Contributing to Python: Difference between revisions

Welcome! This page contains instructions for getting started with contributing to Python. They cover practicing some of the common tools of open source development, as well as contributing specifically to Python.

The Python community has a lot of mailing lists. The 2 big ones for new contributors are:

# core-mentorship: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/core-mentorship. This is a great place to ask questions about contributing, ask for reviews, and get suggestions for bugs to work on.

# python-dev: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev. The main mailing list for developing and releasing Python. Please do not ask general Python questions on this list.

The core-mentorship mailing list will be our focus as we get settled in, so please [[https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/core-mentorship|join the list]] now.

Python has excellent documentation for getting started with contribution in its developer guide: http://docs.python.org/devguide/

Please read through the following sections of the developer guide:

# Quick start: http://docs.python.org/devguide/#quick-start

# Setup: http://docs.python.org/devguide/setup.html

# Where to get help: http://docs.python.org/devguide/help.html

# The lifecycle of a patch: http://docs.python.org/devguide/patch.html

# Writing and running tests: http://docs.python.org/devguide/runtests.html

# Using the issue tracker: http://docs.python.org/devguide/tracker.html#tracker

# The CPython development cycle: http://docs.python.org/devguide/devcycle.html

By the end, you'll:

* Have downloaded the Python source code

* Built Python

* Run the test suite

* Have an overview of the development cycle.

Don't worry if this doesn't feel fully digested yet! The process will become clearer with practice.