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Becoming a WordPress developer is a very simple process, because anyone can be one. There's no approval process—just start!

All terminal commands on this page are for Linux or Mac command lines. A Windows version may come later.

Instructions

1. Create an account at the WordPress Support Forums.
2. Visit the WordPress Trac site, and log in with the username and password you used to register on the Support Forums.
3. Get a local copy of the latest WordPress SVN commit (see Using Subversion for details).
4. You're ready to start developing! Choose one of the tasks below to start helping out.

Testing Patches

Testing patches is much easier for developers who are still getting to know WordPress, PHP, or both. It requires less technical knowledge, as creating or editing files is not part of the process.

You can find patches that need to be tested by viewing the Trac report for "Needs Testing".

Once you have found a ticket that you would like to test, follow these instructions:

1. Make sure that no other edits you have made interfere, and that you are using the latest WordPress subversion copy.
   

   svn revert . -R && svn update

2. Download the patch to the root WordPress directory, and change to that directory.
3. Apply the patch. Replace the_patch.diff with the filename of the patch that you downloaded.
   

   patch < the_patch.diff

4. Now that the patch has been applied, it must be fully tested. Testing patches must be a thorough process, where all environment variables which could affect the way the patch functions must be tested.
5. Once you are finished testing, post a comment on the Trac ticket, giving basic information, such as:
   
   • That you have tested the ticket and received successful or unsuccessful results
   • The Subversion revision that was used for testing (the svn program provides this info after you run svn update).
6. If any other environment variables apply, supply them. Here are some examples:
   
   • What web server was used in the testing, and what version
   • What PHP version was used in the testing
   • What MySQL database was used in the testing

Making Patches

Creating patches involves editing the WordPress core files. Patches are created and attached to existing Trac tickets. To find tickets that need patches, you should view the Trac report for "Needs Patch".

Once you have found a ticket that you would like to patch, and have a good idea of how to fix the problem or fulfill the request, follow these instructions:

1. Make sure that no other edits you have made interfere, and that you are using the latest WordPress subversion copy.
   

   svn revert . -R && svn update

2. Edit all files that you need to in order to fix the problem or fulfill the request.
3. Fully test your patch—make sure it is functional enough to be implemented into the WordPress core (if you are not able to test, do the last part of Step 5). If you find errors, fix them before you test more things.
4. When you are done testing, make sure all the modified files are saved, and type the following. You may change the name of mypatch.diff to whatever is appropriate for identifying that the patch applies to the certain ticket.
   

   svn diff > mypatch.diff

5. Attach your patch file to the ticket. Update the ticket's keywords with the keyword has-patch. If the keyword needs-patch is present, delete it from the keyword list. If you did not test the patch, also add needs-testing to the keywords list, to indicate that the patch still needs to be tested.