Contributing to FreeDOS

At FreeDOS, we welcome new contributors! All you need is an interest in DOS, and a willingness to learn. There are lots of ways to contribute to FreeDOS, whether that's fixing bugs or creating new features and programs.

If you create a new program for FreeDOS, what do you do next? How do you contribute your program to the FreeDOS community?

We don't automatically include new contributed programs into the FreeDOS distribution. We need to be careful here, to make sure that only programs that interest many FreeDOS users make it into the distribution.

First, announce your new program on the freedos-devel list. Tell us a bit about your program: what does it do, how can we download it, what's the license? We prefer to see new FreeDOS contributions use a Free software license such as the GNU General Public License, usually GNU GPL v2 or GNU GPL v3, or a suitable open source license such as the BSD 3-clause license or MIT license. What license you choose is up to you, but most FreeDOS programs tend to use one of those licenses.

If your new program looks interesting, we'll also announce it on our FreeDOS Twitter feed. That helps others to know your program is there, even if they aren't on the email list.

We don't usually post new programs as news items on our FreeDOS website. However, if the developer consistently releases new, updated versions of the program, we may put a news item on the FreeDOS website.

It's up to you to keep the discussion going on the freedos-devel list. We want the email list to discuss your new program on the email list and like using your program. If we see a consensus there that folks find your program useful and would like this to be part of the FreeDOS distribution, then we may include it in the next distribution.