BarInsta/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md

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WARNING

  • All forks must respect GPLv3. Please report violations in Issues or confidentially.
    • Some people have asked me about publishing a "commercial" fork that serves ads. However, if you do properly comply with GPLv3, users would realize that the original non-commercial version exists and, in turn, abandon your fork. And if you don't comply, you get copystriked.
  • Although publishing a fork is allowed by license, it is strongly discouraged to do so as it divides the effort and creates confusion (as well as for the reason above). It is, therefore, recommended to send a pull request back to us, so that the larger community can enjoy your improvement. (This does not apply if you're adapting this app for a different platform other than Instagram.)

Contributing

Thank you for your interest in Barinsta!

Our vision is an open source true alternative of the official Instagram app. It is Austin's pursuit of a libre life that lead him to this app during its abandonment, and it was one unresolved bug that made him have the enthusiasm in implementing numerous features for this app, despite having 0 knowledge of Java beforehand.

As we grow in popularity, it becomes apparent that we are short on hands. Every contribution counts!

I want to help coding it!

Great!

Generally, we want to imitate features in the actual Instagram app. There are many Instagram private API repositories on GitHub for you to refer to. Note that you should minimize POST: If a job should be done with GET, then there has to be a GET endpoint. (Indeed, sometimes you need multiple repositories for reference.)

As long as you have tested your version (please indicate device and API version) and make sure it works, then you can submit a PR! Large UI changes have to be voted on by the community, so it would be helpful to upload some screenshots.

Check errors are for reference only. Try to minimize them, but usually they don't make a big difference.

NEVER touch the l10n-master branch. It's automatically managed by Crowdin.

The legacy branch is no longer maintained.

I can't code Java, but I want to!

Fun fact: Austin took over this project and learned Java on the fly (I'm not joking, I only do JavaScript before taking this over).

Even though Java is quite annoying, it is still possible to learn it by trying to understand what these code do (Easier if you have coding experience in other languages).

If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask for help from any current maintainer!

I found a bug!

Please read FAQ first.

Bugs are inevitable during active development, as nobody can cover all the possible test cases.

You can either email your crash dump to barinsta@austinhuang.me (The crash reporter will fill in this address for you) or create a GitHub issue. If you're on GitHub, please follow the template. If you're reporting by email, your email address will be published in the GitHub issue. You can contact me privately or through support channels to remove it.

Generally, reporting bugs directly in support channels is not recommended, as they can be difficult to find.

I want to help... in some other way.

You can...

Happy contributing!