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This page has a lot of great information on it. But, if you just need the high level overview, here it is. NOTE: the checkboxes below are here for "decorative" purposes, and aren't really intended to be used. If you'd like, and you find it helpful, you may print this page and then check off each step as you proceed with your contribution. Happy coding, and please ask for help if you find you need it! We are a community of developers, and we love to help.

•  Create a ticket in the DSpace Issue Tracker (describe your contribution, how to use it, and perhaps some use cases).
•  Submit your code (preferably via GitHub). It is HIGHLY recommended to do so via a GitHub Pull Request (see GitHub's "About Pull Requests", or our notes on Development with Git), which references your newly created ticket by number (e.g. DS-1234).  If you are uncomfortable with Git/GitHub, you may instead attach a patch to the ticket you created. Be warned that the review/approval process for patch files is often much slower, as we first must locate someone to create a Pull Request on your behalf.
  
•  Review your own code. Does it follow our Contribution Checklist? Does it need Documentation? If you are using any third party tools/APIs, do they all have an acceptable Open Source License (see Licensing of Contributions)? The Committers will also be reviewing these aspects of your code, but if you can catch these gaps or issues up front it can speed up the process of correcting them.
  
•  Respond to feedback. If the Committers ask questions or make suggestions for changes, please try to be responsive. The Committers are all volunteers and are trying to help as best we can, but the process moves more quickly if you can try to be responsive as well.
•  Help rework/update code as needed. If suggestions for changes are made, if you can rework the code, it speeds up the process. If you submitted your code as a Pull Request, you can just quickly add changes/updates to the branch linked to from your Pull Request.
•  Ask questions. If there is a long delay in the Committers responding, or if you aren't sure of the status of your contribution, please ask. We'd be glad to explain whether the delay is just because we are all busy, or if there's something else we are waiting on.
•  Pay attention to release deadlines. As the next DSpace release approaches, the Committers will announce a "Contribution Deadline" for the upcoming release (usually the release schedule & deadlines are emailed to all lists in July/August). In order to keep releases on-time, the Committers must set a date after which they can no longer accept new feature contributions.  Although you may add code contributions year round, they will only be considered for a specific release if they are contributed before that release's contribution deadline.
  

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