=================
How to contribute
=================

Discussion of ASE development takes place on the :ref:`ase-developer
<mailing_lists>` mailing list and on the #ase IRC channel on freenode.

We welcome new developers who would like to help work on improving
ASE.  If you would like to contribute, your should first tell us what
you want to work on.  Use the mailing list for that.


SVN access
==========

We don't give new contributers write access to our SVN repository from
day one.  So, you will have to create a patch and send it to the
mailing list::

  $ svn checkout https://svn.fysik.dtu.dk/projects/ase/trunk myase
  $ cd myase
  $ # do your thing ...
  $ svn diff > patch.txt

Become inspired by the modern software development methods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I94-tJlovg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBghnXBz3_w
and how they apply to computational science in ASE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKoImDmYFQE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-dUkyn_fZA

Before you send the patch, *please* read our
:ref:`python_codingstandard` and learn how to use pep8
and pyflakes.

One of the current committers will look at the patch and give you some
feedback.  Maybe the patch is fine and the committer will commit it to
trunk.  There could also be some more work to do like:

* make it compatible with all supported pythons (see :ref:`download_and_install`).
* write more comments
* fix docstrings
* write a test
* add some documentation

Once everyone is happy, the patch can be applied.  This patch-feedback
loop is not something we have invented to prevent you from
contributing - it should be viewed as an opportunity for you to learn
how to write code that fits into the ASE codebase.

After a couple of contributions, we will probably trust you enough to
add you as a committer.


Committers
==========

Here is the list of current committers:

.. csv-table::
    :file: committers.csv
    :header: "real name", "user name", "email"
