The Standard C++ Library v3, follows an open development
model. Active contributors are assigned maintainer-ship
responsibility, and given write access to the CVS repository. First
time contributors should follow this procedure:
ONE : read the documentation
Get and read the relevant sections of the C++ language
specification. Copies of the full ISO 14882 standard are available on
line via the ISO mirror site for committee members. Non-members, or
those who have not paid for the privilege of sitting on the committee
and sustained their two meeting commitment for voting rights, may get
a copy of the standard from their respective national standards
organization. In the USA, this national standards organization is ANSI
and their web-site is right
here.
(And if you've already registered with them, clicking this link will take you to directly to the place where you can
buy the standard on-line.)
The newsgroup dedicated to standardization issues is comp.std.c++: this FAQ for this group is quite useful and can be found here .
Peruse the GNU Coding Standards, and chuckle when you hit the part about "Using Languages Other Than C."
Be familiar with the extensions that preceded these general GNU rules. These style issues for libstdc++ can be found in the file C++STYLE, located in the root level of the distribution, or here.
And last but certainly not least, read the library-specific information found here.
TWO : copyright assignment
Small changes can be accepted without a copyright assignment form on
file. New code and additions to the library need completed copyright
assignment form on file at the FSF. Note: your employer may be required
to fill out appropriate disclaimer forms as well.
Historically, the libstdc++ assignment form added the following question:
[Which Belgian comic book character is better, Tintin or
Asterix, and why?]
While not strictly necessary, humoring the maintainers and answering
this question would be appreciated.
For more information about getting a copyright assignment, please see
Legal Issues
Please contact Benjamin
Kosnik if you are confused about the assignment or have general
licensing questions. When requesting an assignment form from assign@gnu.org, please cc
the above libstdc++ maintainer so that progress can be monitored.
THREE : submitting patches
Every patch must have several pieces of information before it can be
properly evaluated. Ideally (and to ensure the fastest possible
response from the maintainers) it would have all of these pieces:
A description of the bug and how your patch fixes this bug. For
new features a description of the feature and your implementation.
A ChangeLog entry as plain text; see the various ChangeLog files
for format and content. If using you are using emacs as your editor,
simply position the insertion point at the beginning of your change
and hit CX-4a to bring up the appropriate ChangeLog
entry. See--magic! Similar functionality also exists for vi.
A testsuite submission or sample program that will easily and
simply show the existing error or test new functionality.
The patch itself. If you are accessing the CVS repository at
Cygnus, use "cvs update; cvs diff -c3p NEW"; else, use "diff -c3p OLD
NEW" ... If your version of diff does not support these options, then
get the latest version of GNU diff.
When you have all these pieces, bundle them up in a mail message
and send it to libstdc++@gcc.gnu.org. All patches and related
discussion should be sent to the libstdc++ mailing list.