====== Contributing to ITFlow ======

If you are able to make a contribution that would make ITFlow better for everyone, please do!

You can contribute to ITFlow in a few ways:

  * Update documentation by selecting the pencil icon on the right-side of a page
  * Report bugs (on the Forum)
  * Suggest feature enhancements (on the Forum)
  * Star the project on GitHub
  * Tell others of your success using ITFlow (please don't spam)

===== Contributing Code =====

We do not have the bandwidth to review and mentor new submissions so have temporarily paused accepting pull requests / code contributions. Historically we've received very few PRs, but the ones we do get often propose major changes and require a significant amount of time and attention. We don't want to waste anyone's time, so we've paused this for now.

===== Policies & Guidelines =====

Before contributing to ITFlow you should be aware of these documents:

  * [[https://github.com/itflow-org/itflow/blob/master/LICENSE|GNU GPL License]]
  * [[https://github.com/itflow-org/itflow/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md|Code of conduct]]
  * [[https://github.com/itflow-org/itflow/security|Security policy]]
  * [[code_standards|Code Standards]]
  * [[doc_standards|Documentation standards]]
  * [[ai_llm_policy|Use of AI / LLM]]


=====Maintainer Steps for monthly releases=====

Around once a month, we will merge develop into master for a new release. The steps are:

  - Ensure testing has been completed as much as possible
  - Update the changelog
  - In develop, increment version.php in the YY.MM.V format (e.g. 25.01 for the first release in Jan 2025, 25.1.1 for the second release of Jan 2025, and 25.6 for the first release in June 2025)
  - Look over the recent changes and write a short release summary
  - Raise a PR to merge develop into master
  - Test a final time on PR Review & ensure no other issues (Sonar, Linting, etc)
  - Approve the PR & Merge