Contributions


Joining us
  • If you have a question, it's often best to post it on the chat.  But if that's not how you want to talk to us, we do keep a mailing-list (hosted on Google Groups)
  • Every open source project has the obligatory IRC channel, and so do we.  It's #red-lang on freenode. But it's nowhere near as active as the Gitter chat.
  • When it comes to "show me the code", there is no better place to look these days than GitHub! We are https://github.com/red/red (and many thanks to GitHub for liking the Red project enough to swipe the "red" account from someone who was not using it and give it to us instead. :-P) We’re proud of the track record of fixing bug reports before moving on with new features, and welcome pull requests that fix issues. So if you wanted to grab one and help close it, that would be a great way to get started (but comment on the issue first, so we can warn you if someone is already on the case!)  See the contribution notes for the fact that our methodology is very different, and you will have to learn a bit of Rebol to get started.
  • It doesn't have to be too serious a commitment if your time is limited.  If you just want to sort of casually follow the progress, there is always, @red-lang on Twitter.
  • Cannot in good faith encourage people to use Facebook, but there's a group there too.  :-)

How to contribute?

There is a lot to do on a project like this, so all people willing to help are welcome. The project is still in its early stage of development, so do not expect a stable context, we are moving forward as fast as possible.

We've just begun using the "Trello" organizational tool to make a board of cards that are Ideas for Red Contributors.  So go look at that, as it will likely come to be updated more frequently than this page!

But speaking generally, if you want to contribute at the source code level:
  • We are at the bootstrapping phase, the whole compilation tool-chain is written in Rebol v2, so knowing this language is mandatory to make contribution to the compiler or linker. The good thing is: as Red will be very close to Rebol's syntax, your newly acquired knowledge will not be lost...and will help you be operational on Red at soon as it will be available.
  • The low-level Red/System DSL is at beta stage, but we still need:
    • testing: writing small apps, reporting issues, writing more unit tests,...
    • bindings to useful low-level libraries
    • larger applications (to help improve Red/System's programming-in-the-large abilities)
  • Install Git, learn how to use it (we can help for that), and open a Github account, then fork the Red project repository. When you are ready to propose some new source code or patches, send a pull request.
You can also contribute by (roughly ordered by importance):
  • Writing user manuals and tutorials for Red/System (step-by-step approach).
  • Writing online articles about Red project.
  • Giving us some feedback on Red/System language: tell us about what you like or don't like, ideally on the mailing-list, but if you prefer other channels, they are ok too.
  • Blogging and chatting about what you've learned about why Red (and Rebol) are great tools...and helping spread the word about what we are doing.
  • Proposing new ways to contribute: tell us about your ideas.

Published Work


Have you written a library or binding for Red?  If so, mention it in chat or Twitter it to @red-lang and we'll add it here...


Some links below may be broken, use this mirror repo in such case.

  • Quick-Test unit testing framework for Red/System by Peter W A Wood.


Fork me on GitHub