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+(DRAFT)
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+Getting started in Tor development
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+==================================
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+
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+Congratulations! You've found this file, and you're reading it! This
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+means that you might be interested in getting started in developing Tor.
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+
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+(This guide is just about Tor itself--the small network program at the
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+heart of the Tor network--and not about all the other programs in the
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+whole Tor ecosystem.)
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+
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+
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+If you are looking for a more bare-bones, less user-friendly information
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+dump of important information, you might like reading doc/HACKING
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+instead. You should probably read it before you write your first patch.
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+
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+
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+Required background
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+-------------------
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+
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+First, I'm going to assume that you can build Tor from source, and that
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+you know enough of the C language to read and write it. (See the README
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+file that comes with the Tor source for more information on building it,
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+and any high-quality guide to C for information on programming.)
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+
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+I'm also going to assume that you know a little bit about how to use
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+Git, or that you're able to fillow one of the several excellent guides
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+at http://git-scm.org to learn.
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+
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+Most Tor developers develop using some Unix-based system, such as Linux,
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+BSD, or OSX. It's okay to develop on Windows if you want, but you're
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+going to have a more difficult time.
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+
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+
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+Getting your first patch into Tor
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+---------------------------------
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+
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+Once you've reached this point, here's what you need to know.
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+
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+ 1) Get the source.
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+
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+ We keep our source under version control in Git. To get the latest
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+ version, run
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+ git clone https://git.torproject.org/git/tor
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+
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+ This will give you a checkout of the master branch. If you're
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+ going to fix a bug that appears in a stable version, check out the
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+ appropriate "maint" branch, as in:
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+
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+ git checkout maint-0.2.7
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+
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+ 2) Find your way around the source
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+
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+ Our overall code structure is explained in the "torguts" documents,
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+ currently at
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+ git clone https://git.torproject.org/user/nickm/torguts.git
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+
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+ Find a part of the code that looks interesting to you, and start
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+ looking around it to see how it fits together!
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+
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+ We do some unusual things in our codebase. Our testing-related
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+ practices and kludges are explained in doc/WritingTests.txt.
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+
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+ If you see something that doesn't make sense, we love to get
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+ questions!
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+
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+ 3) Find something cool to hack on.
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+
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+ You may already have a good idea of what you'd like to work on, or
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+ you might be looking for a way to contribute.
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+
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+ Many people have gotten started by looking for an area where they
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+ personally felt Tor was underperforming, and investigating ways to
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+ fix it. If you're looking for ideas, you can head to our bug
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+ tracker at trac.torproject.org and look for tickets that have
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+ received the "easy" tag: these are ones that developers think would
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+ be pretty simple for a new person to work on. For a bigger
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+ challenge, you might want to look for tickets with the "lorax"
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+ keyword: these are tickets that the developers think might be a
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+ good idea to build, but which we have no time to work on any time
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+ soon.
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+
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+ Or you might find another open ticket that piques your
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+ interest. It's all fine!
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+
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+ For your first patch, it is probably NOT a good idea to make
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+ something huge or invasive. In particular, you should probably
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+ avoid:
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+ * Major changes spread across many parts of the codebase.
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+ * Major changes to programming practice or coding style.
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+ * Huge new features or protocol changes.
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+
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+ 4) Meet the developers!
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+
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+ We discuss stuff on the tor-dev mailing list and on the #tor-dev
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+ IRC channel on OFTC. We're generally friendly and approachable,
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+ and we like to talk about how Tor fits together. If we have ideas
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+ about how something should be implemented, we'll be happy to share
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+ them.
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+
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+ We currently have a patch workshop at least once a week, where
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+ people share patches they've made and discuss how to make them
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+ better. The time might change in the future, but generally,
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+ there's no bad time to talk, and ask us about patch ideas.
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+
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+ 5) Do you need to write a design proposal?
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+
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+ If your idea is very large, or it will require a change to Tor's
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+ protocols, there needs to be a written design proposal before it
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+ can be merged. (We use this process to manage changes in the
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+ protocols.) To write one, see the instructions at
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+ https://gitweb.torproject.org/torspec.git/tree/proposals/001-process.txt
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+ . If you'd like help writing a proposal, just ask! We're happy to
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+ help out with good ideas.
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+
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+ You might also like to look around the rest of that directory, to
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+ see more about open and past proposed changes to Tor's behavior.
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+
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+ 6) Writing your patch
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+
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+ As you write your code, you'll probably want it to fit in with the
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+ standards of the rest of the Tor codebase so it will be easy for us
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+ to review and merge. You can learn our coding standards in
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+ doc/HACKING.
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+
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+ If your patch is large and/or is divided into multiple logical
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+ components, remember to divide it into a series of Git commits. A
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+ series of small changes is much easier to review than one big lump.
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+
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+ 7) Testing your patch
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+
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+ We prefer that all new or modified code have unit tests for it to
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+ ensure that it runs correctly. Also, all code should actually be
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+ _run_ by somebody, to make sure it works.
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+
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+ See doc/WritingTests.txt for more information on how we test things
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+ in Tor. If you'd like any help writing tests, just ask! We're
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+ glad to help out.
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+
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+ 8) Submitting your patch
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+
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+ We review patches through tickets on our bugtracker at
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+ trac.torproject.org. You can either upload your patches there, or
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+ put them at a public git repository somewhere we can fetch them
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+ (like github or bitbucket) and then paste a link on the appropriate
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+ trac ticket.
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+
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+ Once your patches are available, write a short explanation of what
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+ you've done on trac, and then change the status of the ticket to
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+ needs_review.
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+
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+ 9) Review, Revision, and Merge
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+
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+ With any luck, somebody will review your patch soon! If not, you
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+ can ask on the IRC channel; sometimes we get really busy and take
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+ longer than we should. But don't let us slow you down: you're the
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+ one who's offering help here, and we should respect your time and
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+ contributions.
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+
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+ When your patch is reviewed, one of these things will happen:
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+
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+ * The reviewer will say "looks good to me" and your
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+ patch will get merged right into Tor. [Assuming we're not
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+ in the middle of a code-freeze window. If the codebase is
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+ frozen, your patch will go into the next release series.]
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+
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+ * OR the reviewer will say "looks good, just needs some small
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+ changes!" And then the reviewer will make those changes,
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+ and merge the modified patch into Tor.
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+
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+ * OR the reviewer will say "Here are some questions and
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+ comments," followed by a bunch of stuff that the reviewer
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+ thinks should change in your code, or questions that the
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+ reviewer has.
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+
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+ At this point, you might want to make the requested changes
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+ yourself, and comment on the trac ticket once you have done
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+ so. Or if you disagree with any of the comments, you should
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+ say so! And if you won't have time to make some of the
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+ changes, you should say that too, so that other developers
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+ will be able to pick up the unfinished portion
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+
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+ Congratulations! You have now written your first patch, and gotten
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+ it integrated into mainline Tor.
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+
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+
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+Where do I go from here?
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+------------------------
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+
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+doc/HACKING
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+
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+doc/WritingTests.txt
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+
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+torguts.git
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+
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+torspec.git
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+
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+The design paper
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+
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+freehaven.net/anonbib
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+
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+XXXX describe these and add links.
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