Contributing to AllStarLink

Thank you for helping improve AllStarLink. This document applies to every AllStarLink repository. Individual repositories may add their own contribution details; where they do, those take precedence for that project, except that they do not change the licensing terms below.

Licensing of Contributions

AllStarLink projects are hosted on GitHub, so every contribution is made under the GitHub Terms of Service. When you submit a contribution to an AllStarLink repository, such as a pull request, patch, documentation, or other content, you agree to the following. This restates Sections D.3 and D.6 of those terms; the Terms of Service are the binding text.

  • Your contribution uses the repository's license. You license your contribution under the same terms as the license of the repository you contribute it to, as stated in that repository's license file or license notices. This is commonly called “inbound=outbound.”
  • You have the right to contribute it. You confirm that you have the right to license your contribution under those terms.
  • You are responsible for content you did not create. If your contribution includes material you did not write yourself, such as code copied from another project or output from a tool, you are responsible for making sure you have the right to include it and for complying with its license. Keep any copyright and license notices that the material requires.
  • You keep ownership. You retain the copyright in your contribution. The license above is what allows AllStarLink and others to use and distribute it.

If a repository does not include a license, ask its maintainers before contributing.

AI Use

AI-assisted contributions are welcome. AI tools are neither required nor prohibited, but you are the author and are fully responsible for anything you submit: you must understand it, have tested it, and be able to defend it in review without deferring to the tool. AI-assisted work is held to the same standard as any other contribution.

This applies to code, documentation, issue reports, and review comments. The policy is ASL003 - AI Use Practice (canonical text). Please read it; this section is only a summary.

  • Disclosure. When there is any AI involvement, for example an AI-enabled IDE or development environment, some code generation, AI-assisted analysis, or AI-assisted debugging, add a commit trailer in this format: 
    Assisted-by: <tool name> <model or version>
    For example: 
    Assisted-by: Claude claude-sonnet-5
    Trivial use (autocomplete, spell or grammar checking, translation, boilerplate expansion) does not need to be disclosed. Trailers are informational and do not shift responsibility from you.
  • Bulk or drive-by changes. Mass refactors, style rewrites, whitespace cleanup, and automated “fix” submissions generated by AI tools need agreement from the maintainers before you submit them.
  • Reports. Verify and reproduce any problem yourself before reporting it. AI-assisted security reports need a reproducible demonstration and must go through the security reporting channel, never a public issue.
  • Questions from maintainers. Maintainers may ask whether and how AI tools were used. Please answer honestly.