Contributing Code

Once you have checked out the Adium source code, you can fix bugs or implement features and then submit your changes as a patch for inclusion in Adium.

Tickets allow patch tracking in addition to bug and enhancement request tracking. The active tickets report shows current bugs which need fixing as well as other users' enhancement requests. If you fix or implement one of these, your patch should be attached to the relevant ticket. If you fix a bug which is not listed, please create a ticket for your patch and attach the patch to that ticket.

Be sure set the Patch field of your trac ticket (if you can) to ensure that we see your patch in a timely fashion. Otherwise, email the development mailing list or cbarrett.

Additionally, make sure you include your full name is in Copyright.txt as part of your patch. It helps us keep track of people that have contributed to Adium.

Creating the patch once you've modified your code is easy. From the Terminal, change to the Adium folder. If it is in your home directory, this would be:

cd ~/adium

and then type:

svn diff > myPatch.diff

where myPatch is a name for your patch. This will create a patch file which has only the changes you've made.

Note 1: If you have created new files, you should do:

svn add Path/To/YourFileName

for each file before running svn diff .

Note 2: If you modify or create nibs in Interface Builder, you'll need to also compress (zip, tgz, or tbz) the nib and send it. nib bundles include a binary file which diff doesn't capture.

Please be sure your patch has been thoroughly tested and conforms to the Adium coding style guidelines.

You might also want to contact the current PatchMaster for help and advice.