Merge pull request #1448 from huggingface/contributing

add contribution guidelines

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+# How to contribute to transformers?
+
+Everyone is welcome to contribute, and we value everybody's contribution. Code
+is thus not the only way to help the community. Answering questions, helping
+others, reaching out and improving the documentations are immensely valuable to
+the community.
+
+It also helps us if you spread the word: reference the library from blog posts
+on the awesome projects it made possible, shout out on Twitter every time it has
+helped you, or simply star the repo to say "thank you".
+
+## You can contribute in so many ways!
+
+There are 4 ways you can contribute to transformers:
+* Fixing outstanding issues with the existing code;
+* Implementing new models;
+* Contributing to the examples or to the documentation;
+* Submitting issues related to bugs or desired new features.
+
+*All are equally valuable to the community.*
+
+## Submitting a new issue or feature request
+
+Do your best to follow these guidelines when submitting an issue or a feature
+request. It will make it easier for us to come back to you quickly and with good
+feedback.
+
+### Did you find a bug?
+
+The transformers are robust and reliable thanks to the users who notify us of
+the problems they encounter. So thank you for reporting an issue.
+
+First, we would really appreciate it if you could **make sure the bug was not
+already reported** (use the search bar on Github under Issues).
+
+Did not find it? :( So we can act quickly on it, please follow these steps:
+
+* Include your **OS type and version**, the versions of **Python**, **PyTorch** and
+  **Tensorflow** when applicable;
+* A short, self-contained, code snippet that allows us to reproduce the bug in
+  less than 30s;
+* Provide the *full* traceback if an exception is raised.
+
+To get the OS and software versions, execute the following code and copy-paste
+the output:
+
+```
+import platform; print("Platform", platform.platform())
+import sys; print("Python", sys.version)
+import torch; print("PyTorch", torch.__version__)
+import tensorflow; print("Tensorflow", tensorflow.__version__)
+```
+
+### Do you want to implement a new model?
+
+Awesome! Please provide the following information:
+
+* Short description of the model and link to the paper;
+* Link to the implementation if it is open-source;
+* Link to the model weights if they are available.
+
+If you are willing to contribute the model yourself, let us know so we can best
+guide you.
+
+### Do you want a new feature (that is not a model)?
+
+A world-class feature request addresses the following points:
+
+1. Motivation first:
+  * Is it related to a problem/frustration with the library? If so, please explain
+    why. Providing a code snippet that demonstrates the problem is best.
+  * Is it related to something you would need for a project? We'd love to hear
+    about it!
+  * Is it something you worked on and think could benefit the community?
+    Awesome! Tell us what problem it solved for you.
+2. Write a *full paragraph* describing the feature;
+3. Provide a **code snippet** that demonstrates its future use;
+4. In case this is related to a paper, please attach a link;
+5. Attach any additional information (drawings, screenshots, etc.) you think may help.
+
+If your issue is well written we're already 80% of the way there by the time you
+post it.
+
+## Start contributing! (Pull Requests)
+
+Before writing code, we strongly advise you to search through the exising PRs or
+issues to make sure that nobody is already working on the same thing. If you are
+unsure, it is always a good idea to open an issue to get some feedback.
+
+You will need basic `git` proficiency to be able to contribute to
+`transformers`. `git` is not the easiest tool to use but it has the greatest
+manual. Type `git --help` in a shell and enjoy. If you prefer books, [Pro
+Git](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2) is a very good reference.
+
+Follow these steps to start contributing:
+
+1. Fork the [repository](https://github.com/huggingface/transformers) by
+   clicking on the 'Fork' button on the repository's page. This creates a copy of the code
+   under your github user account.
+2. Clone your fork to your local disk, and add the base repository as a remote:
+   
+   ```bash
+   $ git clone git@github.com:<your Github handle>/transformers.git
+   $ cd transformers
+   $ git remote add upstream git@github.com:huggingface/transformers.git
+   ```
+
+3. Create a new branch to hold your development changes:
+
+   ```bash
+   $ git checkout -b a-descriptive-name-for-my-changes
+   ```
+   
+   **do not** work on the `master` branch.
+   
+4. Set up a development environment by running the following command in a virtual environment:
+
+   ```bash
+   $ pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
+   ```
+
+5. Develop the features on your branch. Add changed files using `git add` and
+   then `git commit` to record your changes locally:
+   
+   ```bash
+   $ git add modified_file.py
+   $ git commit
+   ```
+   
+   Please write [good commit
+   messages](https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/). It
+   is a good idea to sync your copy of the code with the original repository
+   regularly. This way you can quickly account for changes:
+   
+   ```bash
+   $ git fetch upstream
+   $ git rebase upstream/master
+   ```
+   
+   Push the changes to your account using:
+   
+   ```bash
+   $ git push -u origin a-descriptive-name-for-my-changes
+   ```
+   
+6. Once you are satisfied (**and the checklist below is happy too**), go to the
+   webpage of your fork on Github. Click on 'Pull request' to send your changes
+   to the project maintainers for review.
+   
+7. It's ok if maintainers ask you for changes. It happens to core contributors
+   too! So everyone can see the changes in the Pull request, work in your local
+   branch and push the changes to your fork. They will automatically appear in
+   the pull request.
+
+
+### Checklist
+
+1. The title of your pull request should be a summary of its contribution;
+2. If your pull request adresses an issue, please mention the issue number in
+   the pull request description to make sure they are linked (and people
+   consulting the issue know you are working on it);
+3. To indicate a work in progress please prefix the title with `[WIP]`. These
+   are useful to avoid duplicated work, and to differentiate it from PRs ready
+   to be merged;
+4. Make sure pre-existing tests still pass;
+5. Add high-coverage tests. No quality test, no merge;
+6. All public methods must have informative doctrings;
+
+
+### Style guide
+
+For documentation strings, `transformers` follows the [google
+style](https://google.github.io/styleguide/pyguide.html).
+
+#### This guide was heavily inspired by the awesome [scikit-learn guide to contributing](https://github.com/scikit-learn/scikit-learn/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)