If you want to add functionality to an existing collection, modify a collection you are using to fix a bug, or change the behavior of a module in a collection, clone the git repository for that collection and make changes on a branch. You can combine changes to a collection with a local checkout of Ansible (``source hacking/env-setup``).
You should first check the collection repository to see if it has specific contribution guidelines. These are typically listed in the README.md or CONTRIBUTING.md files within the repository.
These instructions apply to collections hosted in the `ansible_collections GitHub organization <https://github.com/ansible-collections>`_. For other collections, especially for collections not hosted on GitHub, check the ``README.md`` of the collection for information on contributing to it.
This example uses the `community.general collection <https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/>`_. To contribute to other collections in the same GitHub org, replace the folder names ``community`` and ``general`` with the namespace and collection name of a different collection.
Prerequisites
-------------
* Include ``~/dev/ansible/collections/`` in :ref:`COLLECTIONS_PATHS`
* If that path mentions multiple directories, make sure that no other directory earlier in the search path contains a copy of ``community.general``.
* Clone `the community.general Git repository <https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/>`_ or a fork of it into the directory ``general``::
You can test your changes by using this checkout of ``community.general`` in playbooks and roles with whichever version of Ansible you have installed locally, including a local checkout of ``ansible/ansible``'s ``devel`` branch.
