# How to contribute to Phinx

Phinx relies heavily on external contributions in order to make it the best database migration
tool possible. Without the support of our 70+ contributors we wouldn't be where we are today!
We encourage anyone to submit documentation enhancements and code.

Issues, feature requests and bugs should be submitted using the Github issue tool:
https://github.com/robmorgan/phinx/issues.

This document briefly outlines the requirements to contribute code to Phinx.

## Considerations

Before you submit your pull request take a moment to answer the following questions.

Answering '**YES**' to all questions will increase the likelyhood of your PR being accepted!

* Have I implemented my feature for as many database adapters as possible?
* Does my new feature improve Phinx's performance or keep it consistent?
* Does my feature fit within the database migration space?
* Is the code entirely my own and free from any commercial licensing?
* Am I happy to release my code under the MIT license?
* Is my code formatted using the [PSR-2](https://github.com/php-fig/fig-standards/blob/master/accepted/PSR-2-coding-style-guide.md) coding standard?

**Note:** We accept bug fixes much faster into our development branch than features.

## Getting Started

Great, so you want to contribute. Let's get started:

1. Start by forking Phinx on GitHub: https://github.com/robmorgan/phinx


1. Clone your repository to a local directory on your development box.

1. If you do not have Composer set up already, install it:

    ```    
    curl -s https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
    ```

1. Change to your Phinx clone directory and pull the necessary dependencies:

    ```    
    php composer.phar install --dev
    ```
 
1. Copy the `phpunit.xml.dist` template to `phpunit.xml` and change the configuration to suit your environment.

1. Run the unit tests locally to ensure they pass. If you are not using any particular adapter you can disable it in the `phpunit.xml` file.

1. Write the code and unit tests for your bug fix or feature.

1. Add any relevant documentation.

1. Run the unit tests again and ensure they pass.

7. Open a pull request on the Github project page. Ensure the code is being merged into the latest development branch and not `master`.

## Documentation

The Phinx documentation is stored in the **docs** directory using the [RestructedText](http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html) format. All documentation merged to `master` is automatically published to the Phinx documentation site available
at: http://docs.phinx.org.
