1# How to get started helping out in the curl project 2 3We are always in need of more help. If you are new to the project and are 4looking for ways to contribute and help out, this document aims to give a few 5good starting points. 6 7A good idea is to start by subscribing to the [curl-library mailing 8list](https://cool.haxx.se/mailman/listinfo/curl-library) to keep track of the 9current discussion topics. 10 11## Scratch your own itch 12 13One of the best ways is to start working on any problems or issues you have 14found yourself or perhaps got annoyed at in the past. It can be a spelling 15error in an error text or a weirdly phrased section in a man page. Hunt it 16down and report the bug. Or make your first pull request with a fix for that. 17 18## Help wanted 19 20In the issue tracker we occasionally mark bugs with [help 21wanted](https://github.com/curl/curl/labels/help%20wanted), as a sign that the 22bug is acknowledged to exist and that there's nobody known to work on this 23issue for the moment. Those are bugs that are fine to "grab" and provide a 24pull request for. The complexity level of these will of course vary, so pick 25one that piques your interest. 26 27## Work on known bugs 28 29Some bugs are known and haven't yet received attention and work enough to get 30fixed. We collect such known existing flaws in the 31[KNOWN_BUGS](https://curl.haxx.se/docs/knownbugs.html) page. Many of them link 32to the original bug report with some additional details, but some may also 33have aged a bit and may require some verification that the bug still exists in 34the same way and that what was said about it in the past is still valid. 35 36## Fix autobuild problems 37 38On the [autobuilds page](https://curl.haxx.se/dev/builds.html) we show a 39collection of test results from the automatic curl build and tests that are 40performed by volunteers. Fixing compiler warnings and errors shown there is 41something we value greatly. Also, if you own or run systems or architectures 42that aren't already tested in the autobuilds, we also appreciate more 43volunteers running builds automatically to help us keep curl portable. 44 45## TODO items 46 47Ideas for features and functions that we have considered worthwhile to 48implement and provide are kept in the 49[TODO](https://curl.haxx.se/docs/todo.html) file. Some of the ideas are 50rough. Some are well thought out. Some probably aren't really suitable 51anymore. 52 53Before you invest a lot of time on a TODO item, do bring it up for discussion 54on the mailing list. For discussion on applicability but also for ideas and 55brainstorming on specific ways to do the implementation etc. 56 57## You decide 58 59You can also come up with a completely new thing you think we should do. Or 60not do. Or fix. Or add to the project. You then either bring it to the mailing 61list first to see if people will shoot down the idea at once, or you bring a 62first draft of the idea as a pull request and take the discussion there around 63the specific implementation. Either way is fine. 64 65## CONTRIBUTE 66 67We offer [guidelines](https://curl.haxx.se/dev/contribute.html) that are 68suitable to be familiar with before you decide to contribute to curl. If 69you're used to open source development, you'll probably not find many 70surprises in there. 71