How to submit a fix to jQuery UI – The Easy Way

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Now that jQuery UI is hosted on GitHub, it’s even easier to start contributing fixes to the project.

Let’s walk through the easy way, where you don’t need to learn how to really use git. In another post, we’ll cover some best practices for contributing with git.

Let’s say you want to submit a patch to the Dialog file, jquery.ui.dialog.js.

Step 1: Sign up for GitHub (jump on it)

Step 2: Fork the jQuery UI repository (become a committer of your very own copy of jQuery UI)

Step 3: Modify your fork through the GitHub web interface (commit your change without knowing git)

  • http://github.com/{your-username}/jquery-ui
  • Click on the folder and file you want to modify
    • click “ui/”
    • click “jquery.ui.dialog.js”
  • When you’re viewing the contents of the file you want to change, click the “edit” link (top right)
  • Make changes to the file in the editor
  • Enter a Commit Message to summarize the changes you’ve made and why you’ve made them.
    • This should include a reference to a Trac ticket, formatted like so
    • “Dialog: modified the foo to no longer bar. Fixed #1234 – dialog: IE6 crashed when foo is set to bar”
    • Be sure your commit message includes 4 parts: the WHERE, the WHAT, the WHY #Num, and the WHY Name. See the jQuery UI Commit Message Style Guide for more detail.
  • Click “Commit”

Step 4: Submit a Pull Request (tell the jQuery UI team why your change rocks)

  • http://github.com/{your-username}/jquery-ui/blob/{id-of-commit}/ui/jquery.ui.dialog.js
  • Click “Pull Request”
  • Enter a Message that will go with your commit to be reviewed by core committers
  • Click “Send Pull Request”

Step 5: Add a link to your commit to the ticket in Trac (tell everyone you’re on the case)

Step 6: Eat a cookie (yum)

  • You’re done!

Now if you need to change multiple files as part of one commit, the web interface will not be the way to go. In that case you’ll want to learn a little more about GitHub and git. You can start here:

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