Adding contribution guidelines to user guide, including new Developer…

…'s Certificate of Origin

DCO.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1
+
+By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
+
+(1)	The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
+	have the right to submit it under the open source license
+	indicated in the file; or
+
+(2)	The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
+	of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
+	license and I have the right under that license to submit that
+	work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
+	by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
+	permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
+	in the file; or
+
+(3)	The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
+	person who certified (1), (2) or (3) and I have not modified
+	it.
+
+(4)	I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
+	are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
+	personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
+	maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
+	this project or the open source license(s) involved.

readme.rst

@@ -115,6 +115,34 @@ at the same time, we might really want X but disagree with Y, meaning we
 cannot merge the request. Using the Git-Flow branching model you can create
 new branches for both of these features and send two requests.
 
+Signing
+=======
+You must sign your work, certifying that you either wrote the work or
+otherwise have the right to pass it on to an open source project. git makes
+this trivial as you merely have to use `--signoff` on your commits to your
+CodeIgniter fork.
+
+::
+
+	git commit --signoff
+
+or simply::
+
+	git commit -s
+
+This will sign your commits with the information setup in your git config, e.g.
+
+	Signed-off-by: John Q Public <john.public@example.com>
+
+If you are using Tower there is a "Sign-Off" checkbox in the commit window. You 
+could even alias git commit to use the -s flag so you don’t have to think about 
+it.
+
+By signing your work in this manner, you certify to a "Developer's Certificate 
+or Origin". The current version of this certificate is in the `DCO.txt` file
+in the root of this repository.
+
+
 ************
 How-to Guide
 ************

user_guide_src/source/DCO.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#####################################
+Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1
+#####################################
+
+By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
+
+(1)	The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
+	have the right to submit it under the open source license
+	indicated in the file; or
+
+(2)	The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
+	of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
+	license and I have the right under that license to submit that
+	work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
+	by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
+	permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
+	in the file; or
+
+(3)	The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
+	person who certified (1), (2) or (3) and I have not modified
+	it.
+
+(4)	I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
+	are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
+	personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
+	maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
+	this project or the open source license(s) involved.

user_guide_src/source/contributing/index.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+###########################
+Contributing to CodeIgniter
+###########################
+
+CodeIgniter is a community driven project and accepts contributions of code
+and documentation from the community. These contributions are made in the form
+of Issues or `Pull Requests <http://help.github.com/send-pull-requests/>`_ on
+the `EllisLab CodeIgniter repository
+<https://github.com/EllisLab/CodeIgniter>`_ on GitHub.
+
+Issues are a quick way to point out a bug. If you find a bug or documentation
+error in CodeIgniter then please check a few things first:
+
+- There is not already an open Issue
+- The issue has already been fixed (check the develop branch, or look for
+  closed Issues)
+- Is it something really obvious that you fix it yourself?
+
+Reporting issues is helpful but an even better approach is to send a Pull
+Request, which is done by "Forking" the main repository and committing to your
+own copy. This will require you to use the version control system called Git.
+
+**********
+Guidelines
+**********
+
+Before we look into how, here are the guidelines. If your Pull Requests fail
+to pass these guidelines it will be declined and you will need to re-submit
+when you’ve made the changes. This might sound a bit tough, but it is required
+for us to maintain quality of the code-base.
+
+PHP Style
+=========
+
+All code must meet the `Style Guide
+<http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/general/styleguide.html>`_, which is
+essentially the `Allman indent style
+<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indent_style#Allman_style>`_, underscores and
+readable operators. This makes certain that all code is the same format as the
+existing code and means it will be as readable as possible.
+
+Documentation
+=============
+
+If you change anything that requires a change to documentation then you will
+need to add it. New classes, methods, parameters, changing default values, etc
+are all things that will require a change to documentation. The change-log
+must also be updated for every change. Also PHPDoc blocks must be maintained.
+
+Compatibility
+=============
+
+CodeIgniter is compatible with PHP 5.2.4 so all code supplied must stick to
+this requirement. If PHP 5.3 or 5.4 functions or features are used then there
+must be a fallback for PHP 5.2.4.
+
+Branching
+=========
+
+CodeIgniter uses the `Git-Flow
+<http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/>`_ branching model
+which requires all pull requests to be sent to the "develop" branch. This is
+where the next planned version will be developed. The "master" branch will
+always contain the latest stable version and is kept clean so a "hotfix" (e.g:
+an emergency security patch) can be applied to master to create a new version,
+without worrying about other features holding it up. For this reason all
+commits need to be made to "develop" and any sent to "master" will be closed
+automatically. If you have multiple changes to submit, please place all
+changes into their own branch on your fork.
+
+One thing at a time: A pull request should only contain one change. That does
+not mean only one commit, but one change - however many commits it took. The
+reason for this is that if you change X and Y but send a pull request for both
+at the same time, we might really want X but disagree with Y, meaning we
+cannot merge the request. Using the Git-Flow branching model you can create
+new branches for both of these features and send two requests.
+
+Signing
+=======
+You must sign your work, certifying that you either wrote the work or
+otherwise have the right to pass it on to an open source project. git makes
+this trivial as you merely have to use `--signoff` on your commits to your
+CodeIgniter fork.
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+	git commit --signoff
+
+or simply
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+	git commit -s
+
+This will sign your commits with the information setup in your git config, e.g.
+
+	Signed-off-by: John Q Public <john.public@example.com>
+
+If you are using Tower there is a "Sign-Off" checkbox in the commit window. You 
+could even alias git commit to use the -s flag so you don’t have to think about 
+it.
+
+By signing your work in this manner, you certify to a "Developer's Certificate 
+or Origin". The current version of this certificate is in the :doc:`/DCO` file
+in the root of this documentation.

user_guide_src/source/index.rst

@@ -91,6 +91,17 @@ Helper Reference
 
 	helpers/index
 
+***************************
+Contributing to CodeIgniter
+***************************
+
+.. toctree::
+	:glob:
+	:titlesonly:
+
+	contributing/index
+	DCO
+
 .. toctree::
 	:glob:
 	:titlesonly: