropy? Excellent!

Most contributions to Astropy are done via pull requests from GitHub users'
forks of the [astropy repository](https://github.com/astropy/astropy). If you're new to this style of development,
you'll want to read over our [development workflow](http://docs.astropy.org/en/latest/development/workflow/development_workflow.html).

Once you open a pull request (which should be opened against the ``master``
branch, not against any of the other branches), please make sure that you
include the following:

- **Code**: the code you are adding, which should follow as much as possible
  our [coding guidelines](http://docs.astropy.org/en/latest/development/codeguide.html).

- **Tests**: these are usually tests that ensures that code that previously
  failed now works (regression tests) or tests that cover as much as possible
  of the new functionality to make sure it doesn't break in future, and also
  returns consistent results on all platforms (since we run these tests on many
  platforms/configurations). For more information about how to write tests, see
  our [testing guidelines](http://docs.astropy.org/en/latest/development/testguide.html).

- **Documentation**: if you are adding new functionality, be sure to include a
  description in the main documentation (in ``docs/``). Again, we have some
  detailed [documentation guidelines](http://docs.astropy.org/en/latest/development/docguide.html)
  to help you out.

- **Changelog entry**: whether you are fixing a bug or adding new
  functionality, you should add an entry to the ``CHANGES.rst`` file that
  includes if possible the issue number (if you are opening a pull request you
  may not know this yet, but you can add it once the pull request is open). You
  do not need to include a changelog entry for fixes to bugs introduced in the
  developer version and which are not present in the stable releases.  In
  general you do not need to include a changelog entry for minor documentation
  or test updates.  Only user-visible changes (new features/API changes, fixed
  issues) need to be mentioned.  If in doubt ask the core maintainer reviewing
  your changes.

Other Tips
----------

- When contributing trivial documentation fixes (i.e. fixes to typos, spelling,
  grammar) that do not contain any special markup and are not associated with code
  changes, include the string "[skip ci]" at the end of your commit message.
  For example:

      $ git commit -m "Fixed typo [skip ci]"

  This will prevent automated tests for running against your change, freeing
  up resources for testing non-trivial changes.

  - If you already made the commit without including this string, you can edit
    your existing commit message by running:

        $ git commit --amend