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Contributing to DirectAdmin DNS Change Alert System

Thank you for your interest in contributing! This document provides guidelines for contributing to this project.

Important Note About Licensing

This project is licensed under the ITCMS.GR Free License (LicenseRef-ITCMS-Free-1.0), which has specific restrictions:

  • ✅ You may use this software freely
  • ❌ You may NOT modify, redistribute, or sell the software as
  • ❌ Source code contributions are NOT accepted via pull requests

How You Can Contribute

Since the license restricts modifications and redistribution, contributions work differently:

  1. Bug Reports: Report issues you encounter
  2. Feature Requests: Suggest improvements
  3. Documentation Feedback: Point out unclear or incorrect docs
  4. Testing: Test on different environments and report results
  5. Ideas & Discussion: Share your use cases and suggestions

All contributions will be reviewed and potentially implemented by the project maintainer.

Ways to Contribute

1. Bug Reports

Found a bug? Please report it!

Before Reporting:

  • Check existing issues to avoid duplicates
  • Verify it's reproducible
  • Collect relevant information

Good Bug Report Includes:

  • Clear title describing the issue
  • Steps to reproduce
  • Expected behavior
  • Actual behavior
  • Environment details:
    • DirectAdmin version
    • OS and version (RHEL/CentOS/Debian/Ubuntu)
    • Bash version
    • Relevant configuration

Example Bug Report:

**Title**: Email notifications not sent on Debian 12

**Description**:
DNS changes are detected and logged, but email notifications are not being sent to domain owners.

**Steps to Reproduce**:
1. Install hooks on Debian 12 system
2. Edit DNS via DirectAdmin
3. Check logs - shows "Notification sent" but no email arrives

**Expected**: Email notification sent to domain owner
**Actual**: No email received

**Environment**:
- DirectAdmin: 1.65.4
- OS: Debian 12 (bookworm)
- Bash: 5.2.15
- Zone directory: /etc/bind

**Logs**:

[2025-10-29 14:32:15] Notification sent via 'mail' to owner@example.com


**Additional Info**:
mailx is installed and `mail` command works when tested manually.

2. Feature Requests

Have an idea for improvement?

Good Feature Request Includes:

  • Clear description of the feature
  • Use case explaining why it's needed
  • Example of how it would work
  • Potential implementation ideas (optional)

Example Feature Request:

**Title**: Add Slack webhook notifications

**Description**:
Send DNS change notifications to Slack channel in addition to email.

**Use Case**:
Our team monitors infrastructure changes in Slack. Having DNS alerts
in our #infrastructure channel would provide better visibility.

**Proposed Behavior**:
1. Add SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL environment variable
2. When DNS changes, post to Slack with formatted message
3. Include domain, admin user, and link to diff

**Implementation Ideas**:
Use curl to POST to Slack webhook API with JSON payload.
Could reuse existing notification logic from email.

3. Documentation Improvements

Found unclear or incorrect documentation?

Report:

  • Which document has the issue
  • What's unclear or wrong
  • Suggested correction or improvement

Example Documentation Issue:

**File**: docs/dns_change_notifications.md
**Section**: "Email Recipients"
**Issue**: Instructions don't mention what happens if domainowners file is missing
**Suggestion**: Add troubleshooting section for missing domainowners file

4. Testing

Help test on different environments!

Useful Testing:

  • Different DirectAdmin versions
  • Different Linux distributions
  • Multi-Server DNS configurations
  • Edge cases (many domains, large zones, etc.)

Test Report Format:

**Environment**:
- DirectAdmin: 1.64.2
- OS: Rocky Linux 9
- Domains: 500+

**Tests Performed**:
- [x] DNS change detection
- [x] Email notifications
- [x] Backup creation
- [x] Log rotation
- [ ] Cluster mode (not applicable)

**Results**:
All tests passed. System handled 50 simultaneous DNS changes without issues.

**Notes**:
Hostname resolution slows down da_report.sh with 500+ domains.
Consider adding parallel DNS resolution.

How to Submit

Create an Issue

  1. Visit the project's issue tracker
  2. Click "New Issue"
  3. Choose appropriate template (Bug Report / Feature Request / Documentation)
  4. Fill out all sections
  5. Submit

Email Reports

Alternatively, email reports to:

Code of Conduct

Our Standards

  • Be Respectful: Treat everyone with respect and kindness
  • Be Constructive: Provide helpful feedback
  • Be Professional: Keep discussions on-topic
  • Be Patient: Maintainers are volunteers

Unacceptable Behavior

  • Harassment or discrimination
  • Trolling or insulting comments
  • Off-topic or spam content
  • Sharing others' private information

Enforcement

Violations may result in:

  1. Warning
  2. Temporary ban
  3. Permanent ban

Report violations to: contact@itcms.gr

Questions?

Have questions about contributing?

Recognition

Contributors will be acknowledged in:

  • CHANGELOG.md (for significant contributions)
  • Special thanks section (for testers and reporters)

License

By submitting bug reports, feature requests, or other feedback, you agree that:

  • Your contributions are provided freely
  • The project maintainer may use your feedback to improve the software
  • You retain no rights to implementations based on your suggestions
  • The project remains under ITCMS.GR Free License

Thank you for helping improve the DirectAdmin DNS Change Alert System!

Copyright © 2025 Antonios Voulvoulis, ITCMS.GR SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-ITCMS-Free-1.0