### Licensing

The `lobsters` codebase is under a [3-clause BSD
license](https://github.com/lobsters/lobsters/blob/master/LICENSE).  All code
submitted must be licensed under these or more-permissive terms (2-clause BSD,
MIT, ISC, etc.).

### Before Making Changes

If you're new to contributing, issues tagged [good first issue](https://github.com/lobsters/lobsters/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22)
require little knowledge of the codebase or community. Please don't hesitate to
ask questions in the issue or in [our chat room](https://lobste.rs/chat), we'd love
to help you get involved.

You can jump right in to issues tagged `good first issue`, you don't have to ask permission.
Please don't post a comment asking because if you don't finish,
the comment confuses a potential contributor who might not pick it up.

While this project's license allows for modification and use to run your own
website, this source code repository is for the code running the website at
[lobste.rs](https://lobste.rs/).

Not all changes or new features submitted will be accepted.  Please discuss
your proposed changes on [/t/meta](https://lobste.rs/t/meta) or as a
[Github issue](https://github.com/lobsters/lobsters/issues) before working on them
to avoid wasted efforts.

### Making Changes

* Fork [lobsters/lobsters](https://github.com/lobsters/lobsters) on Github.

* (Optional) Create a branch to house your changes.

* Run `bundle exec standardrb` to check the style of your Ruby.
    No messages means success.
    Adding `--fix` will take care of most issues automatically, and there's excellent
    <a href="https://github.com/standardrb/standard#user-content-editor-support">editor integration available</a>.
  (3rd party, externally-maintained code such as Javascript libraries can remain in their own style.)

* Check for unnecessary whitespace with `git diff --check` before committing.
Commit whitespace and other code cleanups separately so that your actual
changes can be easily understood.

* Write a proper commit message with the first line being a short,
present-tense explanation of the change.  Wrap message lines at 80 characters.

* If applicable, add tests for your changes.  Not all changes require tests,
and tests should not be added just for the sake of code coverage.

* Run _all_ tests (with `bundle exec rspec` in the root directory) to ensure
nothing has been broken by your changes.

### Submitting Changes

* Push your changes to your fork of the repository (to your branch if you
created one).

* Submit a pull request to [lobsters/lobsters](https://github.com/lobsters/lobsters).