4 ms·

If I want to contribute to an open source project is it good practice to ask the maintainer before submitting a pull request? I mean something like, "I'd like t

If I want to contribute to an open source project is it good practice to ask the maintainer before submitting a pull request? I mean something like, "I'd like to contribute X. If I implement it, will you merge the pull request?" No answer indicates that the maintainer has no time for responses, let allow code review, so it's an implicit "No". An explicit "No" is helpful so I don't waste my time implementing something that will never be merged. A "Yes" is no guarantee, circumstances can change, but it's much better than the implicit or explicit "No". Or are there benefits to never asking?

dagw 4y ago
The big question is do you need X personally? A lot of the time when I contribute to a project it's because I'm using the project and need the feature/bug fix for the thing I'm actually interested in. In those cases I'll just do it and then send a pull request. Some times they accept it, some times they don't, but in the mean time the thing I'm actually working on has the bug fixes and features I needed. You do however have to be prepared that you will eventually get a No, and then you have to decide if you want to maintain your own fork indefinitely or find another solution (like rewriting your feature as a standalone plugin or library that connects to the project)
plorkyeran 4y ago
There's three general categories of unsolicited changes one might make: 1. The PR is a bug fix or feature that's critical for you, but you don't actually need upstream to merge it to use the fix yourself. 2. The PR is something quick and easy to do and if it doesn't get merged that's just no big deal. 3. The PR is a large amount of work that's entirely wasted if it doesn't get merged. For the first two, I see no reason to ask first. The third you generally should.

4 ms·

If I want to contribute to an open source project is it good practice to ask the maintainer before submitting a pull request? I mean something like, "I'd like t

by justin_oaks 4y ago

dagw 4y ago
The big question is do you need X personally? A lot of the time when I contribute to a project it's because I'm using the project and need the feature/bug fix for the thing I'm actually interested in. In those cases I'll just do it and then send a pull request. Some times they accept it, some times they don't, but in the mean time the thing I'm actually working on has the bug fixes and features I needed. You do however have to be prepared that you will eventually get a No, and then you have to decide if you want to maintain your own fork indefinitely or find another solution (like rewriting your feature as a standalone plugin or library that connects to the project)
plorkyeran 4y ago
There's three general categories of unsolicited changes one might make: 1. The PR is a bug fix or feature that's critical for you, but you don't actually need upstream to merge it to use the fix yourself. 2. The PR is something quick and easy to do and if it doesn't get merged that's just no big deal. 3. The PR is a large amount of work that's entirely wasted if it doesn't get merged. For the first two, I see no reason to ask first. The third you generally should.