Much rewrite.

1 files changed, 39 insertions, 40 deletions

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTE b/CONTRIBUTE
index f54f45bb1ae..9c36bd23453 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTE
+++ b/CONTRIBUTE
@@ -1,38 +1,37 @@
 
                         Contributing to Emacs
 
-Emacs is a collaborative project and one which wants to encourage new
-development.  You may wish to fix Emacs bugs, improve testing, port
-Emacs to a new platform, update documentation, add new Emacs features,
-and the like.  To help with this, there is a lot of documentation
-available.  In addition to the user guide and Lisp Reference Manual in
-the Emacs distribution, the Emacs web pages also contain much
-information.
+Emacs is a collaborative project and we encourage contributions from
+anyone and everyone.  If you want to contribute in the way that will
+help us most, we recommend (1) fixing reported bugs and (2)
+implementing the feature ideas in etc/TODO.  However, if you think of
+new features to add, please suggest them too -- we might like your
+idea.  Porting to new platforms is also useful, when there is a new
+platform, but that is not common nowadays.
+
+For documentation on how to develop Emacs changes, refer to the Emacs
+Manual and the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual (both included in the Emacs
+distribution).  The web pages in http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs
+contain additional information.
 
 You may also want to submit your change so that can be considered for
 inclusion in a future version of Emacs (see below).
 
-If you don't feel up to hacking Emacs, there are still plenty of ways to
-help!  You can answer questions on the mailing lists, write
-documentation, find bugs, create a Emacs related website (contribute to
-the official Emacs web site), or create a Emacs related software
-package.  We welcome all of the above and feel free to ask on the Emacs
-mailing lists if you are looking for feedback or for people to review a
-work in progress.
+If you don't feel up to hacking Emacs, there are many other ways to
+help.  You can answer questions on the mailing lists, write
+documentation, find and report bugs, contribute to the Emacs web
+pages, or develop a package that works with Emacs.
 
-Ref: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
-
-Finally, there are certain legal requirements and style issues which
-all contributors need to be aware of:
+Here are some style and legal conventions for contributors to Emacs:
 
 
 o       Coding Standards
 
-        All contributions must conform to the GNU Coding Standard.
-        Submissions which do not conform to the standards will be
-        returned with a request to reformat the changes.
+        Contributed code should follow the GNU Coding Standard.
+        If it doesn't, we'll need to find someone to fix the code
+        before we can use it.
 
-        Emacs has certain additional coding requirements.
+        Emacs has certain additional style and coding conventions.
 
         Ref: http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards_toc.html
         Ref: Standards Info Manual
@@ -40,23 +39,21 @@ o	Coding Standards
 
 o       Copyright Assignment
 
-        Before we can accept code contributions from you, we need a
-        copyright assignment form filled out and filed with the FSF.
+        We can accept small changes without legal papers, and for
+        medium-size changes a copyright disclaimer is ok too.  Toa
+        accept substantial contributions from you, we need a copyright
+        assignment form filled out and filed with the FSF.
 
-        Contact us via the Emacs mailing list to obtain the relevant
+        Contact us at emacs-devel@gnu.org to obtain the relevant
         forms.
 
-        Small changes can be accepted without a copyright assignment
-        form on file.
-
 
 o       Getting the Source Code
 
-        The latest version of Emacs can be downloaded using CVS or Arch
-        from the Savannah web site.  It is important that you submit
-        your patch using this version, as any bug in a released version
-        of Emacs may already be fixed.  It also makes it easier for
-        others to test your patch.
+        The latest version of Emacs can be downloaded using CVS or
+        Arch from the Savannah web site.  It is important to write
+        your patch based this version; if you start from an older
+        version, your patch may be outdated when you write it.
         
         Ref: http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/emacs
 
@@ -94,16 +91,18 @@ o	Submitting Patches
         list.
 
 
-o       Please read your patch before submitting it.
+o       Please reread your patch before submitting it.
+
 
-        A patch containing several unrelated changes reformats will be
-        returned with a request to send them separately.
+o       If you send several unrelated changes together, we will
+        ask you to separate them so we can consider each of the changes
+        by itself.
         
 
 o       Supplemental information for Emacs Developers:
 
-        If you wish to contribute to Emacs on a regular basis then you
-        may be given write access to the CVS repository.
+        Once you become a frequent contributor to Emacs, we can
+        consider giving you write access to the CVS repository.
         
         Discussion about Emacs development takes place on
         emacs-devel@gnu.org.
@@ -116,7 +115,7 @@ o	Supplemental information for Emacs Developers:
         but the  nodes "Tips" and "GNU Emacs Internals" in the Appendix
         of the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual may also help.
 
-        The file DEBUG describes how to debug Emacs.
+        The file DEBUG describes how to debug Emacs bugs.
 
-        Avoid using `defadvice' or `eval-after-load' for lisp
+        Avoid using `defadvice' or `eval-after-load' for Lisp
         code to be included in Emacs.