Developers

When you are writing a new feature for a component of OpenStack, it is important that you also document that new feature. This is also true if you are adding or changing configuration options, commands, or other user-facing components.

Many of these types of changes are handled automatically by directives and configuration generators provided by libraries such as oslo.config and oslo.policy, and published as part of the project-specific documentation. For more information about these automated tools, see Using documentation tools.

If you are contributing documentation to the main openstack-manuals repository, there are a few things you can do to help your patch merge quickly and easily:

  • Contact your project’s documentation cross-project liaison. They can help you with finding the appropriate book to add your patch, and the relevant people to review your patch once you have written it.

  • If you are not confident in your written English skills, you can create a patch and add a note that you are happy to have editorial assistance. This will encourage writers to check out your patch and correct any spelling or grammar mistakes, rather than just adding comments for you to fix yourself.

  • If you do not know which book to edit, or you are uncertain about creating a patch, you can create a bug with source content or notes, and ask for assistance from the docs team on finding the right location for the content.

  • If you know which book you want to modify, get in contact with the appropriate project team or subteam. They can help you determine where the content should live, and also give you details about upcoming changes to the architecture of those books that might affect your new documentation.

  • If you are intending to make a very large change, such as an entirely new section or chapter, or documenting a new project, the core team might ask you to create a blueprint and specification for the change. If you are unsure whether your change will require a blueprint or specification, ask on the mailing list for guidance.

  • Remember, you can always contact the documentation team through our mailing list, or on IRC.