Contributing

Thank you for contributing to Bindy!

Ways to Contribute

• Report bugs
• Suggest features
• Improve documentation
• Submit code changes
• Review pull requests

Getting Started

1. Set up development environment
2. Read Code Style
3. Check Testing Guidelines
4. Follow PR Process

Code of Conduct

Be respectful, inclusive, and professional.

Reporting Issues

Use GitHub issues with:

• Clear description
• Steps to reproduce
• Expected vs actual behavior
• Environment details

Feature Requests

Open an issue describing:

• Use case
• Proposed solution
• Alternatives considered

Questions

Ask questions in:

• GitHub Discussions
• Issues (tagged as question)

License

Contributor License Agreement

By contributing to Bindy, you agree that:

1. Your contributions will be licensed under the MIT License - The same license that covers the project
2. You have the right to submit the work - You own the copyright or have permission from the copyright holder
3. You grant a perpetual license - The project maintainers receive a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable license to use, modify, and distribute your contributions

What This Means

When you submit a pull request or contribution to Bindy:

• ✅ Your code will be licensed under the MIT License
• ✅ You retain copyright to your contributions
• ✅ Others can use your contributions under the MIT License terms
• ✅ Your contributions can be used in both open source and commercial projects
• ✅ You grant irrevocable permission for the project to use your work

SPDX License Identifiers

All source code files in Bindy include SPDX license identifiers. When adding new files, please include the following header:

For Rust files:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
// Copyright (c) 2025 Erick Bourgeois, firestoned
// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
}

For shell scripts:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Copyright (c) 2025 Erick Bourgeois, firestoned
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

For YAML/configuration files:

# Copyright (c) 2025 Erick Bourgeois, firestoned
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

For Makefiles and Dockerfiles:

# Copyright (c) 2025 Erick Bourgeois, firestoned
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

Why SPDX Identifiers?

SPDX (Software Package Data Exchange) identifiers provide:

• Machine-readable license information - Automated tools can scan and verify licenses
• SBOM generation - Software Bill of Materials can be automatically created
• License compliance - Makes it easier to track and verify licensing
• Industry standard - Widely adopted across open source projects

Learn more: https://spdx.dev/

Third-Party Code

If you’re adding code from another source:

1. Ensure compatibility - The license must be compatible with MIT
2. Preserve original copyright - Keep the original copyright notice
3. Document the source - Note where the code came from
4. Check license requirements - Some licenses require attribution or notices

Compatible licenses include:

• ✅ MIT License
• ✅ Apache License 2.0
• ✅ BSD licenses (2-clause, 3-clause)
• ✅ ISC License
• ✅ Public Domain (CC0, Unlicense)

License Questions

If you have questions about:

• Whether your contribution is compatible
• License requirements for third-party code
• Copyright or attribution

Please ask in your pull request or open a discussion before submitting.

Additional Resources

• Full Project License - MIT License text
• License Documentation - Comprehensive licensing information
• SPDX License List - Standard license identifiers
• Choose a License - Help choosing licenses for new projects