Contributing to Apache Ant
You have found a bug or think you know how to code a great feature
that all other people could benefit from? This is great, we'd love to
hear from you.
Ant's primary code repository is the
git repository at Apache
and we've also got a github mirror.
There are two ways you can contribute, you can either use the
"traditional" approach of creating a patch and attaching it to a
Bugzilla issue or you use a github pull request. We do not plan to
use github issues, so if you are reporting a bug, please raise a
Bugzilla issue.
Before reporting a bug, please also review https://ant.apache.org/problems.html
If you're planning to implement a new feature please discuss your
changes on the
dev list
first. This way you can make sure you're not wasting your time on
something that isn't considered to be in Ant's scope.
Branches
The master branch is where we develop the next release of Ant 1.10.x -
any patch or PR against this branch must be buildable using Java8.
The branch 1.9.x is where we develop the next release of Ant 1.9.x -
any patch or PR against this branch must be buildable using Java5.
Please state clearly whether you are targeting 1.9.x or 1.10.x -
usually we port changes from 1.9.x to 1.10.x but not necessarily the
other way around.
Making Changes
- Create a topic branch from where you want to base your work (this is
usually the master or the 1.9.x branch, see above).
- Make commits of logical units.
- Respect the original code style:
- Only use spaces for indentation.
- Create minimal diffs - disable on save actions like reformat
source code or organize imports. If you feel the source code
should be reformatted create a separate issue/PR for this change.
- Check for unnecessary whitespace with
git diff --check before committing.
- Make sure your commit messages are in the proper format. Your commit
message should contain the key of the Bugzilla issue if you created one.
- Make sure you have added the necessary tests for your changes.
- Run all the tests with
./build.sh clean test to assure nothing
else was accidentally broken.
Submitting Changes
- Sign the Contributor License Agreement unless your change is
really small or you have already signed one.
- If you want to create a patch for your Bugzilla issue use
git format-patch to create it (or a set of patches), this way we can
keep your author information. Attach the patch(es) to the issue.
- Alternatively push your changes to a topic branch in your fork of the repository.
- Submit a pull request to the repository in the apache organization.
