Document the existence of "hints" that release managers can use

[developers-reference.git] / README-contrib

diff --git a/README-contrib b/README-contrib
index 2afeddf3eeb8d576a8bc050ec55a0ef2aab8bf96..b81ebfad7254cdabf5b0b3a0ac3cf2996c0345d0 100644 (file)
--- a/README-contrib
+++ b/README-contrib
@@ -37,23 +37,43 @@ first submit a few patches as bug reports.  Writing patches for
 existing bugs are also always appreciated.  You may wish to make
 patches against the SVN sources, about which see below.
 
+When making changes, please try to use short lines of text (< 64
+characters). This makes it easier to use 'diff' to see the
+differences. (See discussion in <http://bugs.debian.org/278267>)
+
 Do not commit patches to the developers reference yourself unless
 authorized to do so. Patches need to be finalized and common opinion
 before they are applied. This is even true if you happen to have
 SVN access for other reasons.
 
 
+* Writing style
+
+Please use gender-neutral formulations. This means avoiding
+pronouns like he/she when referring to a role (like "maintainer")
+whose gender is unknown. Instead of you should use the
+plural form (singular they [1]).
+
+[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
+
+
 * SVN
 
 If you're interested in ongoing maintenance, once you've shown that
 you've mastered the style of the manual with a couple accepted
-patches, you can be given SVN access. If you have already
+patches, you can be given SVN access. If you already have
 access to the SVN server for other reasons, do not use it unless
 authorized to do so.
 
-Instructions on how to get the SVN version of this software, including
-how to get SVN access, can be found at
-<URL:http://svn.debian.org/>.
+This manual is a part of the Debian Documentation Project (DDP).
+Information about SVN access for DDP can be found at
+<http://www.debian.org/doc/cvs>.
+
+If you just want to check out the current SVN version of this
+manual to create patches against, you can use the following
+command to do so:
+
+svn co svn://svn.debian.org/ddp/manuals/trunk/developers-reference
 
 
 * Translators
@@ -62,5 +82,5 @@ We have tried to keep language-independant bits of text in common.ent.
 Feel free to truck stuff out of the English manual into common.ent if
 it's useful, or else report the problem.
 
-The translation .po files are in po4a/fr/ and po4a/ja/ for French and
-Japanese. We hope very much for more translations.
+The translation PO files are in po4a/po/, we hope very much for more
+translations.