The process described here will maximize the chance that your patch will be included in the mainstream codeline.

The best way to make your contribution is to
  • Use the sourceforge bug tracker (and/or the contribs.org one) to open a bug report for the bug you have found.
  • Submit your patch into the bug report as a suggested fix.
  • An optional third step is to go away and build an RPM containing your fix.

The reason why it is not necessary to submit an RPM & SRPM is that it can actually make it harder for the devs. They would need to grab your source RPM and extract the source code, then determine what version you branched from, then do a diff. It is much easier if you just describe your fix or post a patch file in the bug report.

The patch can either be a code snippet for the fix, or for more complex changes an actual patch file (see patch a SME Server rpm) is easier to deal with.