CONTRIBUTING.rst

Contributing to mrjob

mrjob is developed using a standard Github pull request process. Almost all code is reviewed in pull requests.

The general process for working on mrjob is:

• Fork the project on Github
• Clone your fork to your local machine
• Create a feature branch from master (e.g. git branch delete_all_the_code)
• Write code, commit often
• Write test cases for all changed functionality
• Submit a pull request against master on Github
• Wait for code review!

It would also help to discuss your ideas on the mailing list so we can warn you of possible merge conflicts with ongoing work or offer suggestions for where to put code.

Things that will make your branch more likely to be pulled:

• Comprehensive, fast test cases
• Detailed explanation of what the change is and how it works
• Reference relevant issue numbers in the tracker
• API backward compatibility

If you add a new configuration option, please try to do all of these things:

• Make its name unambiguous in the context of multiple runners (e.g. task_instance_type instead of instance_type)
• Add command line switches that allow full control over the option
• Document the option and its switches in the appropriate file under docs