#Contributing to AngularJS
We'd love for you to contribute to our source code and to make AngularJS even better than it is today! Here are the guidelines we'd like you to follow:
If you have questions about how to use AngularJS, please direct these to the Google Group discussion list or StackOverflow. We are also available on IRC.
If you find a bug in the source code or a mistake in the documentation, you can help us by submitting and issue to our GitHub Repository. Even better you can submit a Pull Request with a fix.
Localization Issue: Angular.js uses the Google Closure I18N library, to generate its own I18N files. This means that any changes to these files would be lost the next time that we import the library. The recommended approach is to submit a patch to the I18N project directly, instead of submitting it here.
Please see the Submission Guidelines below.
You can request a new feature by submitting an issue to our GitHub Repository. If you would like to implement a new feature then consider what kind of change it is:
- Major Changes that you wish to contribute to the project should be discussed first on our dev mailing list or IRC so that we can better coordinate our efforts, prevent duplication of work, and help you to craft the change so that it is successfully accepted into the project.
- Small Changes can be crafted and submitted to GitHub Repository as a Pull Request.
If you want to help improve the docs, it's a good idea to let others know what you're working on to minimize duplication of effort. Before starting, check out the issue queue for Milestone:Docs Only. Comment on an issue to let others know what you're working on, or create a new issue if your work doesn't fit within the scope of any of the existing doc fix projects.
For large fixes, please build and test the documentation before submitting the PR to be sure you haven't accidentally introduced any layout or formatting issues.You should also make sure that your commit message is labeled "docs:" and follows the Git Commit Guidelines outlined below.
If you're just making a small change, don't worry about filing an issue first. Use the friendly blue "Improve this doc" button at the top right of the doc page to fork the repository in-place and make a quick change on the fly.
Before you submit your issue search the archive, maybe your question was already answered.
If your issue appears to be a bug, and hasn't been reported, open a new issue. Help us to maximize the effort we can spend fixing issues and adding new features, by not reporting duplicate issues. Providing the following information will increase the chances of your issue being dealt with quickly:
- Overview of the issue - if an error is being thrown a non-minified stack trace helps
- Motivation for or Use Case - explain why this is a bug for you
- Angular Version(s) - is it a regression?
- Browsers and Operating System - is this a problem with all browsers or only IE8?
- Reproduce the error - provide a live example (using Plunker or JSFiddle) or a unambiguous set of steps.
- Related issues - has a similar issue been reported before?
- Suggest a Fix - if you can't fix the bug yourself, perhaps you can point to what might be causing the problem (line of code or commit)
Here is a great example of a well defined issue: angular#5069
If you get help, help others. Good karma rulez!
Before you submit your pull request consider the following guidelines:
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Search GitHub for an open or closed Pull Request that relates to your submission. You don't want to duplicate effort.
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Please sign our Contributor License Agreement (CLA) before sending pull requests. We cannot accept code without this.
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Make your changes in a new git branch
git checkout -b my-fix-branch master
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Create your patch, including appropriate test cases.
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Follow our Coding Rules
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Commit your changes and create a descriptive commit message (the commit message is used to generate release notes, please check out our commit message conventions and our commit message presubmit hook
validate-commit-msg.js):git commit -a
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Build your changes locally to ensure all the tests pass
grunt test -
Push your branch to Github:
git push origin my-fix-branch
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In Github, send a pull request to
angular:master. -
If we suggest changes then you can modify your branch, rebase and force a new push to your GitHub repository to update the Pull Request:
git rebase master -i git push -f
That's it! Thank you for your contribution!
When the patch is reviewed and merged, you can safely delete your branch and pull the changes from the main (upstream) repository:
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Delete the remote branch on Github:
git push origin --delete my-fix-branch
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Check out the master branch:
git checkout master -f
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Delete the local branch:
git branch -D my-fix-branch
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Update your master with the latest upstream version:
git pull --ff upstream master
We track Pull Requests by attaching labels and assigning to milestones. For some reason GitHub does not provide a good UI for managing labels on Pull Requests (unlike Issues). We have developed a simple Chrome Extension that enables you to view (and manage if you have permission) the labels on Pull Requests. You can get the extension from the Chrome WebStore - GitHub PR Helper
To ensure consistency throughout the source code, keep these rules in mind as you are working:
- All features or bug fixes must be tested by one or more specs.
- All public API methods must be documented with ngdoc, an extended version of jsdoc (we added support for markdown and templating via @ngdoc tag). To see how we document our APIs, please check out the existing ngdocs and see this wiki page.
- With the exceptions listed below, we follow the rules contained in
Google's JavaScript Style Guide:
- Do not use namespaces: Instead, wrap the entire angular code base in an anonymous closure and export our API explicitly rather than implicitly.
- Wrap all code at 100 characters.
- Instead of complex inheritance hierarchies, we prefer simple objects. We use prototypical inheritance only when absolutely necessary.
- We love functions and closures and, whenever possible, prefer them over objects.
- To write concise code that can be better minified, we use aliases internally that map to the external API. See our existing code to see what we mean.
- We don't go crazy with type annotations for private internal APIs unless it's an internal API that is used throughout AngularJS. The best guidance is to do what makes the most sense.
We have very precise rules over how our git commit messages can be formatted. This leads to more readable messages that are easy to follow when looking through the project history. But also, we use the git commit messages to generate the AngularJS change log.
Each commit message consists of a header, a body and a footer. The header has a special format that includes a type, a scope and a subject:
<type>(<scope>): <subject>
<BLANK LINE>
<body>
<BLANK LINE>
<footer>
Any line of the commit message cannot be longer 100 characters! This allows the message to be easier to read on github as well as in various git tools.
Must be one of the following:
- feat: A new feature
- fix: A bug fix
- docs: Documentation only changes
- style: Changes that do not affect the meaning of the code (white-space, formatting, missing semi-colons, etc)
- refactor: A code change that neither fixes a bug or adds a feature
- perf: A code change that improves performance
- test: Adding missing tests
- chore: Changes to the build process or auxiliary tools and libraries such as documentation generation
The scope could be anything specifying place of the commit change. For example $location,
$browser, $compile, $rootScope, ngHref, ngClick, ngView, etc...
The subject contains succinct description of the change:
- use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes"
- don't capitalize first letter
- no dot (.) at the end
###Body Just as in the subject, use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes" The body should include the motivation for the change and contrast this with previous behavior.
###Footer The footer should contain any information about Breaking Changes and is also the place to reference GitHub issues that this commit Closes.
A detailed explanation can be found in this document.
Please sign our Contributor License Agreement (CLA) before sending pull requests. For any code changes to be accepted, the CLA must be signed. It's a quick process, we promise!
- For individuals we have a simple click-through form.
- For corporations we'll need you to print, sign and one of scan+email, fax or mail the form.
You can find out more detailed information about contributing in the AngularJS documentation.