Merge branch 'master' into feature/UIMA-5810-Add-contribution-guidelines-and-PR-template
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+# How to contribute to Apache UIMA uimaFIT
+
+Thank you for your intention to contribute to the Apache uimaFIT project. As an open-source
+community, we highly appreciate external contributions to our project.
+
+To make the process smooth for the project *committers* (those who review and accept changes) and *contributors* (those who propose new changes via pull requests), there are a few rules to follow.
+
+## Contribution Guidelines
+
+Please check out the [How to get involved](https://uima.apache.org/get-involved.html) to understand how contributions are made.
+A detailed list of coding standards can be found at [Apache UIMA Code Conventions](https://uima.apache.org/codeConventions.html) which also contains a list of coding guidelines that you should follow.
+For pull requests, there is a [check list](PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md) with criteria for acceptable contributions.
+
+## Preparing a Pull Request (PR)
+
+In order to contribute to a DKPro project, you need to create a **pull request**. This section
+briefly guides you through the best way of doing this:
+
+* Before creating a pull request, create an issue in the issue tracker of the project to which
+ you wish to contribute
+* Fork the project on GitHub
+* Create a branch based on the branch to which you wish to contribute. Normally, you should create
+ this branch from the **master** branch of the respective project. In the case you want to fix
+ a bug in the latest released version, you should consider to branch off the latest maintenance
+ branch (e.g. **2.4.x**). If you are not sure, ask via the issue you have just created. Do **not**
+ make changes directly to the master or maintenance branches in your fork. The name of the branch
+ should be e.g. `feature/UIMA-[ISSUE-NUMBER]-[SHORT-ISSUE-DESCRIPTION]` or `bugfix/UIMA-[ISSUE-NUMBER]-[SHORT-ISSUE-DESCRIPTION]`.
+* Now you make changes to your branch. When committing to your branch, use the format shown below
+ for your commit messages.
+```
+[UIMA-<ISSUE-NUMBER>] <ISSUE TITLE>
+<EMPTY LINE>
+- <CHANGE 1>
+- <CHANGE 2>
+- ...
+```
+* You can create the pull request any time after your first commit. I.e. you do not have to wait
+ until you are completely finished with your implementation. Creating a pull request early
+ tells other developers that you are actively working on an issue and facilitates asking questions
+ about and discussing implementation details.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
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+Thank you for contributing to Apache UIMA uimaFIT.
+
+In order to streamline the review of the contribution we ask you
+to ensure the following steps have been taken:
+
+### For all changes:
+- [ ] Is there a JIRA ticket associated with this PR? Is it referenced in the commit message?
+ Please include a link to the JIRA ticked in the PR description.
+- [ ] Does your PR title start with UIMA-XXXX where XXXX is the JIRA number you are trying to resolve?
+ Pay particular attention to the hyphen "-" character.
+- [ ] Has your PR been rebased against the latest commit within the target branch (typically master)?
+- [ ] Is your initial contribution a single, squashed commit?
+- [ ] Do the commit messages in your PR conform to the following format
+```
+[UIMA-<ISSUE-NUMBER>] <ISSUE TITLE>
+<EMPTY LINE>
+- <CHANGE 1>
+- <CHANGE 2>
+- ...
+```
+
+### For code changes:
+- [ ] Have you ensured that the full suite of tests is executed via mvn clean install at the root project folder?
+- [ ] Have you written or updated unit tests to verify your changes?
+- [ ] If adding new dependencies to the code, are these dependencies licensed in a way that is compatible for inclusion under [ASF 2.0](http://www.apache.org/legal/resolved.html#category-a)?
+- [ ] If applicable, have you updated the LICENSE file, including the main LICENSE file in respective module folder?
+- [ ] If applicable, have you updated the NOTICE file, including the main NOTICE file found in respective module folder?
+
+### For documentation related changes:
+- [ ] Have you ensured that format looks appropriate for the output in which it is rendered?
+
+### Note:
+Please ensure that once the PR is submitted, you check the Jenkins build status listed under
+"Checks" in the PR for issues and submit an update to your PR as soon as possible.
