.. _hacking_collections:

***************************
Contributing to collections
***************************

If you want to add functionality to an existing collection, modify a collection you are using to fix a bug, or change the behavior of a module in a collection, clone the Git repository for that collection and make changes on a branch. You can combine changes to a collection with a local checkout of Ansible (``source hacking/env-setup``).
You should first check the collection repository to see if it has specific contribution guidelines. These are typically listed in the README.md or CONTRIBUTING.md files within the repository.
See :ref:`collection_quickstart` for more general guidelines and :ref:`testing_running_locally` for testing guidelines.

Contributing to a collection: community.general
===============================================

These instructions apply to collections hosted in the `ansible_collections GitHub organization <https://github.com/ansible-collections>`_. For other collections, especially for collections not hosted on GitHub, check the ``README.md`` of the collection for information on contributing to it.

This example uses the `community.general collection <https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/>`_. To contribute to other collections in the same GitHub org, replace the folder names ``community`` and ``general`` with the namespace and collection name of a different collection.

Prerequisites
-------------

* Include ``~/dev/ansible/collections/`` in :ref:`COLLECTIONS_PATHS`
* If that path mentions multiple directories, make sure that no other directory earlier in the search path contains a copy of ``community.general``.

Creating a PR
-------------



* Create the directory ``~/dev/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community``:

.. code-block:: shell

    mkdir -p ~/dev/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community

* Clone `the community.general Git repository <https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/>`_ or a fork of it into the directory ``general``:

.. code-block:: shell

    cd ~/dev/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community
    git clone git@github.com:ansible-collections/community.general.git general

* If you clone from a fork, add the original repository as a remote ``upstream``:

.. code-block:: shell

    cd ~/dev/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community/general
    git remote add upstream git@github.com:ansible-collections/community.general.git

* Create a branch and commit your changes on the branch.

* Remember to add tests for your changes, see :ref:`testing_collections`.

* Push your changes to your fork of the collection and create a Pull Request.

You can test your changes by using this checkout of ``community.general`` in playbooks and roles with whichever version of Ansible you have installed locally, including a local checkout of ``ansible/ansible``'s ``devel`` branch.

.. seealso::

   :ref:`collections`
       Learn how to install and use collections.
   :ref:`contributing_maintained_collections`
       Guidelines for contributing to selected collections
   :ref:`Communication<communication>`
       Got questions? Need help? Want to share your ideas? Visit the Ansible communication guide
