Contributing to Dasher

Contributor Certificate: DCO

All contributions must be signed off under the Developer Certificate of Origin. This is a lightweight alternative to a CLA — it affirms that you wrote (or have the right to submit) the code you’re contributing.

Sign off with -s:

git commit -s -m "Add Catalan alphabet support"

This adds a Signed-off-by: trailer automatically. CI checks every PR — commits without it will fail.

For more detail (fixing missing sign-offs, the full DCO text, and why we chose DCO over a CLA), see the DCO page.

Wait — I thought Dasher had a CLA? When Dasher was relicensed from GPL to MIT, each existing contributor gave individual written permission. Those documents are held privately. Going forward, the DCO replaces that process. See LICENSE_NOTES.md for the relicensing history.

Definition of Done

A pull request is ready to merge when:

• CI is green (build + tests + lint + format, as applicable to the repo).
• New behaviour has tests.
• If the change affects a cross-platform capability, the feature matrix has been updated.
• If the change is a new UX/hardware interaction, an RFC is linked.
• Docs / changelog are updated if the change is user-facing.
• Commits are signed off (DCO).

General workflow

1. Check the feature matrix — see what’s already supported.
2. Open an issue or RFC first for anything cross-platform or user-facing.
3. Branch from main, keep PRs small and focused.
4. Sign off your commits (git commit -s).
5. Fill in the PR template — especially the cross-platform impact section.
6. Address review feedback — push new commits (don’t force-push during review unless asked).

Where to go next

• Org-wide CONTRIBUTING.md — the full contributor guide
• DCO details
• RFC process
• Feature parity matrix
• Architecture overview