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CONTRIBUTING.md

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+# Contributing
+
+This document briefly describes how to contribute to the
+galaxy-central core project - also checkout the video of our [2013
+Galaxy Community Conference
+presentation](http://vimeo.com/channels/581875/73486255) on the
+topic. For information on contributing more broadly to the Galaxy
+ecosystem and a deeper discussion of some of these points - please see
+the [Develop](https://wiki.galaxyproject.org/Develop/) section of the
+[Galaxy Wiki](https://wiki.galaxyproject.org/).
+
+## Before you Begin
+
+If you have an idea for a feature to add or an approach for a bugfix -
+it is best to communicate with Galaxy developers early. The most
+common venue for this is the [Galaxy Trello
+board](https://wiki.galaxyproject.org/Issues). Browse through existing
+cards [here](http://bit.ly/gxytrello) and if one seems related comment
+on it. If no existing cards seem appropriate, a new issue can be
+opened using [this form](http://galaxyproject.org/trello). Galaxy
+developers are also generally available via
+[IRC](https://wiki.galaxyproject.org/GetInvolved#IRC_Channel) and on
+the [development mailing list](http://dev.list.galaxyproject.org/).
+
+## How to Contribute
+
+* If you are new to Mercurial - please check out this [official
+  tutorial](http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/Tutorial)
+
+* Make sure you have a free [Bitbucket
+  account](https://bitbucket.org/account/signup/)
+
+* Fork the galaxy-central repository on
+  [Bitbucket](https://bitbucket.org/galaxy/galaxy-central/fork) to
+  make your changes. (Many Galaxy instances target
+  [galaxy-dist](https://bitbucket.org/galaxy/galaxy-dist) - but active
+  development happens on galaxy-central and this is where pull
+  requests should be made).
+
+* Choose the correct Mercurial branch to develop your changes against.
+
+  * Additions to the code base should be pushed to the `default`
+    branch (`hg checkout default`).
+
+  * Most bug fixes to previously release components (things in
+    galaxy-dist) should be pushed to the `stable` branch (`hg checkout
+    stable`).
+
+  * Serious security problems should not be fixed via pull request -
+    please responsibly disclose these by e-mailing them (with or
+    without patches) to galaxy-lab@bx.psu.edu. The Galaxy core
+    development team will issue patches to public servers before
+    announcing the issue to ensure there is time to patch and
+    highlight these fixes widely. We will provide you credit for the
+    discovery when publicly disclosing the issue.
+
+* If your changes modify code - please ensure the resulting files
+  conform to Galaxy [style
+  guidelines](https://wiki.galaxyproject.org/Develop/BestPractices).
+
+* Galaxy contains hundreds of tests of different types and complexity
+  and running each is difficult and probably not reasonable at this
+  time (someday we will provide a holistic test procedure to make this
+  possible). For now, please just review the [running tests
+  documentation](https://wiki.galaxyproject.org/Admin/RunningTests)
+  and run any that seem relevant. Developers reviewing your pull
+  request will be happy to help guide you to running the most relevant
+  tests as part of the pull request review process and may request the
+  output of these tests.
+
+* Commit and push your changes to your Bitbucket fork.
+
+* Open a [pull
+  request](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/BITBUCKET/Fork+a+Repo,+Compare+Code,+and+Create+a+Pull+Request)
+  with these changes. You pull request message should include:
+
+   * A description of why the change should be made.
+   
+   * A description of implementation of the change.
+   
+   * A description of how to test the change.
+
+## A Quick Note about Tools
+
+  For the most part, Galaxy tools should be published to the
+  [ToolShed](https://wiki.galaxyproject.org/ToolShed) and not in this
+  repository directly. If you are looking to supply fixes for migrated
+  core tools that used to exist in this repository - please checkout
+  the [tools-devteam](https://github.com/galaxyproject/tools-devteam)
+  repository on GitHub.
+
+  More information about tool development can be found [on the
+  wiki](https://wiki.galaxyproject.org/Develop).