diff --git a/CONTRIB b/CONTRIB
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIB
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+Permissively licensed components of the midipix project currently
+accept contributions in the form of gpg-signed patches. The requirement
+that all contributions be gpg-signed helps to ensure a repository's
+reliability and license integrity, and is thus considered worth of
+the (small) trouble that it might entail.
+
+Please note that patch submission is only one of the many ways to
+advance the development of a software component, and that assistance
+in the following areas is always needed, and greatly appreciated:
+
+* brainstorming.
+* expressing needs, requesting features.
+* sharing knowledge about your favorite system.
+* lurking on irc, reviewing commits and patches.
+* testing release candidates on different system.
+* building from source, testing bleeding-edge versions.
+
+
+If you would like to submit code, then the following how-to is for you.
+
+1. discuss your proposed changes on the project's freenode irc channel.
+2. if the changes you propose are not trivial to accept, start a discussion
+   on the project's mailing list.
+3. obtain as much help as needed on irc; post early versions of your work.
+4. finalize your patch together with the project maintainer.
+5. commit the patch to your local repository.
+6. verify that everything builds, and that nothing breaks.
+7  run contrib.sh, then sign and submit your patch.
diff --git a/contrib.msg b/contrib.msg
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+++ b/contrib.msg
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+======================================================================
+this patch is being submitted to the midipix project (www.midipix.org)
+for inclusion in the slibtool component (git://midipix.org/slibtool)
+======================================================================
diff --git a/contrib.sh b/contrib.sh
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+++ b/contrib.sh
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+#!/bin/sh
+
+# init vars
+commit=$1; [ -z "$commit" ] && commit='HEAD'
+blank=
+bline=
+fname=
+
+# source.patch
+git format-patch -1 $commit --stdout > source.patch	|| exit 2
+cat contrib.msg >> source.patch				|| exit 2
+
+# source.patch without the (noisy) first line
+tail -n +2 source.patch > contrib.patch 		|| exit 2
+
+# contrib.patch: first blank line
+blank=`grep -n ^$ contrib.patch | head -n1`
+[ -z "$blank" ] && exit 2
+
+bline=`echo $blank | cut -f1 -d':'`
+[ -z "$bline" ] && exit 2
+
+# use sha256sum of the above for patch file name
+fname=`sha256sum contrib.patch | cut -f1 -d' '`		|| exit 2
+[ -z "$fname" ] && exit 2
+
+# prepare for submission, sign the patch
+mv   contrib.patch $fname.patch				|| exit 2
+head -n$bline $fname.patch | tail -n +2 > $fname.sig	|| exit 2
+
+[ -z "$PAGER" ] && PAGER='less'
+$PAGER $fname.patch					|| exit 2
+cat contrib.msg						|| exit 2
+
+echo
+echo 'press <enter> to continue, <ctrl-c> to abort>'
+echo
+
+read enter
+
+gpg  --armor --detach-sign $fname.patch			|| exit 2
+cat  $fname.patch.asc >> $fname.sig			|| exit 2
+
+# verify
+gpg --verify $fname.sig $fname.patch			|| exit 2
+
+# clean up
+rm source.patch
+rm $fname.patch.asc
+
+# info
+echo
+echo "commit $commit was successfully prepared for submission."
+echo "$fname.patch: a patch file that can be imported by git-am."
+echo "$fname.sig:   a gpg signature file of the above patch."
+echo
+
+# all done
+exit 0