Contributing

When contributing to this repository, please first discuss the change you wish to make via issue, email, or any other method with the owners of this repository before making a change. You will find the GovStack issue queue on Jira.

Please note we have a code of conduct, please follow it in all your interactions with the project.

The GovStack community understands that there are a wide variety of people from different backgrounds that have valuable insight into the work GovStack is doing. Therefore, we provide multiple ways in which people from those different backgrounds can interact and give us their insight. Here are three:

1. Proposing changes via a pull request

Some members of the community will have experience using git to directly interact with specification content and you may do so with the following process.

Note that the content in the GovStack specifications follows the markdown standards applied by the GitBook tool.

1. Check our issue queue first to see if anyone else has already reported this issue.

2. Create a new "bug" and tell us about the problem that you see.

3. The maintainer of this section will be alerted and work with you to decide what changes should be made.

4. If invited to do so, create a pull request in the GovStack Specifications repository, including the issue number and short description in the pull request title, for example: {issue number] - {short description of the change}- an example would be gov-001 - Adding contribution information ``Note that pull requests that do not mention an associated issue number will not be alerted to our maintainers.

5. Once the issue describes the reason for a change and links to the change you propose, tag the issue with the correct building block tag so that a maintainer for that building block is alerted.

6. The maintainer will work with you to ensure that the change meets our standards for inclusion.

7. Once a maintainer approves the change, a release manager will be alerted to commit the change.

8. We value all contributions to the project and, even if the change is not accepted, we always strive to give feedback that helps you understand the decisions taken.

2. Proposing a change via GitBook

Other people may prefer to interact with the GovStack specifications by proposing their changes

1. Make an issue in the issue queue.

2. Describe the changes you propose in the issue.

3. Tag the issue with the appropriate building block tag to alert Maintainers in that area of the project.

4. Request access to GitBook as an Editor.

5. Create a new Change Request in GitBook in the "GovStack Specification - main" space which is where we work on new changes. Add the issue number to the subject of the change request in the format {issue number] - {short description of the change}

6. The maintainer will work with you to ensure that the change meets our standards for inclusion.

7. Once a maintainer approves the change, a release manager will be alerted to commit the change.

8. We value all contributions to the project and, even if the change is not accepted, we always strive to give feedback that helps you understand the decisions taken.

3. Proposing a change via email

Finally, some people might prefer to simply send an email:

1. Send an email to the GovStack issue queue automatically, describing the change you think should be made and include a link to the public page of the part of the specification that needs the change.

2. An issue in our issue queue will be automatically created and a maintainer will be in contact with you to work on the change together.