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Contribute to Kubernetes docs

Kubernetes v1.13 documentation is no longer actively maintained. The version you are currently viewing is a static snapshot. For up-to-date documentation, see the latest version.

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Advanced contributing

This page assumes that you’ve read and mastered the Start contributing and Intermediate contributing topics and are ready to learn about more ways to contribute. You need to use the Git command line client and other tools for some of these tasks.

Be the PR Wrangler for a week
Propose improvements
Coordinate docs for a Kubernetes release
Sponsor a new contributor

Be the PR Wrangler for a week

SIG Docs approvers can be PR wranglers.

SIG Docs approvers are added to the PR Wrangler rotation scheduler for weekly rotations. The PR wrangler’s duties include:

Review incoming pull requests daily.
- Help new contributors sign the CLA, and close any PR where the CLA hasn’t been signed for two weeks. PR authors can reopen the PR after signing the CLA, so this is a low-risk way to make sure nothing gets merged without a signed CLA.
- Provide feedback on proposed changes, including helping facilitate technical review from members of other SIGs.
- Merge PRs when they are ready, or close PRs that shouldn’t be accepted.
Triage and tag incoming issues daily. See Intermediate contributing for guidelines about how SIG Docs uses metadata.

Helpful Github queries for wranglers

The following queries are helpful when wrangling. After working through these three queries, the remaining list of PRs to be reviewed is usually small. These queries specifically exclude localization PRs, and only include the master branch (except for the last one).

No CLA, not eligible to merge: Remind the contributor to sign the CLA. If they’ve already been reminded by both the bot and a human, close the PR and remind them that they can open it after signing the CLA. We can’t even review PRs whose authors have not signed the CLA!
Needs LGTM: If it needs technical review, loop in one of the reviewers suggested by the bot. If it needs docs review or copy-editing, either suggest changes or add a copyedit commit to the PR to move it along.
Has LGTM, needs docs approval: See if you can figure out what needs to happen for the PR to be merged.
Not against master: If it’s against a dev- branch, it’s for an upcoming release. Make sure the release meister knows about it. If it’s against an old branch, help the PR author figure out whether it’s targeted against the best branch.

Propose improvements

SIG Docs members can propose improvements.

After you’ve been contributing to the Kubernetes documentation for a while, you may have ideas for improvement to the style guide, the toolchain used to build the documentation, the website style, the processes for reviewing and merging pull requests, or other aspects of the documentation. For maximum transparency, these types of proposals need to be discussed in a SIG Docs meeting or on the kubernetes-sig-docs mailing list. In addition, it can really help to have some context about the way things currently work and why past decisions have been made before proposing sweeping changes. The quickest way to get answers to questions about how the documentation currently works is to ask in the #sig-docs Slack channel on kubernetes.slack.com

After the discussion has taken place and the SIG is in agreement about the desired outcome, you can work on the proposed changes in the way that is the most appropriate. For instance, an update to the style guide or the website’s functionality might involve opening a pull request, while a change related to documentation testing might involve working with sig-testing.

Coordinate docs for a Kubernetes release

SIG Docs approvers can coordinate docs for a Kubernetes release.

Each Kubernetes release is coordinated by a team of people participating in the sig-release Special Interest Group (SIG). Others on the release team for a given release include an overall release lead, as well as representatives from sig-pm, sig-testing, and others. To find out more about Kubernetes release processes, refer to https://github.com/kubernetes/sig-release.

The SIG Docs representative for a given release coordinates the following tasks:

Monitor the feature-tracking spreadsheet for new or changed features with an impact on documentation. If documentation for a given feature won’t be ready for the release, the feature may not be allowed to go into the release.
Attend sig-release meetings regularly and give updates on the status of the docs for the release.
Review and copyedit feature documentation drafted by the SIG responsible for implementing the feature.
Merge release-related pull requests and maintain the Git feature branch for the release.
Mentor other SIG Docs contributors who want to learn how to do this role in the future. This is known as “shadowing”.
Publish the documentation changes related to the release when the release artifacts are published.

Coordinating a release is typically a 3-4 month commitment, and the duty is rotated among SIG Docs approvers.

SIG Docs reviewers can sponsor new contributors.

After a new contributor has successfully submitted 5 substantive pull requests to one or more Kubernetes repositories, they are eligible to apply for membership in the Kubernetes organization. The contributor’s membership needs to be backed by two sponsors who are already reviewers.

New docs contributors can request sponsors by asking in the #sig-docs channel on the Kubernetes Slack instance or on the SIG Docs mailing list. If you feel confident about the applicant’s work, you volunteer to sponsor them. When they submit their membership application, reply to the application with a “+1” and include details about why you think the applicant is a good fit for membership in the Kubernetes organization.

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