it seems a fault that there isn't an obvious guide

That's probably because there isn't a single solution. Ways to contribute will be different for every project, and even if they are clearly advertised, contributors will choose different routes yet. There is a sort of general way to go about things in that there is usually a mailing list or email address you can use to inquire, but that's about as common as it gets.

I agree this can be frustrating and could often do with improvement. But FLOSS creation isn't a centrally managed process with a beaten path on how to do things. Think of it more like evolution, with many stops and starts and bad turns. The fight for survival often isn't pleasant for individuals (or even entire species), but it ultimately leads to the best results, because it requires constant adaptation and keeps participants flexible enough. I'm not saying this to excuse any particular project's neglect of the contribution process (in fact, how to draw in contributions may be the single most important aspect of a FLOSS project), just trying to explain the absence of obvious guides in many cases. If the author hasn't written up a guide (or even thought about it) there won't be one.

In this particular case I'd second davidrw's suggestion, give the author some time to respond. This is obviously a one-person project and it looks like his page hasn't been updated for a while, so it's possible the author has moved on to other things. In that case you could talk to this person who has apparently put out an updated xbrightness version with his own patches. Or try to contact a maintainer of an xbrightness package in an OS distribution (if such a thing should exist). Or even release the changed version of xbrightness yourself, with your changes. If you put up a page that states you'd like to merge your changes back into the original version it may happen that the original author contacts you when he gets back online back from his world-tour in a dugout.

As for CPAN, most modules have a section in the POD which tells you how to contribute. In most cases this will be the rt.cpan.org address for the module, where you can report bugs, request features and contribute patches. Other modules may have open SCM repositories which you can check out and use as the basis for your patches, if so you'll mostly also find it in the POD.

Hope this helps.


There are ten types of people: those that understand binary and those that don't.

In reply to Re^3: Adding to Free Software - Etiquette by tirwhan
in thread Adding to Free Software - Etiquette by shotgunefx

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